For the first time since we began counting, the Yankees could lose the Tabloid Covers Race in NY

Forty covers left, give or take. 

Too close to call.

Today, as they launch the '25 Winter Meetings, the Yankees cling to a supermodel-thin, six-page lead in the annual IT IS HIGH Tabloids Back Pages Race, the covers we have covered since 2019.

With three weeks left, it's a photo finish between the Yankees and the Knicks - the closest in IIHIIFIIc history. For the first time ever, another organization could dethrone the Bombers as NYC's premier sports team.

Hal Steinbrenner ought to take notice. The Winter Meetings offer a chance to sign a big free agent, clinch their seventh covers title, and secure their place atop Gotham's pecking order. But if they fail, we could be witnessing a sea change in New York - a long time coming. 

Three years ago, the Yankees won with a mere 150 covers, beating the Jets by 14 pages. (That was the year of Aaron Rodgers.) Until now, 2023 loomed as the closest the Yankees have come to losing NY. 

Since 2019, when we began counting, the Yankees have never been challenged, as they'll face this month. Even if they do hold on, their margins will look perilously thin. 

Consider the records...

2025: 176.5 (1st, Knicks 2nd at 170.6) 6 covers.
2024: 215 (1st, Mets at 160) 55 covers.
2023: 150 (1st, Jets at 136) 14 covers.
2022: 210 (1st, Mets at 147) 63 covers.
2021: 207 (1st, Mets at 156) 51 covers.
2020: 152 (1st, Mets at 132) 20 covers.
2019: 211 (1st, Mets at 190) 21 covers.

It will go down to the wire, perhaps decided by a spoiler. The awful Giants are chasing the NFL's top draft pick. St. John's basketball is 5-3 on the season. Who knows what the last three weeks will bring?

Yesterday, the Post ran with the Knicks, while the Daily News reached back into history to grieve over Don Mattingly's snub by the Hall of Fame. In another universe, that could have been a Yankee back page. But Mattingly is too far removed from his old team for them to claim him. Sad. 

So, the Winter Meetings are here. Will the Mets outgun us? Will the Knicks keep winning? Three weeks left. Forty covers. It's gonna be close.