Facebook Twitter Instagram
718 426 7200
Facebook Twitter Instagram

JJ: “A Giant Change in the Coaching Equation…”

BQE Admin on January 15, 2026

By John Jastremski
The coaching carousel in the NFL can sometimes take a life of its own.
Quite frankly, I feel I have been living in this world of candidates for the better part of the last few weeks.
Since the Giants parted ways with Brian Daboll back in November, this has been your life as a Giants fan.
If you follow the team, it seems every prospective candidate has been dissected.
I’m sure you’ve heard the names Jeff Hafley, Jesse Minter & Mike McCarthy a little too much for your liking.
Guess what, last Tuesday finally brought a shifting wind to whatever the Giants organization might have been thinking.
After 18 seasons, the Ravens and Head Coach John Harbaugh parted ways.
Holy moly! As Elanie Costanza famously once said, “this changes everything!”
Harbaugh is exactly the program builder the Giants desperately need.
He is a Super Bowl winning coach. He’s reinvented himself throughout his 17 years in Baltimore and has been a fixture in the month of January in the postseason.
Sure, he will not come cheap. Yes, you’ll have to spend a pretty penny on his coaching staff.
Guess what, who cares!
Giants ownership has to embarrassed with the product that has been on the field for the past decade.
They cannot find themselves in a position rolling the dice on a first time head coach.
For this job at this time, Harbaugh is the perfect fit for the franchise.
He will come in high demand and will have his pick of the vacancies.
Giants fans can only hope that he’s in a New York State of Mind.
You can listen to my podcast New York, New York every Sunday & Thursday on The Ringer Podcast Network on Spotify/Apple Podcasts. You can watch me nightly at 11 PM on Honda Sportsnite on SNY. 

JJ: “New Year’s Resolutions – Four Mistakes NY Teams Need to Learn From in 2026”

BQE Admin on December 31, 2025

New York New York

By John Jastremski

Last week, I looked back on the year in New York Sports for 2025, a year unfulfilled for a majority of our teams in town. The calendar is over and done with and now 2026 awaits.

Look, we all may have some resolutions we want to tackle for 2026. Some of them may be more realistic than others, but in the spirit of the new year, I figured I would offer some advice to our teams.

David Stearns must change approach when it comes to handling starting pitchers.

Mets GM David Stearns hit the lottery in 2024 with the way he built his pitching staff. His buy low guys panned out brilliantly. A year later, Stearns did not come anywhere close to the same success.

The Mets collapse in 2025 in many ways was triggered by atrocious starting pitching. Yes, Stearns is right to be confident in youngster Nolan McLean as a major part of the puzzle.

However, he needs to be aggressive in targeting a legitimate front of the line arm to help McLean.

Will Stearns properly pivot?

Will Yankees Adjust Approach For October success?

The Yankees properly pivoted last offseason after losing Juan Soto to the Mets.

Max Fried & Cody Bellinger were a big part of the success of the 2025 regular season.

However, in the postseason, the result remained the same. Another year without a World Series title.

Will Brian Cashman acknowledge the need for balance and an a contact approach up and down the lineup? Or will it be a lineup with automatic outs at the bottom like we saw a year ago in the ALDS?

Will Giants ownership learn from past mistakes in Head Coach Hiring Process?

The Giants once again will be in the market for a head coach in January. 

It’s a franchise that hasn’t gotten it right with their head man since the days of Tom Coughlin.

Can they find the proper leader equipped to handle the battleground that is New York?

Don’t make the same mistake of years past. Try to find a leader with experience as a head coach who can go and hit the ground running.

Will Aaron Glenn learn from his mistakes from his nightmarish first season?

It’s tough to have a more miserable first season than Jets Head Coach Aaron Glenn.

From non competitive football to dust ups with the media, it’s been as bad as it gets.

Will Glenn acknowledge the mistakes of year 1 on and off the field and grow from them?

Or will he join a long list of failed Jets head coaches…

Hopefully 2025 will bring a lot of reflection and learning for the power brokers of NY Sports and 2026 will be a year of upward mobility!

You can listen to my podcast New York, New York on The Ringer Podcast Network every Sunday/Thursday on Spotify/Apple Podcasts. You can watch me nightly on Honda Sportsnite at 11 PM on SNY. 

JJ: “The Year in NY Sports for 2025. Not Good Enough…”

BQE Admin on December 25, 2025

New York New York

By John Jastremski

Believe it or not, next week is the final full week of 2025. 

In NY Sports, I think many of us went into the calendar year with high hopes for our teams and prospects for success. 

Looking back on the year, it’s hard to not have a feeling of disappointment. 

I think the best way to look at NY Sports in 2025 is to say the year wasn’t good enough. 

Our baseball teams were fresh off a trip to the World Series and the NLCS a year ago at this time. 

Life was good for Mets fans, Juan Soto was the new conquering hero and the sky was the limit… Until it wasn’t. 

The Mets inexplicably missed the playoffs in 2025 and it was no fluke. 

They were a terrible baseball team for the final 4 months of the season and the ramifications of that poor play is the wholesale change we are witnessing within the team heading into 2026. 

In Yankees land, it was another year of coming up short in October. 

Yes, the Yankees pivoted brilliantly away from Juan Soto. 

Yes, they tied the Blue Jays for the most wins in the American League, but another year slips through the hourglass of Aaron Judge’s career without a ring. 

The pressure continues to mount and yet the team continues to be content with where they stand. 

Good enough to be in the dance, sure they have a chance, but it hasn’t been good enough to win. 

The football teams. Par for the course. And not in a good way. A collective 5 wins by 2 teams is a special sort of ineptitude. 

One would argue the New York Knicks would buck this trend of not being good enough. 

And compared to the other teams in town, it makes perfect sense. 

The Knicks advanced to the Eastern Conference Final for the first time in 25 seasons. 

They had an epic 2nd round series win against the Boston Celtics. 

Yet, they can join the club of disappointment. Why? The Game 1 collapse against the Indiana Pacers will be a game that lives forever in infamy. 

It flat out cost the Knicks the series and will haunt this team until of course they reach the NBA Finals. 

2025 was eventful. There were some monster moments, promising debuts & plenty of interesting subplots. 

At the end of the day, it wasn’t good enough for our fair city. Let’s hope 2026 can be better…

You can listen to my podcast New York, New York every Sunday & Thursday on The Ringer Podcast Network on Spotify/Apple Podcasts. You can watch me nightly on Honda Sports Nite at 11 PM on SNY.

JJ: “For the Mets. The Core Is a Changin'”

BQE Admin on November 26, 2025

New York, New York

By John Jastremski

Sunday was the first of many big moves by David Stearns and the Mets braintrust this winter.

Make no mistake, Sunday was a trade that was a bit of a shock to the system. Brandon Nimmo, the popular outfielder and longest tenured Met was traded for Rangers Infielder Marcus Semien.

My initial reaction was of surprise, but not shock. If you follow the team closely and listen to the chatter and smoke that was being reported over the past week, it became obvious that Nimmo despite his no trade clause was being shopped.

If you also took a listen to what David Stearns had to say throughout this offseason, the theme of athleticism and run prevention was going to be a major point of emphasis in improving the club.

At this stage of Nimmo’s career, his defense and athleticism is most certainly in decline. On the flip side, despite his age, Semien’s defense profiled incredibly well at 2nd base.

Look, if we are comparing the back of the baseball card in 2025, I won’t pretend to say the Mets instantly improved their baseball team just based upon this trade. 

They didn’t, but they did accomplish a major goal.

Yes, not only did the Mets get better defensively, they now have a lot more flexibility to swing big in the outfield this offseason. Does that mean Free Agent Outfielders Kyle Tucker or Cody Bellinger? Does it mean a trade for athletic players such as Byron Buxton and Ketel Marte?

The opportunities and flexibility within the roster now must be taken advantage of by David Stearns and the Met brass.

Look, it’s never fun trading a life long Met or the longest tenured player on your team. However, after the way the 2025 season finished up, you couldn’t simply run it back.

You can’t play as poorly as the Mets played, miss the postseason and make zero significant moves when it comes to changing the core of your team.

Brandon Nimmo’s departure was the first signal that nobody from last year’s group should feel safe.

Now, let’s see what the rest of the winter brings.

You can listen to my podcast New York, New York on The Ringer podcast network on Spotify/Apple Podcasts every Sunday & Thursday. You can watch me nightly on Honda Sports Nite at 11 PM on SNY.

The Bully Yanks… Until Proven Otherwise…

BQE Admin on September 2, 2025

By John Jastremski

The 2025 New York Yankees just put together a recent stretch of baseball that sums up their season rather appropriately. 

The Yankees got rather fat against three sub .500 teams. The Twins, Cardinals and Rays respectively. 

They got absolutely smacked by the Boston Red Sox, one of the better teams in the American League. 

It’s been a common theme watching this group play over the course of the season. 

When the Yankees are going good, they’re going real good. The ball is leaving the ballpark, their starters are going deep into games and they find a way to hold down leads in the late innings. 

When the Yankees are going poorly, a lot of the warts and deficiencies of the group are on full display for the world to see. 

It’s a team that can’t win without hitting a home run. It’s a team that yucks up leads with shaky relief work. 

Oh and don’t forget about the poor fundamentals in the field and the bases that continue to be a narrative around the franchise dating back to last season. 

When the Yankees are going poorly, all of these elements come to play. 

Here’s the dirty little secret regarding the 2025 Yankees: They will be playing October baseball. 

The team faces a September schedule that is rather reasonable against a good number of sub .500 opponents. 

More than likely, the Yankees will find themselves in the Wild Card round the first week in October with a series against a team that has owned them all season. 

The only way this group is changing the current bully narrative about their season is two fold. 

Stun the world by winning the American League East. Highly unlikely with a 5 game deficit and a month to play, but it would signal a whole lot of wins against both the Blue Jays and the Red Sox. 

Two, flip the script in October against the better teams in the American League. 

It’s hard to imagine the script changing in Yankees land, but if you’re not satisfied with the narrative, you have to change it. 

We’ll see if this team can…

You can listen to my podcast New York, New York on The Ringer Podcast Network on Spotify/Apple Podcasts every Sunday & Thursday evenings. You can watch me nightly on Honda Sports Nite following Mets Postgame on SNY. 

JJ: “New York Baseball Midseason Report Cards”

BQE Admin on July 18, 2025

By John Jastremski

We have officially reached the midway point of the 2025 NY Baseball season. All things considered, it’s a good thing that if the season were to end today, the Mets and the Yankees would both be a part of the postseason.  The bad news is that both would be lined up to play in the Best of 3 Wild Card Round. 

So at the halfway point of the season, step into the grading room of Professor Jastremski of the Newhouse School. He knew plenty about getting A’s in broadcasting and history classes. Math and Science classes, eh not so much. Let’s give some grades for both teams, shall we? 

Pete Alonso: A

Pete’s first half has been arguably the best half of his big league career. He’s gotten a ton of big hits and it appears he’s bet on himself in a much better way than he did in 2024. 

Max Fried: A

I’ve always had an appreciation of Fried from a distance watching him with the Atlanta Braves, but he’s been even better than advertised in his first year pitching in pinstripes. His significance and importance to the 2025 Yankees went up exponentially after Gerrit Cole was lost for the season. Fried has been every bit the ace the Yankees have needed. 

Clay Holmes: B+ 

The Mets have dealt with a whole lot of adversity in their rotation throughout the first half of this season. One of the major questions in the rotation has been anything but for the first half of this year. Clay Holmes transitioned into being a starter for the first time in his big league career and I had serious reservations about whether or not he was up for the challenge. Holmes has done a very nice job taking the ball every 5th day. The only reason he didn’t earn himself an A is due to his inability to go deep into games. 

Paul Goldschmidt: B 

The Yankees found themselves in a spot in 2024 where first base was an absolute black hole. Paul Goldschmidt has provided much needed stability both offensively and defensively to 1st base. He’s been an absolute pro’s pro. 

Mark Vientos: D 

I had high hopes for the Mets breakout star from 2024. There is no way to sugar coat it, Vientos first half has been an absolute flop. He’s lost playing time, he’s been injured and he hasn’t performed both at the plate and in the field. Perhaps the past few games in Kansas City will be the turning point of getting his season and full season grade back on track. 

Anthony Volpe: D 

The most disappointing Yankees performer by a significant margin, If you take out Volpe’s March/April stats, the numbers of futility are even more alarming. He seems to have no plan at the plate, his confidence is shot and now his defense at shortstop which was supposed to be a strength has become a massive liability. 

The Yankees have a shortstop problem until I see reasons otherwise… 

New York Mets: A-

The Mets have weathered a whole lot of storms especially from a pitching standpoint so far this first half. They are a half game out of first place and will be a major player at the trade deadline. The team is exactly on track to where I thought they’d be preseason. 

New York Yankees: B+ 

The only reason the Yankees didn’t earn themselves an A grade for the first half is due to what happened over the final 4 weeks of June and into July where a massive division lead turned into a minor deficit. The Yankees lineup has exceeded my expectations in the absence of Juan Soto, but can they upgrade a few key spots over the next few weeks to win a very congested AL East…

JJ: “Welcome to New York, Mike Brown”

BQE Admin on July 14, 2025

It’s Now NBA Finals Or Bust…

By John Jastremski

Last week, the Knicks finally concluded their head coaching search and decided former Sacramento Kings head coach Mike Brown will be their guy.

My first reaction to the news was that as a Knicks fan, I felt uninspired.

Look, Mike Brown on paper fits the bill of the sort of coach you’d want leading your team.

There’s no sense of the unknown for a franchise that will have sky high expectations going into next season.

You know what you’re getting with Mike Brown.

He ran a tremendous offense in Sacramento that was as modern as it gets.

He’s taken a team to the NBA Finals before, albeit a team that had LeBron James, but an accomplishment none the less.

In addition, he seems like a tremendous guy. I expect he will do a fantastic job in handling the NY media and what comes with that.

So, you might ask. After what I just detailed, why is the hire uninspiring.

Well, it’s pretty simple to me.

After the Knicks fired Tom Thibodeau, I was expecting the sort of hire that would put me in a position where I feel the team clearly upgraded with their head coach.

No disrespect to Mike Brown, but I for one am not convinced the Knicks hired a better head coach than Thibs.

Thats why I cant share a feeling of elation and excitement when it comes to the hire.

However, the goal is pretty simple for Mike Brown next season.

It’s time to get the Knicks back to the NBA Finals for the first time since 1999.

Are those unfair expectations to a first year head coach?

In most circumstances, yes. Not with this current Knicks group.

The roster is there, the East is weak and if not now, then when.

Talk about walking into a pressure cooker!

You can listen to my podcast New York, New York on The Ringer Podcast Network every Tuesday & Friday on Spotify/Apple Podcasts. You can watch me nightly on Honda Sports Nite following Mets postgame on SNY.

JJ: “A Polar Bear Reunion That Was “Met” To Be…”

BQE Admin on June 13, 2025

By: John Jastremski

It’s amazing to see how a player’s narrative can evolve in a city and within a fan base. 

If you go back to Pete Alonso’s rookie year in 2019, he won over the city and the Mets fans with relative ease. 

From day one in the big leagues, Alonso has been a bonafide slugging machine. 

He set a rookie home run record, won a couple of Home Run Derby’s and seemed destined to be a Met for life. 

However, if you turn back the clock to last September or even this past winter, there were a couple of moments where it was easy to imagine the divorce between the Mets and Pete Alonso. 

Last September, it was performance related. Pete Alonso was not playing up to his usual standard in a contract year. 

Maybe he was pressing, maybe it was just a down season, but the final month of the year in a very intense playoff race, it felt like Alonso was playing his last few games as a Met. 

Despite the incredible contributions that Pete Alonso made to the Mets over the years, I think a good chunk of Mets fans would have been OK saying goodbye in the offseason until a certain swing of the bat in Milwaukee changed the fortunes of the Mets and Alonso’s season. 

Pete Alonso’s underwhelming 2024 regular season was all forgotten after hitting one of the most dramatic home runs in Met history against Devin Williams.  

After a home run like that, a moment like that, how could you let Alonso go? 

Well, the winter time put that narrative to the test. 

The Mets signed Juan Soto from the Yankees and did not exactly prioritize Pete’s return. 

The month of January rolled on, Pete Alonso remained unsigned and it felt like the interest was not necessarily there in Mets land. 

Steve Cohen and specifically Mets GM David Stearns faced a lot of backlash from angry Mets fans at the team’s fan fest in January regarding the negotiations and lack of progress. 

The week of the Super Bowl, the Mets fans got the result they desired. Alonso back in Queens, but on a short term deal. 

Well, after the whirlwind of 2024, it’s fair to acknowledge the Mets should thank their lucky stars that Pete ended up back with the team. 

Alonso has been an incredible offensive force and is arguably having the best start to a season he has ever had. 

This is a player who is going to be negotiating from a position of strength at the end of this offseason, but it’s obvious the Alonso/Mets partnership is a must. 

The Mets need his power in the middle of the order. 

Alonso is on his way to becoming the franchise’s all time home run leader and if he stays long term, imagine this; Pete Alonso has a chance to become the best Mets home grown position player ever. 

Darryl Strawberry and David Wright hold that mantle for now, but neither featured the necessary longevity.   

Strawberry due to his departure and issues off the field. David Wright’s back and body got the best of him. 

Alonso’s power should age decently in the next few years and this should be a no-brainer for the Mets down the road. 

Make Pete Alonso a Met for life. 

You can listen to my podcast New York, New York on The Ringer Podcast Network on Spotify/Apple Podcasts. You can watch me nightly on Honda Sports Nite following Mets postgame on SNY. 

JJ: “A World Series Rematch With Better Version Of Yanks?”

BQE Admin on May 27, 2025

By: John Jastremski

This weekend, the Yankees will renew acquaintances with the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium. Remember those guys? The World Series Champs. 

It will be the Yankees first matchup with the Dodgers since last year’s Fall Classic. 

It was a World Series to forget for Yankees fans. 

I have a very hard time making a series at the end of May, a be all, end all type of series. 

That said, as the Yankees get set to take on the champs, this take dawned on me. 

If you would have said to me after the World Series a year ago, the Yankees would lose Juan Soto and be a better baseball team, there is no chance I would have believed you. 

Yet, as the Yankees get ready for the month of June and this World Series rematch to come, I think that they are. 

Look, this has nothing to do with Juan Soto. Juan Soto is one of the main reasons last year’s team won the AL Pennant. 

He was amazing, he was clutch, and make no mistake, I wanted him back in pinstripes. 

However, look at the complexion of the 2025 New York Yankees. 

Through two months, they have the best run differential in Major League Baseball. 

Offensively, they have done a wonderful job replacing the production of Soto. 

Ben Rice and Trent Grisham have come out of nowhere and have been essential components to the lineup. 

They’ve hit the ball hard, they’ve gotten on base and they’ve hit for power. 

The Yankees youngsters have been up and down, but Anthony Volpe, Jasson Dominguez and Austin Wells have all shown moments of promise.   

It also helps that the lineup has Aaron Judge, the best hitter in the world mashing at a record pace through the first two months. 

Offensively speaking, the Yankees have been just fine for now, without Mr. Soto. 

The first Free Agent signing in the Yankees Juan Soto pivot was Max Fried. 

Can you imagine where this Yankee team would be without Fried? Fried has been one of the three top starters in baseball over the first two months of the season. 

The team needed an ace in the absence of Gerrit Cole’s season ending Tommy John surgery and Fried has delivered on that front. 

Just think about this for a minute. 

The Yankees have played two months of baseball. Juan Soto is a Met. Gerrit Cole was lost for the season in March. Luis Gill and Giancarlo Stanton have not appeared in a single game. Oh and Jazz Chisholm has missed a month.. 

With all that. The Yankees have a six game lead in the American League East and have the best run differential in baseball. 

There is a long way to go, but in the post Soto pivot, there is a whole lot to like. 

If you’re a Yankees fan, you’re singing, “Gimme More!” 

You can listen to my podcast New York, New York on The Ringer Podcast Network following every Knicks Playoff Game on Spotify/Apple Podcasts. You can watch me nightly on Honda Sports Nite on SNY. 

JJ: “As Subway Series Dawns, The Soto Sub Plot Emerges…”

BQE Admin on May 14, 2025

By: John Jastremski

It’s truly understood that New York City has a major case of Mid May Knicks fever. 

When you are one game away from the Conference Finals, that is to be expected. 

However, the first installment of the Subway Series awaits on Friday night and the anticipation has been building since last December. 

Juan Soto will make his return to Yankee Stadium for the first time wearing Orange and Blue. 

After a year in which Yankees fans showered him with love, praise and admiration, the tone on Friday night will be drastically different. 

Imagine the jeers that David Ortiz and Jose Altuve have received from the Bronx faithful over the last few seasons, well I think that hostility towards Soto will be even worse.

Juan Soto chose the Mets, you can’t imagine the Yankee faithful are particularly happy about that. 

It will get lost in the Soto subplot, but the first month plus of the season heading into the Subway Series has been rather glass half full for both teams. 

The Mets through 42 games are double digit games over .500 and in first place in the NL East, and that’s without Juan Soto contributing much through the month of April. 

It was only a matter of time before Soto joined the party and he has been one of baseball’s hottest hitters through the early portion of May. 

In Yankee land, despite some pot holes along the way, the boys from the Bronx lead the AL East at 24-17. 

Aaron Judge hasn’t missed a beat even without Juan Soto hitting in front of him and is on a triple crown pace.

And despite the Yankee pitching staff suffering a whole lot of adversity, newly acquired Max Fried has been everything you could hope for and then some leading the staff. 

In fact, it makes you wonder in Yankee land. Where would this team be if they hadn’t signed the lefty in the offseason. 

It’s mid may so I would be careful with rash judgements either way regarding the result of this 3 game series, but to have an October like feel to this weekend is rather exciting. 

As if we needed any more excitement right about now in the Big City…

You can listen to my podcast New York, New York after every Knicks Playoff or Subway Series Game on The Ringer Podcast Network on Spotify/Apple Podcasts. You can watch me nightly on Honda Sports Nite following Mets postgame on SNY.

Fill the Form for Events, Advertisement or Business Listing