We are nearly three months into what has been a disastrous start by the Mets and a disappointing one for the Yankees.
They probably can’t even be termed “starts” anymore, as we approach the midway point of the 162-game slate.
The Yanks, at least, finished off their second straight series victory Sunday over the Rangers, while the Mets suffered what play-by-play man Gary Cohen somehow dubbed “their most horrific” loss of the year with their meltdown against the Phillies.
As MLB All-Star voting moves into its finalists phase on Monday to determine the starters in each league, it is painfully obvious that the two New York ball clubs are not going to be — nor do they deserve to be — well-represented at the Midsummer Classic on July 11 at T-Mobile Park in Seattle.
The locals sent a whopping 10 players combined to last summer’s All-Star festivities at Dodger Stadium, led by six from the Yankees — Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, Gerrit Cole and surprise first-timers Nestor Cortes, Clay Holmes and Jose Trevino.
The four Mets selected — Pete Alonso, Jeff McNeil, Starling Marte and Edwin Diaz — pushed that New York total to double digits for the first time since 2011, when the Bombers had eight players designated as All-Stars for the second consecutive year.
Perusing the early voting tabulations and the statistics for each team — truly for the first time after primarily covering hoops all spring — I don’t see more than one or two, tops, from each team being named to either the American League or National League rosters when pitchers and reserves are added next week.
Each team has one starting finalist listed after Phase 1 of fan voting, reigning AL MVP and home-run king Aaron Judge among six outfielders for three starting spots in the AL and Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor as one of two shortstops vying for the starting spot in the NL.
The transcendent Judge obviously will get voted in as an All-Star for the fifth time, but there appears to be zero chance of No. 99 being back on the Yankees’ active roster within two weeks — or playing in the annual league showcase — after he revealed Saturday that he’s actually dealing with a torn ligament in his troublesome right big toe.
Cole, already a five-time selection, certainly will be named one of the AL hurlers, even after he slipped to 8-2 with a 2.78 ERA after not making it through the fifth inning in Sunday’s 5-3 win over the Rangers at the Stadium.
The Yankees have had two or fewer All-Stars only twice in the previous 30 years, when Mariano Rivera and Robinson Cano went in 2013, and before that, when Wade Boggs and Jimmy Key represented the pinstripes in 1993.
Other than their two highest-paid current players, however, try to make a case for anyone else on the Yankees roster for selection this year.
Stanton has been injured again for the majority of the first half, and he’s batting just .191 with a career-worst .643 OPS through 30 games.
Holmes has pitched well in June to lower his overall ERA to 2.51, but his nine saves (11 chances) don’t rank in the top-10 in the league or in the top-20 in baseball.
Cortes posted a 5.16 ERA before landing on the injured list, and Trevino is batting .220 with a .570 OPS.
Aside from Judge, no lineup regular sports an OPS above Anthony Rizzo’s .786, and no pitcher aside from Cole has thrown more than 77 innings.
As for the Mets, Alonso figures to be their lone slam-dunk choice, with 24 homers and 55 RBIs, but he finished behind finalists Freddie Freeman of the Dodgers (.961 OPS) and Matt Olson of the Braves (21-52) in initial fan voting and will have to be added as a reserve.
First baseman Christian Walker of the Diamondbacks also is having a strong season, with 15 homers, 53 RBIs and an .864 OPS.
The Mets also could be represented by Lindor, their lone finalist at any position, that is, if he’s able to beat out Braves shortstop Orlando Arcia in Phase 2 voting for the starting spot.
Lindor is batting just .221, but his 15 homers, including one in Sunday’s giveaway loss to the Phillies, and 52 RBIs, are the most among NL shortstops, and his .749 OPS ranks second behind Dansby Swanson of the Cubs (.766) among qualifying players.
Arcia is batting .318 in 201 at-bats and likely will benefit from the Braves owning the best record in the league, 15 games ahead of the flailing Mets (35-42).
Otherwise, Brandon Nimmo has been fine in the first season of his $162 million contract, but there are simply too many deserving outfielders with better offensive numbers.
The only other Mets possibility would seem to be fill-in closer David Robertson, who has converted 11 of 13 save chances with a 1.64 ERA as the replacement for the injured Diaz. But Diaz’s brother Alexis (Reds), Camilo Doval (Giants), Josh Hader (Padres), David Bednar (Pirates) and Devin Williams (Brewers) all have better cases.
Pete’s picks…
Yankees: Judge and Cole.
Mets: Alonso, and possibly, Lindor.
Read more:
⚾ HEYMAN: Yankees’ Aaron Judge ‘can’t make any promises’ about timeline but expects injury return
⛳ CANNIZZARO: Wyndham Clark still ‘on the high’ at Travelers Championship after life-altering week
⚾ Brett Baty takes blame for Mets’ series-losing game vs. Phillies: ‘Completely on me’
NBA free agency kicks off later this week, but don’t expect as much of a spending frenzy as we’ve seen in past years.
The trend recently across the league has been star players signing extensions before they hit free agency — because NBA rules dictate they can receive bigger deals from their existing teams — and then force a trade later, as we saw with Kevin Durant and the Nets and most recently, Bradley Beal and the Wizards, with Damian Lillard possibly next to pursue that route.
The first two All-Stars, of course, both landed in Phoenix, where they will team with Devin Booker this season to try to help the Suns win the first NBA title in franchise history since their expansion year of 1968-69.
(The Nuggets finally won their first title earlier this month, albeit with a far different approach of building through the draft with stars such as Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr. and then filling in with complementary trades and smaller free-agent signings).
The highest-profile NBA free agent this summer will be James Harden, although he is expected to either return to Houston, where he spent nine seasons earlier in his career, or re-sign with the 76ers to run it back one more time alongside Joel Embiid in search of the first rings in the careers of both former league MVPs.
For sure, there are other very good players to be had — including Fred VanVleet, Khris Middleton, Draymond Green and the consummate wild-card, Kyrie Irving.
But nothing close to LeBron James and Chris Bosh signing together with Miami in 2010, or even Durant and Irving teaming up in Brooklyn in 2019, should be expected this summer.
A fun summer of international soccer continues to take shape.
The main event doesn’t start until next month, when Team USA will attempt to become the first women’s team to win a third consecutive World Cup beginning with its group-stage opener against Vietnam in New Zealand.
Five current USWNT players — Alex Morgan, Megan Rapinoe, Kelley O’Hara, Julie Ertz and goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher — will go for the three-peat after also being members of Cup-winning squads in 2015 and 2019.
The men’s side has been more of an appetizer coming off last year’s group-stage advancement in Qatar, but the USMNT put aside some of the dysfunction that emerged — primarily between head coach Gregg Berhalter and young talent Gio Reyna — in the aftermath of its elimination from that tournament.
The Americans, now ranked No. 13 overall in the world FIFA rankings, lifted a trophy in the CONCACAF Nations League behind interim manager B.J. Callaghan earlier this month and he will remain on the bench in the ongoing Gold Cup before Berhalter eventually returns in that role in preparation for the World Cup in North America in 2026.
Team USA, essentially with its B-team roster, scored late for a 1-1 draw with Jamaica in Chicago on Saturday, and should — should! — have an easier time with Saint Kitts and Nevis on Wednesday in St. Louis.