Ray Negron's Playball Weekly Blog

New York is the baseball capital of the world again!

Last night you saw the Mets play a game for the ages.

The whole baseball world thought that Pete Alonso was coming up to bat for the last time in his Mets career, but with the Milwaukee Brewers leading 2 – 0 and two runners on base, Alonso had other plans. He would hit a changeup over the right field fence to give the Mets a 3 – 2 lead. The Mets would eventually win the game 4 – 2 and advance to the next round of the playoffs. As excited as the fans that follow the Mets around the national league cities were, they were even more excited at Citi Field. The Mets opened up the park in Flushing so that their fans could root for their team together and they did. It turned into a big celebration.

Now the Mets go on to Philadelphia and play the Phillies.

It will not be an easy assignment because those boys from Philly really do know how to play good old country hardball.
I however being a true student of the game and someone who has been working in professional baseball for over 50 years, I would not bet against the Mets. They just always seem to find a way of grinding it out and winning the most difficult of games. They did it against the Braves and they did it again against the Brewers.

Then you have the boys in the Bronx.

They get to play the Kansas City Royals and all their pitching. However, the Yankees have two gunslingers named Aaron Judge and Juan Soto who are probably the best one-two combination since Ruth and Gehrig, Mantle and Maris, and more recently Munson and Jackson. If they can get by with a little help from their friends ( the supporting cast in the lineup). If the pitching staff shows up I see the Yankees winning in four games. Then you have a best-of-seven series and hopefully, both New York teams can survive.

If my prediction can come true then we will have the most exciting baseball in New York since 2000 when these two New York teams faced off against each other.

If you know me then you know I’m a dreamer and my dreams have come true time and time again … how about one more time!

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