The New York Rivalry: Mets vs. Yankees in a New Era
The city series, the clash between the Yankees and the Mets, reaches a climax. This time, the stage is Queens, and the dynamic between the two New York franchises has reached a level that few believed possible.Both teams have followed similar trajectories this season: promising starts followed by negative streaks that have led them to this weekend with certain doubts. However, the goal remains the same: the World Series title. After a tense series at Yankee Stadium in May, they will face each other in what each team hopes will be three recovery games, starting Friday at Citi Field, where hope has grown in the last five years.The Mets are no longer the “little cousin” or the “younger brother” of the Yankees. Now they are in a solid position. They don’t have to be inferior to anyone. And I don’t think the Yankees have regressed, but the Mets have advanced.
Buck Showalter
Although there have been fleeting moments when the Mets were the center of attention in New York baseball, such as in 1969 and the 80s, what is happening now is different. The Mets have joined the Yankees as a baseball superpower, a transformation that began when Steve Cohen bought the club for $2.4 billion in November 2020.
In his fifth season as owner, Cohen, 69, has revamped the organization, both internally and on the field. A franchise that many in the sport and among its own fans considered a joke, is now widely regarded as a first-class operation. Sustained success remains the primary goal. The Mets failed to reach the postseason in two of Cohen’s first four seasons, including a disappointment in 2023 with baseball’s most expensive roster. But the cultural shift is undeniable. Brandon Nimmo, drafted by the Mets in 2011, is the longest-tenured player in the organization. He has witnessed the transformation firsthand.The Mets were kind of a joke at the time. They were always seen as a joke that made a lot of bad decisions.
Adam Ottavino
Across town, the Yankees, under the direction of Hal Steinbrenner since 2009, have maintained a consistent winning trajectory, even with the constant evolution of the industry. They have accumulated 32 consecutive winning seasons, tying for the second-longest streak in the four major North American sports leagues, and are on their way to a 33rd. Only the Yankees’ streak of 39 seasons from 1926 to 1964 was better. They are coming off winning the American League championship. They have Aaron Judge, the best hitter in the world, signed to a long-term contract as their captain. The expectations of a fervent fanbase have not diminished with Steinbrenner, 55, at the helm.Suddenly, we were put in a totally different direction. And it feels very, very good.
Brandon Nimmo
That new environment includes big-budget competition in their own city, competition that challenged the Yankees for one of the most coveted free agents in baseball history and… won. The decision of Juan Soto to leave the Yankees for the Mets, which would have been an absurd idea before last winter, apparently consolidated the Mets’ new position among the top franchises in the sport. However, David Stearns, a lifelong Mets fan and president of baseball operations for the organization since October 2023, insisted that it represented nothing more than a team adding a great player.[Hal] wants the best for our players. And that’s something his father obviously provided and he has continued to provide, obviously, in a completely new and unique environment.
Brian Cashman
I saw it as we were able to sign and recruit one of the best players in our game. And regardless of where he was playing last year, that, in itself, is important for our organization, for our brand, for our team, that a player could have gone to any of the major markets, to any of the flagship teams in the sport, and chose the Mets.
David Stearns
Image by Mary DeCicco/MLB Photos via Getty Images
THOSE FIVE YEARS have been a crash course in MLB ownership for Cohen, who has reformed his public image from a ruthless billionaire whose hedge fund agreed to pay a record $1.8 billion fine for insider trading, to a beloved baseball club owner. It began in 2021, when, in his first season as owner, he wondered aloud if he should be an owner like the famously passionate and hands-on George Steinbrenner, according to a source who heard Cohen pose the question. He learned that he was more emotional than he expected and tweeted aggressively, occasionally criticizing the team, which upset members of the front office, according to sources. Eventually, he took a step back, although he still periodically shares his thoughts on social media. On Monday, after the Pittsburgh Pirates dominated the Mets in a three-game sweep that included a players-only meeting mid-series and concluded a 3-13 streak, the worst in the league, Cohen tweeted that he was “as frustrated as everyone else”. The Cohens became a constant presence at Citi Field, occasionally working from the stadium and regularly present for batting practice before watching games in their suite. Cohen bombarded front office executives with questions about player performance and potential acquisitions. He was relentlessly curious and competitive, but not overbearing, as he learned the game and found his style.At the beginning of that first season, Cohen invited the players, their partners, and their agents to his home for private dinners, requesting suggestions for the post-Wilpon era. Nimmo recalled having dinner with his wife, Chelsea, and the Cohens after a Sunday game at Citi Field. They ate for two hours before Cohen joined a work call for Point72, his hedge fund, while Alex showed them the house. Nimmo emphasized three areas that needed improvement: sports science, analytics, and family accommodations. The players found the owners genuinely receptive.I wouldn’t say he was practical, but he was interested and participated as much as he thought he needed to. He let you do your job and asked good questions.
Buck Showalter
Cohen made rapid changes. He quickly doubled the full-time analytics staff from 13 to 26. He leveraged Point72’s resources in data analytics, including moving the company’s head of data solutions, Sameer Gupta, to take on the same role with the Mets, and incorporated a team of engineers and data analysts based in the United States and Poland. Gupta left Point72 and the Mets last year.They listen. They don’t make decisions based on the moment. They make decisions based on educating themselves. They talk to a lot of people and make a decision. That’s important.
Francisco Lindor
Among their tasks, the group of engineers and analysts migrated the organization from a standard on-premises server to a cloud-based and scalable solution for storing files from new data sources. At one point in 2021, according to sources with knowledge of the situation, Cohen asked employees if he should buy Driveline Baseball, the data-driven company at the forefront of pitching development in the last decade.Bob Dylan, ‘The Times They Are A-Changin’, you go through the lyrics of that song and that’s how it felt.
A source
Cohen implemented salary increases across the board after sensing a toxic environment in which employees were constantly asking for promotions because they felt it was the only way to receive more compensation under the previous ownership. In 2022, after employees raised safety concerns following a fight on the 7 subway platform outside Citi Field, the team began offering money for ride-sharing to employees who stayed at the stadium late at night. This year, the team, at the urging of Alex Cohen, who has championed hospitality for players’ families, opened a family room and an expanded childcare center, of which the players have been delighted.The way I see it is that the Mets are playing catch-up in a big way, and they’ve already covered a lot of ground. You could really feel this sense that nothing was going to stop the Cohens from turning the Mets into one of the best franchises in the game. They were improving in every department.
Adam Ottavino
Cohen also renovated Citi Field from the outside, and emphasized the best incorporation in the team’s history in its present. Five players have had their numbers retired since Cohen bought the team, including Dwight Gooden’s No. 16 and Darryl Strawberry’s No. 18 last season. David Wright will join the list later this month. In September, the organization will host its first alumni game. The game’s production underwent an overhaul, with an emphasis on presenting Mets games as a party in direct response to the “corporate and buttoned-up” Yankees, according to sources. The Mets unveiled a 17,400-square-foot video scoreboard in 2023. They have added a dance troupe and an entertainer to the in-game entertainment. Last season, the team embraced an organic identity, from finding a new good luck charm in Grimace to gathering around José Iglesias’ pop-reggaeton track “OMG”, during an unexpected run to the National League Championship Series. This year, the Mets introduced a mascot race for each home game with each of New York City’s five boroughs represented. The Bronx giraffe, wearing a dirty white jersey, has yet to win.He’s the kind of owner everyone wants their team to have. He puts his money where his mouth is.
A source
However, with the image change, came a constant turnover of personnel that in Cohen’s hedge fund world is common, but not often seen in baseball. Cohen initially brought back veteran executive Sandy Alderson to oversee baseball and business operations. Alderson resigned after the 2022 season, which led Cohen to hire Scott Havens as president of baseball operations in November 2023. But Havens resigned from his position in May after less than two years. Days later, the organization announced Lew Sherr, CEO and Executive Director of the United States Tennis Association since 2022, as president of business operations. Sherr’s term began on Tuesday. In addition to Havens, Chief Legal Officer Katie Pothier, Chief Marketing Officer Andy Goldberg, Chief Communications Officer Nancy Elder, and Senior Vice President of Finance Peter Woll have left the organization since November. The changes, sources said, reflect Cohen’s demanding nature.There’s no way the Wilpons would have done anything Grimace-like. They were much more like, classic, put a baseball game in front of everyone instead of, like, turning this place into a nightclub.
A source
Rotation has been filtered on the baseball side, although not always at Cohen’s discretion. Under Alderson, general manager Jared Porter was fired in January 2021, a month after his job, after sexual harassment allegations surfaced. Less than a year later, interim general manager Zack Scott was arrested on charges of driving under the influence and was fired from his position, although he was later acquitted.Obviously, he’s not afraid to make personnel changes.
Buck Showalter
General Manager Billy Eppler resigned in October 2023, two years into a four-year contract, while MLB conducted an investigation into whether he directed the team to fabricate injuries to clear roster spots. MLB ultimately suspended Eppler for the 2024 season. Carlos Mendoza, hired before last season from the Yankees, is the third Mets manager since Cohen bought the team, following Luis Rojas and Showalter.
With Mendoza, who spent 17 years in the Yankees organization and the last four seasons as bench coach for manager Aaron Boone, and Stearns, a 40-year-old Harvard graduate who guided the small-market Milwaukee Brewers to four postseason appearances in seven seasons as general manager, the Mets appear to have found some stability.CONTINUITY, MEANWHILE, HAS defined Hal Steinbrenner’s era in the Bronx, even as many fans have clamored for change during the Yankees’ longest streak without winning a World Series since the mid-90s.Steve and Alex are very involved, but they have let David do his part, do his job, trusting that he is the right one.
Carlos Mendoza
