This weekend will be huge in New York, as the Yankees and Mets do battle in the Subway Series. This time, the stakes are higher, as this will be Juan Soto's return to the Bronx after leaving the Yankees in free agency to sign a 15-year, $765 million deal with the Mets. Yankees fans have taken offense to this, even though the team acquired Soto via a trade with the San Diego Padres for one year.
The Yankees went on a spending spree after losing out on Soto and filled out their roster. One of their big signings could help ease the pain of Yankees fans watching Soto don a Mets uniform, and that's starting pitcher Max Fried, who is schedued to start in the series finale on Sunday.
Max Fried can help Yankees fans forget all about Juan Soto in Subway Series
The Yankees first real pivot move after losing Soto was signing Fried, the former Atlanta Braves starting pitcher to an eight-year, $218 million contract. That signing proved to be more pivotal than expected, as Gerrit Cole underwent Tommy John surgery before the start of the season. Then, the Yankees dealt with other injuries to their rotation, including Luis Gil and Marcus Stroman.
Fried has been lights out all season for the Yankees, as he is virtually guaranteed to go six innings and not allow more than a run a game. The Yankees couldn't have asked for anything more from Fried. This season, Fried has a ridiculous 1.11 ERA, a 0.94 WHIP, and a 6-0 win-loss record while recording 52 strikeouts and just 13 walks in 56.2 innings (nine starts).
The Yankees are going to need Fried to be at the top of his game, as the Mets are no joke. The Mets offense has a .254 batting average (eighth-best), a .764 OPS (fifth-best), and 197 runs batted in (eighth-best), as of this writing.
The thing is, the Yankees lead in nearly every hitting category, so the Mets' rotation will hae to hold up their end of the bargain as well. So far, the Mets' pitching staff has a cumulative 2.81 ERA, the best in the entire majors as of this writing.
As if New York bragging rights weren't enough, the Yankees and Mets fanbases will argue which team had the better offseason. For Yankees fans, they will hope that Fried will be as dominant as he's been so far this season.