Yankees, Mets both looking to nab momentum heading into 2015 MLB playoffs

Barring an all-time collapse, both the Yankees and Mets will be playing postseason baseball in two weeks.

Flipping the switch is easier said than done, so it will be interesting to see if either New York squad can get hot in the final days of the regular season. Neither have exactly been “tearing it up” of late.

The Yankees did look impressive in an 11-2 win over the Mets at Citi Field on Sunday night and in a 5-0 Saturday blanking of their cross-town rivals. But there have been plenty of losses to sub-par teams in the month of September as the Rays and Orioles have both had some success. Heading into an important showdown with the Blue Jays up north Monday night, the Yanks were an entirely “blah” 10-8 in the month of September so far.

It’s entirely possible that the Yanks could gain some momentum coming off the Subway Series win, however. Jacoby Ellsbury looked like he’s ready to break out of his funk as he delivered three hits Sunday night and, without A-Rod for much of the series, Greg Bird and Carlos Beltran provided some power.

On the mound, CC Sabathia has simply been stunning. Just a month ago, CBSSports.com had a headline of: “Yankees’ CC Sabathia hits disabled list, season might be over.” Three starts later, highlighted by an 111-pitch, five-hit victory Sunday night, Sabathia is arguably the Yanks’ most invaluable piece heading into October.

On the surface, the Mets’ current situation seems more dire simply because of how embarrassing the Matt Harvey ordeal was in the Sunday night loss to the Yanks.

“You don’t want to know what I was thinking,” Mets manager Terry Collins said about Sunday night’s game in which Harvey – who allowed just one hit on 77 pitches – was pulled due to his pre-determined innings limit. “You might want to know, but I can’t tell you.”

At the plate, the Mets have had their struggles in the pats week or so. They scored just seven runs total in the series against the Yankees and have averaged just 2.3 runs per game since Sept. 14. The Marlins shut them out 6-0 on Sept. 16 and the Yankees shut them out last Saturday.

The Mets have a relatively soft schedule the rest of the way as they face the Braves (60-90), Reds (63-85) and Phillies (56-94) before their three-game set with the Nats (78-71) to close out the regular season. Washington was six games behind the Mets in the race for the division as of Monday afternoon and was nine games out in the wild card standings.