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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.

Yankees to Host Mets on 25th Anniversary of 9/11

BQE Admin on September 9, 2025

Noah Zimmerman

noah@queensledger.com

The Mets and Yankees will meet in the Bronx on the 25th anniversary of 9/11 next season, five years after doing so for the first timez.

With the 2026 MLB schedule released at the end of August, the 9/11 memorial game is one of the most eyecatching matchups of the year. The two New York teams will face off in a high-intensity series that will take place during the final stretch of next season’s playoff race.

The 2021 meeting was the first time both took the field together in New York. It was an emotional affair featuring hundreds of FDNY, NYPD, EMT, and Department of Sanitation workers, survivors of the attacks, and of course the first responder baseball caps worn every year by both the Mets and Yankees on the anniversary of the attacks. Both teams stepped onto the field to shake hands and exchange pleasantries before the first pitch.

The game itself was an electric one, featuring an early 5-0 Yankee lead, a daring Mets comeback, and late lead changes. Two 8th inning runs gave the Yankees a 8-7 win, an important victory as they went on to claim the final Wild Card spot in the AL.

Next year’s matchup will be the first in a three-game series at Yankee Stadium. The Citi Field edition of the Subway Series will take place from May 15 to the 17.

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: “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.

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.

Celebrating home runs with doughnuts

Jessica Meditz on October 11, 2022

By Jessica Meditz

jmeditz@queensledger.com

Baseball is America’s national pastime. It’s a game that often calls for celebrations of victory.

Best known for his 22-season career in Major League Baseball and setting an impeccable record with 60 home runs in a single season with the Yankees, Babe Ruth was a household name back in his day.

Little does the world know: Ruth was a simple man. He loved doughnuts.

Prior to the delectable doughnuts that New Yorkers know today from Dough Doughnuts, the family of Jeffrey Zipes, co-owner, previously owned Lori Bari Bakery — which had locations around the city.

Ruth frequented their Bronx location on 89th St. and Broadway.

He lived around the corner on the same street, according to Bruce Zipes, the son of the shop’s former owner, Harry.

“He would come into my father’s bakery when he was in New York every single morning. My dad didn’t know if he was coming home or going out to the stadium. He would come in at six in the morning,” he said.

“Babe would go in the back of the bakery while the bakers were baking, and he started picking at things, you know? Which was okay.”

What wasn’t okay for his grandfather, Izzy, was when Ruth would spit his chewing tobacco on the floor.

“My grandfather came from Poland, he didn’t know baseball and didn’t know who Babe was from Adam. He would actually throw him out of the bakery,” Zipes said.

“Everybody went up to my grandfather and said, ‘Do you know who that is?’ My father had to run after Babe in the street and tell him to come back.”

Babe Ruth loved their whipped cream and hibiscus doughnuts.

So much, in fact, that he would devour the Lori Bari doughnuts in just one bite.

“The Babe loved the hibiscus doughnut so much that my father renamed it “The Babe,” which we at Dough still serve today,” Jeffrey Zipes said.

Ruth visited the bakery so often, but never carried a ball on him to be signed. 

The Lori Bari workers befriended Ruth, but unfortunately never got their autographed baseball.

“Years later, I had the opportunity to tell that story to his granddaughter, Linda Ruth, and she laughed and actually signed a ball for me,” he said. “Maybe not as good, but I have a piece of history anyway.”

On his birthday in February, Ruth was in town and requested that the Lori Bari crew make him a cake with the “special doughnuts.”

Harry Zipes made Ruth a platter of 60 doughnuts to commemorate his 60 home runs.

“An hour or two after he picked them up, he called and said he wanted 60 more doughnuts,” Bruce Zipes said.

In the case of Yankees sluggers, history repeated itself in the form of superstar Aaron Judge, who recently hit his 60th single-season homer.

Judge went on to hit No. 61, tying the great Roger Maris, who beat Ruth’s record in 1961.

Yankee fans clamored when Judge finally hit the 100.2 mph bullet off his bat deep into the stands on Oct. 4, making history with 62 home runs in a single season.

With locations across Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens, the Zipes family would like to keep the tradition alive and extend an invitation to today’s Home Run King.

Jeffrey Zipes said that Judge is more than welcome to visit any Dough Doughnuts location, try all the doughnuts as Ruth did and discover his favorite.

“We are willing to make our Home Run King ‘The Judge’ doughnut, and we extend that we will make his favorite doughnut for the length of the playoffs as a good luck gesture,” he said.

Maybe someone will remember to bring a ball for him to sign this time.

John Jastremski: A Passing Storm Or A Storm Front For the NY Locals?

Dan on July 27, 2022

By John Jastremski

Back in late March, I think it’s fair to say that both respective NY baseball fan bases would have signed on the dotted line for where they stand in late July heading into the Subway Series. 

Imagine saying in late March that the Yankees would have a 12.5 division lead and be 35 games over .500? 

Or how about the Mets finding a way to maintain a 2 game lead in the National League East without Jacob deGrom throwing a pitch in the 2022 season. 

Sure, the first four months were a whole lot of positive vibes for the NY Baseball locals, but the last few weeks have highlighted that despite the amazing four months of winning ball that both teams have treated us two, neither team is perfect. 

The Yankees depth has been tested for the first time all season. 

They lost Luis Severino in the rotation to the IL. 

The bullpen has lost Chad Green and now Michael King for the season. 

The Yankees feeling of invincibility was quieted in a recent doubleheader sweep at the hands of the hated Houston Astros. 

The Astros outpitched, outhit and outplayed the Yankees every which way. 

You combine the Yankees history in Houston, the Yankees playoff history against the Astros and the recent injury bug, it only heightens the importance of the next two weeks for Yankees General Manager Brian Cashman.  

There is work to do. 

The Yankees need a big starter, an outfielder to replace the inept Joey Gallo & a bullpen arm or two to supplement the losses of Green and King. 

The Yankees need a big move, they’ve been knocking at the door of an American League Pennant for the last five years, the time to go big is now. 

For the Mets, the heightened concern about the state of affairs has been triggered by a few reasons. 

The Mets offense has been MIA for a few weeks. 

The team that was getting every big hit in the first two plus months of the year stopped hitting. 

The Mets simply don’t have enough power within their lineup. It is an absolute must to get more power to compliment Pete Alonso. 

There is a lengthy shopping list for the Mets heading into the August 2nd trade deadline. 

Power bat? Power bullpen arms? Help Wanted! 

I fully expect the Mets and their aggressive ownership group to make the necessary moves over the next few weeks, but the biggest million dollar question still hovers over the franchise. 

What version of Jacob deGrom are you getting off the Injured List? 

The difference between vintage deGrom and so so deGrom could determine the fate of the season. 

However, complimenting a struggling Mets lineup with much needed power could make deGrom more of a luxury and not a necessity. 

So, there’s work to be done for both the Yankees and the Mets to fine tune their rosters for championship aspirations. 

That’s a good thing. 

Two win now, first place NY Baseball teams. 

Who will be the next David Justice or Yoenis Cespedes to live in NY Trade Deadline lore? 

We’ll soon find out… 

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

You can watch me nightly on Geico Sportsnight after Mets postgame on SNY.

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