New York, New York: Relative to Expectation

$637,444,228.

That is the combined total of the New York Mets' ($339.4M) and the New York Yankees' ($298M) payrolls this season. That's the 2nd and 3rd-highest payrolls in 2025 for Major League Baseball respectively, trailing only the defending World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers (who notably beat both NY squads on the way to last year's title).

$277,013,631.

That is the total payrolls of the Miami Marlins ($66.3M), Cleveland Guardians ($97.6M) and Milwaukee Brewers (113.1M) combined -- the three teams that have swept either the Mets and Yankees in the month of August. That's a perfect 9-win, 0-loss mark against both New York teams that find themselves spending roughly 57% more on personnel.

Brewers left fielder Isaac Collins celebrates his walkoff HR to finalize Milwaukee's series sweep of the Mets on Sunday, August 11th, 2025. JEFFREY PHELPS / AP PHOTO

That is just one of many, many statistics you can point to that describe the state of affairs for both New York baseball clubs over the past couple of months. Both teams are in the midst of an absolute free fall right now, and it doesn't look anywhere as good as Tom Petty made it sound back in the day.

Both teams were in pole position to win their division races. Now, both teams are fading out of reach in the AL & NL East -- each team now trails in their division by over 5.5 games following the events of this past weekend that saw the Mets suffer their second consecutive sweep and the Yankees lose their third consecutive series -- this time to their rivals in the Houston Astros.

But, but, but... both teams are still in possession of Wild Card spots if the season ended today! Isn't this just a classic NY sports overreaction?

Sure. But you don't spend $300M on payroll to be happy about Wild Card berths. And it's not like it's money that's poorly spent for the most part, either. Both the Mets and Yankees have the talent between players like Francisco Lindor, Juan Soto, Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, and others to contend for the World Series title.

But if these teams' brutal trends continue, they'd each have to endure the shared embarrassment of being the richest postseason misses money can buy. For the second time in three seasons!

Step Right Up & Beat The Mets

Oh, where to start? Let's begin in Queens. The Mets were 45-24 at one point, on top of the National League Eastern Division by 5.5 games on June 12th. Fast-forward over 2 months later to today, and the Amazin's have gone just 19-32 since that point.

Why? Glad you asked. Their pitching staff has completely fallen off a cliff and their offense has been an extremely uneven unit.

The stat for the Mets' extended struggles since June? They've had just ONE of their starting pitchers -- the first-time All-Star David Peterson -- go more than 6 innings in a start in their last 55 games. Peterson's done it 8 times, while his well-compensated colleagues Kodai Senga, Sean Manaea, Clay Holmes and Frankie Montas have combined for ZERO 6-inning starts.

David Peterson went 6 innings again in his start vs Cleveland on August 7th -- not enough to get the win in a 4-1, sweep-cementing loss in which the Mets just narrowly avoided getting no-hit.

In true "cause and effect" fashion, this had led to the extreme taxing of the Mets' bullpen. Even with the trade deadline acquisitions of Tyler Rogers and Ryan Helsley, the bullpen as a whole has (understandably) not been able to sustain any type of success while harboring the heaviest workload in all of MLB.

When you combine all of that with the Mets' season-long struggles with runners in scoring position (their .233 BA with RISP is the 4th-lowest in all of baseball)... you get debilitating, excruciating loss after debilitating, excruciating loss. A whole potpourri of misery.

To expand on the offense's shortcomings, it's remarkable that the Mets' "Big 4" -- Francisco Lindor, Juan Soto, Brandon Nimmo and Pete Alonso have all been below average hitters for over a month now.

Not what you want out of 4 guys you have $1.3 billion tied to in contracts.

Mets skipper Carlos Mendoza is running out of answers. Mendoza, who came over to Queens from Aaron Boone's bench in the Bronx before last season to replace the ousted former Mets manager Buck Showalter, has now experienced two very different types of midseason energy shifts in his first 2 years as a manager.

The 2024 Mets were an abysmal, lackluster club until the month of June, where through the power of Grimace, the McDonald's mascot (??) and a hit musical record from utility infielder José Iglesias (who could ever forget 'OMG'??) they were able to turn it ALL the way around and embark on an remarkable run that took them all the way from 24-35 bottom-feeders to the 6th game of the National League Championship Series.

The 2024 New York Mets gave their fans a fever dream they won't soon forget.

What a difference a year makes. This current season has seen a complete reversal of the 2024 "vibes." It's not a turnaround this time around; it's a tailspin. And it's not simply that the losses have been piling up at an alarming rate -- it's how painful some of these losses have felt.

Mendoza has made his share of errors and miscalculations of late -- and this is coming from someone that tries their absolute hardest to not follow the typical NY sports mold of playing "Monday Morning Quarterback." But some things just can't be helped.

On Sunday's gut-punch loss in Milwaukee that saw the Mets blow ANOTHER lead -- this time a 5-0 lead after 3 1/2 innings-- Mendoza looked forward to cruising to a much-needed victory. He had it all set up. Sean Manaea just had to go 3 more innings to set up the Rogers/Helsley/Diaz closing trio to prevent the sweep and head back to Citi Field with clubhouse morale much higher than where it'd been lately.

Sean Manaea gave up the first of two home runs that Brewers catcher William Contreras hit on Sunday.

But when you're in the midst of an extended losing skid like the Mets are, matters largely turn into a case of "what can go wrong WILL go wrong" very quickly. Manaea suffered a blow-up inning for the 2nd start in a row, and even then, the Mets still held a 6-5 lead with the aforementioned closing trio to send it home. But Helsley surrendered the game-tying run in the 8th, and a very shaky Edwin Diaz outing concluded with the walkoff homer to Isaac Collins. Yikes.

League-renowned general manager David Stearns, who has historically been lauded for his brilliance in putting together teams in strategic & intelligent fashion, absolutely shoulders some blame for the Mets' shortcomings thus far. His trade deadline acquisitions of Rogers, Helsley, Gregory Soto and center fielder Cedric Mullins were all meaningful, worthwhile additions.

David Stearns served as General Manager / President of Baseball Ops for the Brewers from 2015-2022 before joining the Mets in the same roles after the 2023 season.

His offseason moves have unfortunately proved to be a different story, specifically as it relates to the starting rotation that has been the bane of every Mets fan's existence to this point. Manaea and Holmes have had their moments, but they haven't provided the club with much meaningful length at all this season. The most mind-boggling move of Stearns' offseason has to be handing Frankie Montas a 2-year contract worth $34 million.

Even with Stearns' reputation of finding "diamonds in the rough" for his pitching staffs, Montas hadn't come close to being an above-average starting pitcher since 2022, so the move was questionable even before we saw Montas take the mound for the Mets. Montas has pitched to a 6.4 ERA so far this season, making the signing a downright poor one.

I'm sure it didn't feel great for Stearns to watch his former franchise in Milwaukee absolutely hand it to the Mets in every measurable AND immeasurable regard this past weekend, either.

Mets' fans hopes couldn't have been too high considering the team had already lost 8 of 9 games heading into a road series vs the best & hottest team in baseball in Milwaukee. But these were three painfully winnable games in which the Mets held a lead in each game.

But, as stated before: "what can go wrong..."

DAAAAAAA Yankees Lose

You know, I think about Yankees fans' relationship with Aaron Boone all the time. I've been a few toxic relationships in my time, don't get me wrong. But this one -- it takes the cake.

Boone's winning percentage of .578 ranks 2nd-best among active managers* (Dave Roberts, LAD), 4th-best among Yankees managers* and 16th all-time in the 122-year history of Major League Baseball. (*with at least 300 games managed)

Yet, somehow, at the same time: some of the criticism he faces from Yankees fans is very much warranted.

He even catches some criticism from Yankees royalty. Derek Jeter can tell it better than I can:

Additionally, in famed now-retired play-by-play radio broadcaster John Sterling's words, "They run the bases like drunks."

Who could ever forget that fateful 5th inning in Game 5 of last October's World Series vs the Dodgers, where the Yankees pissed all over themselves with self-inflicted wound after self-inflicted wound in blowing a 5-0 lead & allowing LA to tie the game? A dropped fly ball by the superstar center fielder here, an infield misplay by the highly-touted young shortstop there, the ace pitcher forgetting & failing to cover first base on a routine ground ball...

After such a crushing way to end your World Series hopes on the biggest stage, you would expect a team with as much talent and prestige as the Yankees possess to enter the next season with a year-long chip on their collective shoulders. One would expect them to make that their mission in 2025 and beyond: to fix their failures in the most fundamental areas of the game.

Yet, alarmingly, these same exact mental mistakes and unforced errors have plagued New York throughout the season once again -- that's the biggest indictment on Boone in my estimation.

The Yankees as of today have committed the 8th-most errors in the Major Leagues. Anthony Volpe & Jazz Chisholm, who command two pivotal positions on the infield, have committed the 2nd and 4th-most errors in all of MLB respectively.

Yankees shortstop Anthony Volpe has had a true "up-and-down" season in 2025 -- with both his bat and his glove. GREGORY FISHER / IMAGN IMAGES

It's easy to blame the manager for this, yes. At the same time, how could you not point to the on-field leadership when mistakes happen this frequently?

I mentioned the Miami Marlins at the top of the piece. The Yankees were in Miami two weekends ago. If one of the themes of this piece is "equally crushing and comical losses suffered by both New York baseball teams," then there's no way we can gloss over what took place in Miami on the first day of August.

The Yankees lost a chaotic affair to the Marlins, 13-12. There were two notable things about this game:

1. New York blew a 6-0 lead and surrendered 13 runs in the final 5 innings to suffer what was (at that point) their worst loss of the season.

   
   

2. In absolutely comical fashion, each player that the Yankees acquired via trade in the hours leading up to the July 31st deadline ALL contributed to the defeat.

Relievers Jake Bird & David Bednar, in their first appearances as Yankees, combined to give up 7 hits and 2 home runs in the six-run 6th inning for Miami that took them from a 9-4 deficit to a 10-9 lead. However, the Yankees rallied back for two runs to take a 11-10 lead in the top of the 9th with RBI knocks from trade acquisition Ryan McMahon and Volpe.

All Camilo Doval had to do -- the former San Francisco Giants closer who was ALSO making his first Yankees appearance -- was get the final 3 outs against the bottom of a Marlins order that was comfortably in the bottom half of runs per game in the Majors.

Doval joined Bird and Bednar in first impression failure and coughed up the 2 game-losing runs in the bottom of the 9th. José Caballero, who entered the game in right field after scoring as a pinch-runner in the top of the inning in what was HIS Yankees debut as well, completely botched a base hit in right that set up the Marlins' game-winning rally.

Marlins speedster Xavier Edwards celebrates after racing home to score the game-winning, walkoff run vs Yankees pitcher Camilo Doval on August 1st, 2025. MEGAN BRIGGS / GETTY IMAGES

Yes, the Yankees suffered an exasperating sweep at the hands of the "little engine that could" Marlins. They then moved onto Texas to face the playoff-hunting Rangers, where they somehow managed to suffer two more consecutive debilitating losses to open that series. That brings us to the next source of Yankees despair this season: Devin Williams.

You can't have a conversation about substandard Yankee relief pitching this season without including Devin Williams. The former Rookie of the Year and two-time All-Star is currently in his first year in the pinstripes following an offseason trade between the Yankees and the Brewers. Known for his air-bending, time-shifting changeup, Williams boasted a career ERA of 1.83 as a Brewer from 2019-2024.

In 2025? An ERA of 5.48.

Devin Williams treks off the mound following a 2nd consecutive poor outing in Texas vs the Rangers on August 5th. KEVIN JAIRAJ / IMAGN IMAGES

In back-to-back nights in Texas, here's how Williams fared:

1. On August 4th, he blew a save by giving up a game-tying blast to the Rangers' Joc Pederson (who entered that at-bat as a .125 hitter on the season) in the 9th. The Yankees proceeded to lose 8-5 in 10 innings.

2. August 5th: Devin Williams entered the game -- this time in a non-save situation in the 8th inning. He surrendered a go-ahead 2-run single to Texas' Rowdy Tellez that led to the Rangers' 2-0 victory to take the series.

It seems inconceivable. Using common sense and reasoning, it's not like he forgot how to pitch from one year to the next. He's still striking out batters at the same rate. His walk rate has actually decreased this season. So what's going on?

As someone that has lived in New York for the entirety of my life, I can definitely speak to the idea of "big city pressure." I've watched countless star athletes dominate elsewhere before arriving to New York, where all of a sudden they endure the worst seasons of their careers. I'd name every single one that came to mind, but then we'd be in this article for hours.

Here's the crux of it: The Yankees, much like the Mets, have been a bad baseball team over the past 2 months. 2 months of sample size! That's not a small snippet of the season.

Since June 12th, the Yankees are 23-32, just better than the aforementioned Mets mark of 19 wins and 32 losses.

Can Sinking Ships Be Saved?

Yes, both New York baseball teams have played subpar baseball over the past two months-plus, leading to a shared collapse down the standings since. That's the bad news.

The good news? At least both teams had a high point to collapse down from, right? We know that the Mets and Yankees are capable of playing a quality of baseball on par with most other GOOD teams in the Major Leagues.

So we know through deductive reasoning that it's possible for each team to bounce back and close out the final 6+ weeks of the regular season strong.

Each team has shown recent, albeit small, signs of life. The Yankees, after dropping the first series of their homestand vs the rival Houston Astros, bounced back with a series victory vs their favorite children, the Minnesota Twins.

The Mets returned home from their Milwaukee emasculating and put a hurting on the Atlanta Braves on Tuesday, winning 13-5 in a fun affair that saw slugger Pete Alonso become the all-time Mets home run king, hitting his 253rd career home run (all with the Mets) to break a tie with Mets legend Darryl Strawberry. Alonso hit No. 254 to widen the Mets' lead for good measure, too.

Unfortunately, as has been the case for a while now: these glimmers of hope from both teams turned out to be a case of one step forward, two steps back.

The Yankees dropped the final game of the Twins series thanks to another moment of bullpen faltering. The Mets... continue to follow up crushing losses with even worse ones.

The Mets built a 6-0 lead in Wednesday's rain-delayed game vs the Braves (Remember, they also led 5-0 in Sunday's backbreaker vs the Brewers), with their most reliable starting pitcher on the mound in David Peterson. Cue the 4th inning.

While Mets field reporter Steve Gelbs was reporting on SNY about the Mets' pitching staff issues this season, Peterson simultaneously put on a meltdown for the ages.

Peterson walked the first batter of the inning. Following a single and another walk, he proceeded to walk in the first Braves run of the game. 6-1.

With the bases still juiced, Peterson then surrendered a 3-run double to Jurickson Profar. 6-4.

It was only after another walk that Carlos Mendoza pulled the plug on a rare Peterson disaster of an outing. Reed Garrett, one of the Mets' most reliable bullpen arms, came in to attempt to fan the flames. Garrett instead poured accelerant all over the fire.

The Mets would proceed to fade into the night and lose 11-6.

Let's land this plane and attempt to avoid any crashes. Both teams as of today hold measly 1-game leads for the final Wild Card spots in their respective leagues.

In my estimation, the Yankees are far likelier to turn their season around and pivot back towards real, meaningful contention. Their pitching staff has been far sturdier than their crosstown rivals, and their offense can be trusted to be more consistently productive behind the best bat in the game in the Captain, Aaron Judge. He's back from a momentarily-scary right elbow injury and has largely gotten right back into his typical dominant ways.

Aaron Judge returned off the 10-day IL on August 5th. Judge's 1.131 .OPS is this season's MLB-high by a healthy margin. JIM MCISSAC / GETTY IMAGES

The Yankees' ceiling is higher than the Mets'. But that's not to say the Mets should hand up their spikes and call it a season right this moment. The Mets held the best record in baseball in early June. They've demonstrated real excellence at times.

But there's no way to objectively say they're in a great spot. Holding one of the Wild Cards on August 14th is a good spot. It's not a great place to be with a $300M+ payroll.

NYM's offense is likelier to hit their stride again than their pitching is. The starting rotation is in flux, and the only way that seemingly gets better towards October is if they get some fresh arms from the Minor Leagues to play key roles down the stretch.

To that point, the Mets have called up AAA 24-year-old righty Nolan McLean to make his MLB debut vs the Mariners at Citi Field as Saturday's starting pitcher. Fellow right-hander Brandon Sproat still lies in wait in Syracuse.

In other words, the Mets' key to a season turnaround significantly weighs on two young pitchers who haven't even popped their big league cherries yet.

It truly is amazing that we're here. Both teams enjoyed magical rides last October: the Mets making it to the NLCS and the Yankees returning to the World Series for the first time in 15 years.

Each team's large expectations weren't just payroll-based. They were performance-based as well, going off last postseason. That's why their struggles are stinging their fans more painfully than usual.

Here's to a resurgence -- a tapping-back-into of those sweet 2024 vibes.

If that doesn't happen for either team?

There'll surely be hell to pay in this market. At least both organizations can afford to pay it.