New York is a baseball town right now, with the Yankees and Mets both in first place and off to terrific starts through the first 30-plus games of the season.
So Gio and Jerry went back in time to see how these teams stack up to the greatest teams in franchise history, and in terms of wins and losses, both teams are on the cusp.
“You want to really believe with both of these teams, we went back to reference points of the best teams we can remember for both of these franchises, the 1998 and 1986 Yankees, and both of them were pretty damn good after 31 games,” Gio said.
“Both teams were slightly better, the 31 games, but they’re right there. Maybe that is enough of a sample size.”
The Yankees are just two games behind the pace of the 1998 Yankees, though that team won 61 games by the All-Star break and went on to win 114 total. Still, Jerry says there is enough from the Bombers at the top of their lineup to rival what the Yanks had in 1998 in Chuck Knoblauch, Derek Jeter, Paul O’Neill, Bernie Williams (who won the batting title), and Tino Martinez.
“You’ve got Judge, we know what he is,” Jerry said. “Stanton, we know what he is. LeMahieu, he was a batting champion before he came here, is we know how good he is, and I just think Rizzo is a damn good baseball player. That’s a pretty good four to what I’m sure the top four of the Yankees were in 1998.”
Follow Ryan Chichester on Twitter: @ryanchichester1
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