Deja Vu All Over Again

 It is only May when I write this, so we are only at about the two-mile marker through this marathon that is a baseball season, but baseball in New York is the best in the league, actually in both leagues!

The beginning of this season has reminded me of two books I’ve read over the past few years. The first being Mike Lupica’s and William Goldman’s fantastic recollection of the 1987 New York sports year named “Wait ‘Til Next Year.” The reasoning for that is both the Mets and Yankees have been great at the start of the season. New York doesn’t have the defending World Series champions in the city, but record wise, the city that never sleeps has two of the best teams in the American and National League. We have stars preforming in the bright lights and us fans are geared up for an exciting summer.

The second book this season reminds me of is John Feinstein’s “Living on the Black” which details the 2007 season of two great pitchers in New York, Mike Mussina and Tom Glavine. Those two pitchers this year are Gerrit Cole and Max Scherzer.

So far this year Cole is 4-1 with a 3.31 ERA through nine games and even though it may look like Cole is having a fine start to his 2022 season, the reality is not the case. Cole had a rough first outing on Opening Day, barely escaping the first, and only surviving four innings on that Friday afternoon. Cole also had his worst outing as a Yankee and potentially ever on a Tuesday night in Detroit.

The ace right-hander’s final line was: 1.2 innings, one earned run, two runs, three strike outs, and five walks (a career high). After that start, Gerrit Cole didn’t have a win or loss with a 6.35 ERA with a 6.52 FIP. In New York Gerrit Cole after that start was looked upon as a failure. Jokes ran through social media and was suggested on sports radio, and podcasts, that the only reason why Gerrit Cole was looked at as the best pitcher in baseball was due to his reliance on sticky substances (whatever they might be). Even in his first decision of the season, a six and two third, four hit, and nine strike out win against Cleveland, controversy with substances was still surrounding Cole. During the game, Cole appears to have added some substance to his right pant leg somewhere around the 6th inning and kept going back to it after every pitch. That substance on Cole’s pant leg was not put into question during the game by any umpire or by Cleveland, it was also not a subject of conversation immediately after the game in post-game interviews. The substance was highlighted mostly on social media—still tagging Cole as a pitcher solely reliant on substances to succeed. Cole put that to rest, slightly, in Kansas City as Cole was once again dominant. The difference, no substances in sight. However, Cole took the loss last night against Baltimore—a game in which he wasn’t completely dominant, but he kept the Bronx Bombers in the game. No matter what Cole does this season there always seems to be something in the way of getting back to the form that the Yankees expected Gerrit Cole to be at when they signed the 31-year-old right-hander.

I bring this up because to me, this season is Cole’s most appealing season. Even though Gerrit Cole finished second in Cy Young voting last season, because half of the season Cole had the ability to use any substance to maximize grip of the baseball, that second place finish is tainted. I’m interested in how the Yankee ace responds to both criticism and underperforming to start the season. Cole’s 2022 is reminiscent of Mussina’s 2007.

Max Scherzer on the other hand is casing similar history to what Glavine was in ’07. Scherzer is six wins shy of 200 career wins. Tom Glavine was approaching rarer air in 300 wins, but the pressure to do it in New York is the same. Scherzer most likely won’t pitch again until July due to an Oblique Strain, when he gets back to the big leagues, he will have to perform at his highest level. Add to everything, Mad Max signed the richest contract in terms of average annual salary in Major League history and is supposed to aid the Mets in realizing the talent the Metropolitans have had in recent years on the field make the postseason and seriously content for a championship.

All of this is to say that baseball could take back the city. For years the best sports city in the world has been yearning for a team or teams to provide successful seasons. Right now, we are seeing two seasons simultaneous to one another. We've wanted this; so let's enjoy it!

1987 was magical with two late season pushes for the Mets and Yankees despite mayhem during the marathon—ultimately shoving both New York teams out of the postseason dance.

Goldman, Lupica, and New Yorkers everywhere had to wait ‘til 1988 for hope, in 2022 maybe we baseball fans won’t have too.

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