New York, New York
By John Jastremski
sports@queensledger.com
The first half of the 2026 MLB season has come to a close.
For one team, expectations were met in some ways, fell short in others. For the other, an absolute nightmare of epic proportions.
I’ll start with the failing midterm grade.
Sorry, the 2026 Mets get a big fat F for this first half. It may be the easiest grade I’ve ever given out in my life.
The Mets entered the season with the 2nd best odds to win the National League. At the All Star break, they are 17 games under .500 and have one of the worst records in baseball.
You could have been glass half empty on the Mets and trust me there were plenty of questions about the offseason plan of David Stearns.
That said, nobody and I mean nobody could have expected this!!!
Juan Soto and Luke Weaver have held up their ends of the bargain, but after that. Nightmare city.
The manager has been fired, the team will sell at the trade deadline and a whole lot of soul searching awaits this winter.
For the other team, the grade is way more favorable, but not perfect. The 2026 Yankees get a first half grade of a B from Professor Jastremski.
There was plenty of good.
The team is double digit games over .500 and has the best run differential in the American League.
They have gotten unbelievable breakout campaigns from Cam Schlittler and Ben Rice.
So why not an A? Pretty simple.
The Yankees can be better. They are currently 3 games behind the Rays for first place in the division.
They just survived the annual June swoon that was most certainly compounded by the injury to captain Aaron Judge.
The Yankees have World Series expectations, to meet that final grade of an A.
A tough final exam awaits….
You can listen to my podcast New York, New York every Sunday & Thursday on Spotify, Apple & YouTube. You can check out NY Sports Rush with Sal Licata every Monday, Wednesday & Friday on the Bet Rivers Network.You can watch me nightly on Honda Sports Nite following Mets postgame on SNY.
