The first five Subway Series games featured each team getting wins in the late innings and under unique circumstances befitting the abbreviated 60-game season.
The final meeting will occur Thursday afternoon when the New York Yankees visit the New York Mets.
The teams were originally slated to play a three-game series at Citi Field Aug. 21-23, but that series was postponed due to a Mets player and coach testing positive for coronavirus. The first two games were made up last weekend, when the Mets won the first two games and the Yankees took the next three.
Each game was decided by three or fewer runs and decided in the sixth inning or beyond.
The Mets won the second game of the series, which was the second game of a doubleheader last Friday, when Amed Rosario blasted a walk-off homer in the seventh inning off Aroldis Chapman at Yankee Stadium. The Mets were serving as the home team because it was a makeup game for one of the postponed games.
The Yankees won the final three games by scoring the winning run on a wild pitch; rallying from a five-run deficit after six innings; and getting a go-ahead pinch hit grand slam by Gary Sanchez in the eighth inning.
The Yankees are 4-9 in their past 13 games. The three wins over the Mets snapped a seven-game skid that was their longest since June 13-20, 2017, but the Yankees dropped of two of three to the AL-East leading Tampa Bay Rays, ending the series with a 5-2 loss on Wednesday.
“We just have got to move on and get ready for our next series, our next game,” said bench coach Carlos Mendoza, who served as acting manager while Aaron Boone served a one-game suspension. “Obviously disappointing because the expectations are high.”
The Mets return home after snapping a five-game losing streak with a 9-4 victory in Baltimore when Michael Conforto homered and drove in five runs Wednesday.
Conforto heads into Thursday batting .331 with six homers and 22 RBIs.
“His consistency and approach are good,” Mets manager Luis Rojas said. “He’s looking for a certain pitch, getting it and not missing it.”
J.A. Happ will make his fifth start and second with less than six days rest Thursday and will face the Mets for the second straight time. On Saturday, Happ took a no-decision after allowing three hits in 7 1/3 scoreless innings.
Saturday was Happ’s longest outing since June 6, 2019, and it gave him 20 innings this season. He needs to reach 10 starts or 61 1/3 innings for a $17 million vesting option to kick in for next season.
The left-hander’s other start on normal rest was Aug. 5 in Philadelphia, when he allowed four runs and six walks in three innings. In his last two starts, Happ has allowed one run on six hits in 13 innings.
Happ’s major league debut was against the Mets on June 30, 2007, as a member of the Philadelphia Phillies, and he is 4-2 with a 3.41 ERA in 12 appearances (10 starts) against the Mets.
In his last start at Citi Field, while a member of the Toronto Blue Jays, Happ struck out 10 and allowed two hits and no walks in seven shutout innings on May 16, 2018.
Robert Gsellman is expected to start for the Mets, who are continuing to stretch him out. He opposed Happ on Saturday and allowed a run on four hits in a season-high four innings while throwing a season-high 57 pitches.
In his career against the Yankees, Gsellman has no wins or losses, but has a 1.65 ERA in seven career appearances (two starts).
-Field Level Media
