The first edition of this year’s Subway Series starts Tuesday, when the Yankees visit the Mets at Citi Field and the teams will meet again next month.
After that? Who knows?
Both teams enter in first place in their divisions, with the Yankees looking to hold off Houston for the best record in the American League and the Mets hoping to outlast Atlanta in the NL East.
Perhaps another matchup in October is in store.
“I think people would really, really love to see an all-New York World Series,’’ Brandon Nimmo said. “This is one of those years where you could feasibly see that. And so I think there’s going to be … excitement heading into it.”
And on top of the teams’ records, there’s the added spotlight of two of the game’s premier sluggers coming together for the first time outside of last week’s All-Star Game in Los Angeles.
Aaron Judge, named AL Player of the Week on Monday, leads the majors with 37 homers, on pace to match Roger Maris’ franchise — and American League — record of 61.
And Pete Alonso’s 82 RBIs is also the most in the majors — and one more than Judge’s 81.
“I feel like he’s on a historic little tear,’’ Alonso said of Judge. “I think it’s an excellent season for him, it’s a dream season. I’m happy that he’s healthy and he’s performing the way he is because it’s really special what he’s doing. I hope he keeps doing it. I hope he hits 60.”
At this point, that’s starting to look realistic, since Judge has been able to maintain his consistency at a very high level.
It’s even more impressive when you consider Judge had just one home run through the first 13 games of the season.
Judge is hitting the ball harder more often than at any other point of his career, with a hard-hit rate of 60.8 percent, according to Statcast.
He’s also hitting more fly balls than ever before (36.9 percent) and swinging and missing less frequently.
“He’s a special player,’’ said Aaron Boone, pretty much out of ways of how to describe his star this season.
And after a brief slide prior to the All-Star break, Judge has picked up where he’s been for most of the year.
“It says he’s an MVP-caliber player,’’ Boone said of Judge’s ability to avoid a slump. “There’s a handful of players like that and that’s usually case with them. They tend to be more consistent and impactful.”
Judge has repeatedly made it clear he’s more focused on the Yankees’ record than on chasing any home run marks, so outside of saying he was looking forward to the “playoff atmosphere” of the Subway Series, the outfielder didn’t have much to say about the upcoming series in Queens.
His presence, along with Alonso’s, will add more star power to the series.
And since Judge has a chance to become a free agent following this season — and Mets owner Steve Cohen has deep pockets — fans at Citi Field will surely be making their case for — and against — Judge switching boroughs next season.
For now, though, both teams have this year to consider and a lot to play for, with aspirations of long postseason runs that could lead them into each other’s path again.
— Additional reporting by Mark W. Sanchez