It's beginning to look a lot like...1973.

 

Your New York Yankees looked stacked, a combination of youth and experience that many were picking to win their division—not to mention the pennant or even the World Series. They seemed to have it all, and after a shaky start, they scrapped their way into first place in May. 

There they would remain for weeks, led by two beloved stars, a deep starting staff, and a young hitter taking a run at a historic batting mark.  

Then came a pivotal series with the Red Sox...

I'm talking about your 1973 Yankees, of course. 

After surprising everyone with a run at the division late in the 1972 season, the Yanks had added a slick-fielding, power-hitting third baseman named Graig Nettles, and a second Alou brother—Mateo, a former NL batting champ who was supposed to close an oozing sore in right field—to their core duo of Thurman Munson and Bobby Murcer.

Their rotation looked as deep as it had been in years—Mel Stottlemyre, Fritz Peterson, Steve Kline, Doc Medich, and Mike Kekich—with 1972 Fireman of the Year Sparky Lyle, workhorse Lindy McDaniel, and newcomer Fred Beene, in the bullpen (a trio I would take over the thousands currently occupying space in the 2024 Yankees' pen).

Then came spring training, and the whole Peterson-Kekich wife swap thing almost sunk the team before it was out of its moorings. Kekich was soon gone, and Peterson had the worst single year of his Yankee career. Kline, a hugely promising righty who had been leading the AL in ERA well into 1972, blew out his arm and never did recover.

Still, the Yanks picked up old Orioles stalwart Pat Dobson for a song, and bought Sudden Sam McDowell. Jim Ray Hart, the Giants slugger, was also picked up for cash. Most of all, though, the Yanks were boosted by "The Hebrew Hammer," Ron Blomberg, who—buoyed by the new DH rule—was batting .403 as late as June 28th.

On July 1st, after a four-game sweep of Cleveland, the Yanks were 45-33, with a 4-game lead—the latest they had been in first place since 1964, 9 years earlier.

Then the BoSox came into town for a big, Fourth of July weekend set of five games. The Yanks lost 4 of the 5, as their hitting and fielding collapsed.

They were able to cling on to first for almost another month, until August 3rd, but then a disastrous series up in Fenway knocked them out of the top spot. 

In the end, they finished 80-82, 17 games out, in fourth place.

What went wrong?

Not the pitching held up, which finished third in the AL behind only division winner Baltimore and World Series champ, Oakland. Munson and Murcer both had excellent seasons. But Bloomberg's average fell all the way to .329, Nettles and Roy White had almost their very worst, full seasons as Yankees; and Matty Alou performed the almost-statistically-impossible feat of batting .296, with a .694 OPS and just 28 runs batted in.

Meanwhile, in that summer of '73, there were odd rumblings across town. 

The New York Mets had fumfahed about for most of the summer, a seeming collection of misfits and has-beens who had fallen as low as 44-57 on the season. Their year was almost the diametrical opposite to the Yankees'. They spent everyday from June 1st through August 7th in last place, and as late as August 30th they were still in the cellar.

Then they became the "Ya Gotta Believe!" Mets, making a raggedy, 21-8 charge to the finish line, as their division collapsed around them like L.A. in that John Cusack movie about how the Mayans were right.

With all sorts of marginal players—such as Ron Hodges, seen here—making contributions, the Metsies finished 82-79, still the worst record ever, I think, for a baseball division winner in a completed season, and derailed the Big Red Machine in the NLCS, with Battling Buddy Harrelson taking on Pete Rose.

The Mets even led the World Series, 3 games to 2, before Reggie put an end to all their nonsense, with two big games in Oakland. 

This year, you may have noticed, after a completely putrid, 22-33 start, the Mets have started to turn it around, winning 5 in a row and 11 out of their last 15. (Five RBI for Pete Alonso yesterday, by the by. Still against giving up Gleyber to get him?)

Could this be what we're looking at? The start of another miracle run in Queens, while our boys collapse in the Bronx???

Well, no. The Mets don't have anything like the Seaver-Koosman-Matlack rotation that got them to the brink of a World Series title. 

But they could easily make the playoffs, with 40 percent of the teams going now. I would put them at even money with the Yankees to do so—and I could easily see a scenario where there is no October for our guys at all.

Hey, it's happened before.