The distance between New York City and Washington D.C. is four hours which can be a smooth and seamless jaunt on the Amtrak as these two cities are among the biggest media markets in the United States. And as New York and D.C. also account as the locations of the biggest movers and shakers in the financial sector, we’ve also seen some fierce sports rivalries between the two cities. The legacy of men’s basketball in the Big East Conference was created in the 1980’s and a big part of that was attributed to the feud between the Georgetown Hoyas and the St. John’s Red Storm. In the National Football League, the New York Giants and the Washington Redskins are two of the oldest franchises in the league and they’ve enjoyed memorable clashes over the years which was highlighted by the 1986 NFC Championship Game. And in the National Hockey League, there is no love lost between the New York Rangers and the Washington Capitals as they met in a grueling seven-game playoff series that was won by the Rangers this past spring.
The New York Mets and Washington Nationals have played together in the National League East for nearly 50 years. Until 2004, the Nationals were the Montreal Expos when financial issues saw them move to Washington. And since then the Nats and Mets have been bad together, but rarely contenders at the same time. However things are changing in 2015.
The Nationals have won the National League East in two of the last three years as they were once again expected to be the team to beat in 2015. And when the Nationals won the NL East in 2012 and 2014, they used second half surges to pull away from the rest of the pack, but the Mets aren’t making it that easy this season for them.
This past weekend the Mets swept the Nationals at Citi Field in Flushing, New York to tie Washington atop the standings in the NL East. The past two weeks have seen the Mets become buyers on trade market as they acquired infielders Juan Uribe and Kelly Johnson from the Atlanta Braves, relief pitcher Tyler Clippard from the Oakland Athletics, and outfielder Yoenis Cespedes from the Oakland Athletics which has given them some momentum. And as the series began in Queens this past Friday night, the folks that follow the Mets came out to support their team that is in contention for the first time in a long time.
On Friday night, the Mets received a walk-off homer from shortstop Wilmer Flores who has become a cult hero after a botched trade to the Milwaukee Brewers last week. Then on Saturday night, it was the bat of Mets first baseman Lucas Duda who hit two home runs and the right arm of starting pitcher Jacob deGrom that propelled New York to the 3-2 victory. Finally, on ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball, the Mets connected on three home runs in the third inning to ignite a home crowd that was behind starting pitcher Noah Syndergaard who only allowed a pair of runs over eight innings of work which has given us a team in the Nationals that appears to be shell shocked while their counterparts from New York are flying high.
Now Citi Field sounds like a true home-field advantage for the Mets instead of a beautiful, cavernous, empty park across from Laguardia Airport as their fan base is beginning to believe in their team.
At the start of the season, the Nationals were expected to run away with the National League East, but their inability to put the Mets away early could come back to bite them as they appear to have a tiger by the tail now. So what we appear to have coming down the stretch of the Major League Baseball season is a divisional race in the National League East between the favorites in the Nats and the team that is playing with a ton of confidence along with house money in the Mets as this could be the first of several tight races between these two clubs over the next few years as they both possess some of the best, young talent in baseball. Nationals outfielder Bryce Harper is one of the young faces of MLB and he is currently the odds-on favorite to be named as the National League MVP this year while the Mets have some of the young studs in their starting rotation in the form of Matt Harvey, Syndergaard, and deGrom.
This year the NL East will more than likely just see one team qualify for the postseason as the the wild cards will more than likely come out of the NL West and NL Central. But the race between the Mets and Nationals for the remainder of 2015 is not only good for the respective team’s and their fan bases, but also MLB.
The National League East is home to the Mets, Nationals, Philadelphia Phillies, Atlanta Braves, and Miami Marlins with New York, Philadelphia, and D.C., being three of the biggest media markets in the United States. And even though parity is front and center currently in Major League Baseball, when the big market teams compete on the field in important games, it means more money. The Nats-Mets game this past Sunday was pushed into a primetime slot and you can expect to see more of that coming down the stretch of the season as FOX, ESPN, and the MLB Network will all be clamoring to televise games between these two clubs in their big markets. It also doesn’t hurt that the Mets and Nationals meet for the last three games of the season in Queens which could be the playoffs before they officially begin. And just like any good heavyweight fight, this battle between New York and Washington could go the distance in what has the makings of another good baseball rivalry.
Leave A Comment