With the 2015 Major League Baseball season winding down, fans are starting to see which of the 30 teams have a legitimate chance of extending their season to October and having a shot at winning the World Series. Fortunately for us New Yorkers, both of our professional baseball teams have postseason hopes. And coincidentally, the two teams squared off for the Citi Field edition of the annual Subway Series just this past weekend.

Over in the Bronx, the Yankees stand with an 81-66 record entering Sunday night. They have a reasonable 3.5 game lead for the first wild-card spot and a 3-game deficit to the Blue Jays to take the division crown. However, their hopes of winning the AL East could potentially be broken or made in a 3-game series. As the first place Blue Jays started last Monday night, they sent rookie Adam Warren to the mound against former Cy Young Award winner David Price. It’s going to be a tough series for the Bronx Bombers, as they will also face Marco Estrada on Tuesday night and the hard-throwing Long Island native Marcus Stroman on Wednesday. And not only do they have to contend with Toronto’s pitching staff, but they will also have to stack up against their intimidating lineup that includes power hitters Jose Bautista who has owned the Yankees throughout his career, Edwin Encarnacion, and probable AL MVP, Josh Donaldson. And don’t count out the resurgent and pesky outfielder, Ben Revere, as well as top of the line defensive catcher in Russell Martin.

The Yankees have caught a small break as Toronto’s star shortstop Troy Tulowitzki is still on the disabled list for another few weeks with a shoulder blade fracture. After their series in Toronto, the Yankees have two four-game sets against the Chicago White Sox and archrival Boston Red Sox at home – two struggling teams that they should take advantage of to gain some ground in the division. However, the Blue Jays will be playing two sub-par teams, the Tampa Bay Rays and the Orioles, to finish out the rest of their season as well. The AL East crown could come down to the final day of the season. But if the regular season ended today, the Yankees would host the Astros in the Wild Card game and, if they won, would play the Kansas City Royals in the ALDS. Toronto would play the Texas Rangers. It’s going to be tough for the Yankees to reign in a 28^th title in 2015 without the help of first baseman Mark Teixeria, and possibly hard-throwing right-hander Nathan Eovaldi. We’ll just have to watch it all play out from now to October.

As for their crosstown partners, the New York Mets have stunned everyone this season as they are just games away from not only clinching a playoff spot, but also their first NL East crown since 2006. That year saw Carlos Beltran  infamously frozen by an Adam Wainwright curveball on a 3-2 count in Games 7 of the NLCS. They have an 84-64 record entering Sunday, which is good enough for a 6.5 game lead on the struggling Washington Nationals. But things have drastically changed in Queens as the Mets have one of the biggest and successful youth movements in baseball. Their starting rotation includes young aces Jacob de Grom and Matt Harvey, as well as top prospects Noah Syndergaard and another Long Island native Steven Matz, a Ward Melville graduate. All four of their young guns are 27 and younger. And to finish off their rotation, the Mets have 42-year-old veteran Bartolo Colon and left-hander Jon Niese. Not only have the Mets been a team solely based on pitching, but their offense has come a long way as well. With players such as Curtis Granderson, Daniel Murphy and Lucas Duda having breakout years, their young talent in Wilmer Flores, Travis d’Arnaud and Michael Conforto, the newly acquired Yoenis Cespedes–and last but not least, fan-favorite captain, David Wright–the Mets lineup is not one to fool around with. Cespedes in particular has given the Nationals’ Bryce Harper a run for his money for NL MVP with a batting average near .300, 35 home runs and over 100 RBI’s. After the Mets finish up the second part of the Subway Series, they’ll play four more series against three of the worst teams in baseball–the Braves, Reds and Phillies–before finishing the regular season at home against the Nationals. This round could determine the NL East champ if the Mets start to nose dive between now and then. However, that doesn’t seem likely due to the season that they’ve had and since they’ll likely take advantage of the teams that they play whose records would be top-notch if they were flipped around.

Now if the season ended tonight, the Dodgers would host the Mets in the NLDS, and the Pirates and Cubs would battle it out in the Wild Card game to play the always-talented Cardinals in the NLDS. The Mets would have to battle Cy Young Award winner Zack Grienke as well as three-time Cy Young Award winner and reigning NL MVP, Clayton Kershaw. But since the Mets have a strong pitching staff of their own, and considering how they’ve been playing, I have a feeling that they’ll punch a ticket to the NLCS against one of the three NL Central powerhouses: The Cardinals, Pirates, and resurgent Cubs. The Mets have a legitimate chance of bringing a third title to Queens, and it will be interesting to watch and see if they do.

This year’s postseason is shaping up well. Division winners and wild-card spots are coming down to the wire, and both New York have serious chances–giving us the possibility of the first Subway Series in October since 2000. And with teams like the Cubs, Astros and Blue Jays, I can be content with any team hosting the World Series trophy in late October/early November. (Although I would be happier if it were the Yankees.)

Written on September 18, 2015.