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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: “Panic & Stress Is Contagious For NY Baseball in 2025”

BQE Admin on August 12, 2025

By John Jastremski

I think it’s fair to say for a month plus, the narrative around NY Baseball and panic has been front and center around the New York Yankees. Totally fair, totally justified might I add… 

However, over the past month. The New York Mets have basically said to their crosstown rivals, “Hold my beer.”

The Mets were a team that at one point in the season was 20 plus games over .500 and basically found themselves in a dead heat with the Philadelphia Phillies for first place in the NL East. 

The past month around the Mets has changed that narrative quite significantly. The Mets have fallen on some very hard times as a team. They have lost 7 consecutive games entering Tuesday’s game against the Atlanta Braves. 

After the sweep at the hands of the Brewers, the Mets have stunningly lost 11 of their last 12 games and now cling to the 3rd Wild Card spot in the NL Playoff Picture and find themselves 6 games back of Philadelphia for first place in the NL East. 

The pressing question is how in the world has this happened? A couple of different reasons. 

The Mets cannot get any length out of their starting pitchers. For the past two months, their starters have averaged less than 5 innings a start. I don’t care if it’s the modern day game in 2025, that is 100 percent unacceptable. 

The Mets inability to get length out of their rotation has compromised their bullpen dramatically. 

The Mets also have seen their stars struggle mightily. Francisco Lindor was the conquering hero of the 2024 team. He has been dreadful for the past two months, where you have to wonder if indeed he is 100 percent right? 

Juan Soto falls under that microscope too. Yes, his numbers on the surface look solid, but much of the damage Soto has done was during a red hot month of June.

In the biggest of spots so far in 2025, Juan Soto has come up too small. Soto was the king of the moment a year ago for the Yankees. The Mets need him to meet the moment over the final two months of the season. 

The Mets schedule is very tricky after the next two weeks. It is imperative for the Mets to beat up on the Atlanta Braves, and yes I realize how weird it was typing that exact sentence. 

Yes, the Braves have been a thorn in the Mets side for years. However, the Braves are a hot mess in 2025. 

They are well under .500 and it’s been a lost season. Time to punish a team that wants to be put out of their misery. 

The Mets have time to get their season back on track, but if the stars don’t play like stars and the rotation doesn’t find a way to give them some length, the problems and the misery will continue.

You can listen to my podcast New York, New York on The Ringer Podcast Network on Spotify/Apple Podcasts every Tuesday & Friday. You can watch me 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.

JJ: A Game 1 Shock To The System

BQE Admin on May 6, 2025

By John Jastremski

 

I won’t beat around the bush.

I went into the Eastern Conference Semifinals with zero expectations for New York Knicks success.

After all, could you blame me?

The Celtics are reigning NBA Champions and have dominated the Knicks for the last two seasons.

Boston was 4-0 against the Knicks and three of the games were non competitive. 

The oddsmakers shared my sense of pessimism for the series.

Game 1 was following the same path.

The Knicks were down 20 points in the 3rd quarter despite hideous Celtics 3 point shooting.

It looked like another lost night until it wasn’t… The Knicks responded with incredible grit, toughness and resilience.

OG Anunoby sparked the team in the 3rd quarter and got them back in the game on both ends of the floor.

Of course the captain Jalen Brunson was up to his usual late game tricks. However, in Game 1 the Knicks bailed their Captain out.

Brunson missed a layup that would’ve won the game in regulation, a missed layup that I thought for sure would doom the Knicks chances of winning Game 1. 

Thankfully for Knicks fans, the much maligned Mikal Bridges came to the rescue!

Bridges’ defense on the Celtics wings was off the charts and his 5 points in overtime ended up being the difference in the game. Not bad for a guy who played over 50 minutes!

All season, the toughness of this current Knicks team has been questioned, despite the regular season success.

So far this postseason, it has been up to the challenge.

The team has handled adversity and has answered the bell in tough situations.

Will it be enough to beat the Celtics? I for one am not quite ready to go that far, but I like the feel and look of this series a lot more than I did come Monday afternoon.

Unlike the first round series against Detroit, the Knicks are not expected to win. All of the pressure falls on Boston in this series.

The Celtics may be reigning champs, but their road to a title was an easy one last year.

Let’s see if the Knicks can make it rather bumpy…

 

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

JJ: “An All Time New York Coaching Job. Now, The Fun Begins”

BQE Admin on March 18, 2025

By John Jastremski

Let’s be real about something right out of the gate.
There haven’t been a whole lot of great coaching performances by the coaches of our teams over the past decade plus.
Yeah I can give you Tom Coughlin in 2011 leading the Giants to a Super Bowl or Tom Thibodeau resurrecting a dead Knicks franchise, but the examples aren’t littered with great examples in this town since 2010.
I’ve been doing content in this city since 2011 and I’ve lived here my entire life, so that should give this next statement even more perspective.
Rick Pitino’s job with St John’s is one of the best coaching jobs I have seen in my lifetime in New York Sports.
No exaggeration, no hyperbole.
Rick Pitino has brought a program that has been super irrelevant on the national stage for two decades to a place it has not been in a long, long time.
Last week was a party for everyone associated with the St Johns Red Storm basketball program.
After winning their first Big East regular season crown since the days of Lou Carnesecca, the Johnnies completed their first Big East Tournament crown since 2000.
Madison Square Garden was a sea of red for the Johnnie’s dominant second half against the Creighton Blue Jays.
The Red Storm fell behind in both the semi final on Friday night and Saturday’s Championship game, but the common theme in both games was the relentless, top notch defense that overwhelmed their opponents on the Garden Floor.
In a year in which the basketball community mourned the loss of the great Lou Carnesecca, Pitino honored his legacy in the best way imaginable.
He won and he won big.
A sense of accomplishment, pride and good feelings are all over the Red Storm program at the moment.
However, the work is not done.
The NCAA Tournament begins this Thursday and St Johns has a chance to make some more history.
The program has not won an NCAA Tournament game in 25 years.
They are a 2 seed taking on Omaha. The streak of futility must end.
Newsflash, it will. Barring disaster.
Regardless of what happens, the next few weeks, this season will go down as an all timer for the St John’s program.
It’s already the year that brought the program back to life.
There are more memories to make, can Rick Pitino work his magic in the NCAA Tournament like he has done so many times throughout his illustrious coaching career?
We are about to find out…
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 Sports Nite at 11 PM on SNY. 

A 2025 Yankees Spring Training Nightmare

BQE Admin on March 11, 2025

By John Jastremski

After a picturesque March day, the feeling of Spring and the Baseball season is most certainly in the air. 

The feeling of optimism that is usually shared this team of the year has been turned to downright rotten, justified negativity in Yankees land. 

It’s impossible to have a worse Spring Training than the 2025 New York Yankees. 

The official feeling of rock bottom spring culminated with the sobering news regarding ace pitcher Gerrit Cole. 

Leaving dinner on Friday night, I had a knot in my stomach reading the report that Cole was undergoing tests after feeling significant elbow pain. 

The worst fears of Cole and Yankees fans was officially acknowledged on Monday; season ending Tommy John Surgery. 

When you read the tea leaves of last season. The news shouldnít be totally shocking. Remember, Cole missed the first three months of last year with elbow discomfort. 

He was not given the same leeway in starts including the postseason to go as deep into games as he normally would. The warning signs were there. 

That said, the 2025 Yankees plan for great success was centered around run prevention. Run prevention without one of the best pitchers in baseball is a tall task. 

In addition to not having Cole for the season, the AL Rookie of the Year Luis Gill is going to miss at least the first two months of the year with a lat strain. 

You think that’s bad? What about the lineup… Remember, this is a Yankees lineup that lost one of the best hitters in baseball Juan Soto this past offseason. 

There are plenty of questions as to how the team will go about replacing Soto’s production. 

Well, you can add the production of Giancarlo Stanton as well for the foreseeable future.  Stanton’s status for the 2025 Yankees is unknown. He is out for the next few months with major elbow issues in both elbows. 

Stanton’s brilliance in October can never be questioned. His durability is a much different conversation. 

So, here we are. A few weeks before the start of the season. 

Juan Soto is a Met. Giancarlo Stanton has major elbow issues and won’t be in the lineup anytime soon. Oh and your rotation is without Luis Gill for multiple months and Gerrit Cole for the season. 

Time to alter your 2025 expectations for the reigning AL Champs. There can still be October in the Bronx, but getting there will be anything but easy. 

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.

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