{"id":139169,"date":"2025-08-12T08:10:21","date_gmt":"2025-08-12T08:10:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/139169\/"},"modified":"2025-08-12T08:10:21","modified_gmt":"2025-08-12T08:10:21","slug":"mets-and-yankees-both-slumping-but-you-gotta-see-these-two-catches","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/139169\/","title":{"rendered":"Mets and Yankees both slumping, but you gotta see these two catches"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>The Windup Newsletter<\/strong> \u26be | This is The Athletic\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/5903586\/2024\/11\/07\/mlb-offseason-teams-needs\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">MLB<\/a> newsletter. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/newsletters\/the-windup\/?source=pulsenewsletter&amp;campaign=9178780&amp;userId=10748855\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Sign up here<\/a> to receive The Windup directly in your inbox.<\/p>\n<p>Hot town, summer in the city; the Yankees and the Mets playing hurt and \u2026 uh, bad.<\/p>\n<p>Plus: Let\u2019s check in on the AL Cy Young race, the Guardians are red-hot and we have two catches you gotta see. I\u2019m Levi Weaver. Ken Rosenthal is off this week. Welcome to The Windup!<\/p>\n<p>Disappointments: <strong>The vibes are bad in New York<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Since the All-Star break:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>The Mets are 8-13.\u00a0<\/strong>After leading the NL East by as many as 5.5 games on June 12, they\u2019re now 5.5 games back in the NL East, and 1.5 games from dropping out of the last NL wild-card position. They are on a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/6545777\/2025\/08\/10\/mets-losing-streak-starting-pitchers\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">seven-game losing streak<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>The Yankees are 9-13.\u00a0<\/strong>After leading the AL East by as many as seven games on May 28, they\u2019re now 6.5 games back in the AL East, and a half-game from dropping out of the last AL wild-card position. (Their current losing streak is only one game.)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>I mean, Mariano Rivera\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/6544433\/2025\/08\/09\/mariano-rivera-achilles-injury-yankees-old-timers-day\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">ruptured his achilles tendon<\/a>\u00a0playing center field at the old-timers game. It\u2019s bad times.<\/p>\n<p>For the Mets, it\u2019s even more bleak than the above numbers. After they signed Juan Soto away from the Yankees, this was meant to be the year they became the best team in New York.\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/6545995\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">So much for that<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>They\u2019ve lost 12 of their last 13, They led 5-0 yesterday and still lost. The starting pitching has struggled so mightily that you have to wonder if one of their prospects in Triple A \u2014 Nolan McLean or Brandon Sproat \u2014 might be a better option.\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/6536968\/2025\/08\/10\/mets-jonah-tong-prospect-promotion\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Jonah Tong was just promoted<\/a>\u00a0from Double A to Triple A, so there are options coming. But are they ready to play saviors of a season in peril?<\/p>\n<p>For that matter, is it\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/6545936\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">even possible to rebound<\/a>\u00a0from a stretch like this?<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, the Yankees\u2019 Texas-two step has been particularly brutal for Devin Williams, who was\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/6543543\/2025\/08\/09\/devin-williams-yankees-bullpen-aaron-boone\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">responsible for another loss<\/a>\u00a0over the weekend, this one at home against the Astros. Austin Slater and Amed Rosario \u2014 two of their position-player trade deadline additions \u2014 are on the IL, and 35-year-old\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/6542985\/2025\/08\/08\/giancarlo-stanton-yankees-outfield-return\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Giancarlo Stanton is playing the outfield<\/a>\u00a0for the first time since 2023.<\/p>\n<p>They still\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/6545640\/2025\/08\/10\/yankees-season-struggles-playoffs\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">believe they can turn things around<\/a>. But they might be running out of time.<\/p>\n<p><strong>More Mets<\/strong>: One silver lining: Pete Alonso hit his 252nd home run,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/6544541\/2025\/08\/09\/pete-alonso-home-run-mets-leader-darryl-strawberry\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">tying him with Darryl Strawberry<\/a>\u00a0for the franchise record.<\/p>\n<p><strong>More Old-Timers Game:<\/strong>\u00a0It was the first one the Yankees held since 2019. But a longer absence was ended this year: Graig Nettles was back in uniform after a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/6544062\/2025\/08\/09\/graig-nettles-yankees-old-timers-day-return\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">14-year absence<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Monitoring: <strong>AL Cy Young race check-in<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Obviously, Detroit\u2019s Tarik Skubal is the favorite to win the AL Cy Young. By the \u201cold\u201d stats, he\u2019s 11-3 with a 2.35 ERA in 145 1\/3 innings. By the \u201cnew\u201d stats, his 5.4 bWAR trails only Paul Skenes (5.7) among pitchers, and is seventh-highest in the game. But over his last two starts, he has allowed seven earned runs in 11 2\/3 innings (5.40 ERA).<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s an incredibly small sample size, but has it opened the door to other contenders?<\/p>\n<p>OK, maybe not. But here\u2019s who is knocking on the door, should Skubal\u2019s rough patch turn into a full-blown slump.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Garrett Crochet, Red Sox: 13-4, 2.24 ERA, 148 1\/3 ip, 4.8 bWAR.<\/strong>\u00a0Crochet probably has the strongest case. That\u2019s more wins and a lower ERA than Skubal (his 2.24 mark leads the AL). The separator for Skubal? Crochet has allowed 39 walks to Skubal\u2019s 21. And Crochet\u2019s 1.072 WHIP (while still\u00a0extremely\u00a0good) isn\u2019t particularly close to Skubal\u2019s .860. In short, neither one is allowing many runs, but Crochet is allowing a few more runners to reach base.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Nathan Eovaldi, Rangers: 10-3, 1.38 ERA, 111 ip, 4.3 bWAR.\u00a0<\/strong>Eovaldi doesn\u2019t have a case \u2026 yet. But it\u2019s only because he missed a month with triceps tightness. That\u2019s the only reason he doesn\u2019t lead the ERA race at 1.38 (Paul Skenes leads the sport at 1.94 \u2014\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/6542645\/2025\/08\/08\/paul-skenes-pirates-mlb-career-start-records\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">read Jayson Stark on Skenes here<\/a>). It\u2019s also the only reason Eovaldi\u2019s .838 WHIP doesn\u2019t technically lead the league, ahead of Skubal. He should be a qualifier after his next start, though, which is when the debate begins in earnest. Eno Sarris has\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/6542900\/2025\/08\/10\/nathan-eovaldi-texas-rangers-pitch-mix-analysis\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">more on Eovaldi\u2019s season here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Hunter Brown, Astros: 9-5, 2.51 ERA, 136 1\/3 ip, 4.5 bWAR.<br \/><\/strong><strong>Joe Ryan, Twins: 11-5, 2.79 ERA, 132 1\/3 ip, 4.6 bWAR.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Both Brown and Ryan have been extremely good. But Ryan doesn\u2019t lead the league in any major category, and the only thing Brown has been best at is fewest hits per nine innings (6.2). That\u2019s not nothing, especially given the injuries the Astros rotation has faced this year. The fact that Houston still leads the AL West by a half-game is very much a credit to Brown and Framber V\u00e1ldez. For Ryan, I\u2019m not sure how much it matters when a player\u2019s team isn\u2019t contending, but the Twins \u2026 aren\u2019t.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Honorable mentions<\/strong>: Jacob deGrom (Rangers), V\u00e1ldez (Astros), Max Fried (Yankees), Kris Bubic (Royals)<\/p>\n<p>Gawking: <strong>Look at these catches!!<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>We were blessed this weekend by two otherworldly catches in the outfield.\u00a0First up: Jurickson Profar, who robbed Agustin Ram\u00edrez of a home run with this bit of art:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-6546716 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/unnamed-20.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"512\" height=\"296\"\/><\/p>\n<p>I couldn\u2019t help but recall\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/BleacherReport\/status\/1932255426113929724\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Denzel Clarke\u2019s catch<\/a>\u00a0earlier this year. The smooth jump, catch, swoop and roll back over the wall. Brilliant, both of them. But it has been a while since I\u2019ve seen anything like this catch from Adolis Garc\u00eda yesterday:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-6546718 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/unnamed-21.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"512\" height=\"288\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Off the glove, off the shoulder, barehanded just before it touched grass. They reviewed it and everything. Unreal.<\/p>\n<p>Hmm: <strong>Guardians back from the dead?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>If the Guardians have snuck up on you, you\u2019re not alone. They\u2019ve also been sneaking up on the rest of the American League.<\/p>\n<p>Cleveland hit the All-Star break at three games below .500 (46-49), and were less than two weeks removed from trailing the AL Central by 15.5 games. That\u2019s not quite the definition of toast, not in this expanded-playoffs era, but it\u2019s pretty close.<\/p>\n<p>Since then, they\u2019re 15-7, and (paired with cold stretches of varying lengths from the Tigers, Yankees and Rangers) they\u2019re now six games back in the division \u2014 and a half-game out of the third AL wild-card position.<\/p>\n<p>Zack Meisel has a good\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/6545106\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">by-the-numbers here<\/a>\u00a0to explain the hot streak.\u00a0The short version: the offense hasn\u2019t been dominant, but it has been getting timely hitting, which is how you score runs in bunches. Kyle Manzardo has rounded into form, cresting the 20-homer mark with an .808 OPS.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, the pitching has been getting significant contributions from Gavin Williams and a cast of less-recognizable names. Kolby Allard entered the year with a career ERA of 5.99 with the Braves (twice), Rangers and Phillies. This year? 2.54 in 25 games (two starts).<\/p>\n<p>And hey \u2014 no Emmanuel Clase? No problem. Nic Enright and Erik Sabrowski have stepped up in a huge way.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019ll add this: Cleveland ranks sixth on FanGraph\u2019s team-wide Def stat.<\/p>\n<p>Hitting? Pitching? Defense? Check, check, check.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Handshakes and High Fives<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>OK I guess we\u2019re starting this up again\u2026\u00a0<strong>Brewers win-streak counter<\/strong>:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlb.com\/news\/brewers-play-finale-vs-mets-after-flooding-in-milwaukee\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">nine games<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Jen Pawol\u2019s debut was a success \u2014\u00a0David O\u2019Brien\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/6543691\/2025\/08\/09\/mlb-first-female-umpire-debut\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">has the full story from the game<\/a>, while Britt Ghiroli has\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/6545610\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">more context on the historical significance<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>12 teams are in playoff spots. Six others are within five games. Who has the toughest (and easiest) path to the postseason? Stephen Nesbitt and Chad Jennings\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/6542881\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">break down the schedules<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>What makes a good teammate? Rustin Dodd\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/6540705\/2025\/08\/09\/jeff-francoeur-leadership-joy-teammate-baseball\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">caught up with Jeff Francoeur<\/a>, who was widely considered one of the best.<\/p>\n<p>How is Carlos Correa learning to play third base? He\u2019s\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/6545252\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">studying the league\u2019s best<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The biggest measure of success for Trevor Story in Boston this year?\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/6545696\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Staying on the field<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Hey, so\u2026 the Twins have a winning record since the trade deadline, and have won five of their last seven games. One big reason:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/6545659\/2025\/08\/10\/minnesota-twins-walk-off-win-luke-keaschall\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">rookie sensation Luke Keaschall<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The NL West starting pitching is getting healthy again:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/6543660\/2025\/08\/10\/padres-michael-king-return-injury\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Michael King is back with the Padres<\/a>, and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/6544832\/2025\/08\/10\/blake-snell-dodgers-rotation-healthy\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Blake Snell with the Dodgers<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Have you ever seen a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlb.com\/news\/willie-maciver-delivers-go-ahead-two-run-double-in-a-s-win-vs-orioles\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">switch-throwing position player<\/a>? Carlos Cortes of the A\u2019s played right field left-handed, then moved to third base, where he played right-handed.<\/p>\n<p>And we had a couple of round-number benchmarks over the weekend: Jose Altuve hit his\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlb.com\/news\/willie-maciver-delivers-go-ahead-two-run-double-in-a-s-win-vs-orioles\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">250th home run<\/a>, while Justin Verlander notched his\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/6546022\/2025\/08\/11\/giants-loss-nationals-justin-verlander-strikeouts\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">3,500th strikeout<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Most-clicked in our last newsletter<\/strong>:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/6541579\/2025\/08\/08\/mlb-weird-facts-pirates-blue-jays-orioles-phillies\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">The latest Weird and Wild<\/a>\u00a0by Jayson Stark, of course.<\/p>\n<p>\ud83d\udceb Love The Windup? <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/5803046\/2024\/09\/30\/the-athletic-newsletters-sign-up\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\"><strong>Check out<\/strong><strong>\u00a0The Athletic<\/strong><strong>\u2019s other newsletters<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: right;\">(Photo: Jim McIsaac\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Windup Newsletter \u26be | This is The Athletic\u2019s MLB newsletter. Sign up here to receive The Windup&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":139170,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[1266,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-139169","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-mlb","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-united-states","11":"tag-unitedstates","12":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115014784027715736","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139169","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=139169"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139169\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/139170"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=139169"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=139169"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=139169"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}