The Stretch Run

BY KEVIN KERNAN

Through all the analytics and the terrible, mindless, outright dumb plays of the 2025 season, we have finally made it.

We have made it to the Stretch Run. Thank goodness.

It was not easy. Every year it gets more difficult because of what Rob Manfred and his minions have done to the game, but we are here. Welcome to the final two weeks of the regular season where playoff teams will earn their spots in the postseason.

And there’s a lot of them, but that’s okay, especially if you are a fan of the Mets. Right about now teams like the Mets, Giants, Reds, Astros, Mariners, Rangers and Red Sox are thankful there are three wild cards in each league even though there really isn’t a National League or an American League anymore thanks to Manfred’s changing of the rules across the board.

There is AL and NL in name only and each league has its own watered down third wild card. And here is a big pet peeve of mine and I hear it all the time, especially on MLB Network Radio on rare occasions I listen to the Manfred PR Network, but these are not pennant races, they are wild card races and there is a big difference.

A pennant race actually decided if you got into the October because back then there were only two combatants, the AL winner and the NL winner. The pennant races were on-field battles in each league to win the pennant for the right to face off in the World Series.

These are wild card races and divisional races, that is a significant difference than a true pennant race. And many of the divisional races are already decided. The NL West race might get interesting if the Padres ever find an offense. It is only this close because the Dodgers have invented new ways to blow games with that dreadful bullpen, the Worst Bullpen Money Can Buy.

Kind of like parenting. Be a parent first, then you can be a friend, but never forget your main job is to be a parent first and foremost, especially in these times we are living.

The Phillies have it locked up in the NL East while the Brewers are standing tall in the NL Central. It would have to be quite the collapse for the Brewers to fall to the Cubs. The Cubs, by the way, would be leading the NL West if they were in that division and that is one way to put the Brewers incredible success info perspective.

“True baseball people are pulling for the Brewers because they do play the game the right way and I respect their manager,’’ one top talent evaluator told BallNine on Saturday. The evaluator pointed to the job done by Brewers manager Pat Murphy and noted something Murphy has said, putting his job into perspective and why he is not afraid to get in a players face.

“I’m just trying to make him a better player,’’ is the Murphy philosophy with a touch of Irish humor. “I have enough friends on my phone list, I don’t need anymore. I’m just trying to make him a better player.’’

Kind of like parenting. Be a parent first, then you can be a friend, but never forget your main job is to be a parent first and foremost, especially in these times we are living.

The manager can’t be the only one leading the way, teams must have big brothers, too and to the Yankees advantage, something I have said since he has come into the Yankees clubouse, that team is so blessed to have Aaron Judge, not only because of his on-field performance, but because of his class, leadership and ability to be the same good person, and even-keeled player every day of the week.

Even David Ortiz is incredibly impressed.

Ortiz was a visitor to the Red Sox TV booth for an inning on Saturday and he could not say enough wonderful things about Judge, of the arch-enemy Yankees. “His body language is always the same,’’ Ortiz said, then pointing to Judge’s immense talent. “And you know what, if your body language is good, you are going to be good for a long time,’’ said Big Papi, who was always one of my favorite players to talk baseball with during his Red Sox career. “Judge is a special player.’’

Judge’s performance is incredibly impressive and special this year even with the injury to his throwing elbow.  And this is not a slam on the Red Sox Alex Bregman, but all $40 million a year players are not alike. Judge’s numbers this year blow away Bregman’s, and in Bregman’s defense, the offensively limited Red Sox sure could use another bat like Rafael Devers just about now. The Roman Anthony injury has really hurt because of the Red Sox lack of offense and loss of a leadoff hitter without the rookie in the lineup.

In the clubhouse too Judge sets the standard, and you could see that Judge and the Yankees deeply appreciated the visit on 9-11 from President Donald J. Trump. The Yankees also did the good human thing by offering a moment of silence for Charlie Kirk after he was murdered.

President Trump came away impressed from his meeting with Judge, like everyone who has spent time with Judge, saying on “Fox & Friends the day after his Yankee Stadium visit, “(Judge)’’ is some strong guy. He had the biggest forearms – you know I’ve seen weightlifters – I’ve never seen arms this big. And he’s a fantastic person.’’

The Yankees have won three straight since Trump’s visit to Yankee Stadium. The previous two games before his visit, they were outscored 23-3 in two losses to the Tigers. Then they beat the Tigers 9-3 and have won the first two games of a pivotal series against the Red Sox at Fenway Park, with a 4-1 win on Friday night and a 5-3 victory on Saturday. They have turned the tables after being outscored 23-3 in those two losses pre-Trump visit, they now have an 18-7 advantage after the visit. The Yankees are three games back of the first place Blue Jays in the AL East and have a three-game advantage for the top wild card over the Red Sox. Don’t forget the first wild card hosts the wild card series. The Yankees are doing something we recommended weeks ago, sit down Anthony Volpe and play Jose Caballero at shortstop to solidify the defense.

On Friday night Judge blasted a 468-foot home run in the first inning to set the tone for the series and that home run was the 362nd of his career to move past Yankee icon Joltin’ Joe DiMaggio.

Judge was on base four times on Saturday and scored two runs, giving him a major league lead 122 runs scored this season. Judge has 108 walks, 47 home runs, 101 RBIs, is batting .325 with a 1.120 OPS and clearly is the heart and soul and huge leader of the Yankees on every level. He is the difference maker.

The Mets, meanwhile, don’t have such a leader. Juan Soto has great numbers but as I pointed out last week here at BallNine, they are missing that winning touch and mindset. They led the Rangers, 2-0 going into the eighth inning on Saturday but then it all fell apart. Again.

And it began in the most innocent of ways, something else that I have been complaining about all year. In their lust for pitch framing, the Nerds have lost the big picture and way too many catcher’s interference calls have happened. The same thing happened to the Red Sox Friday night in their loss to the Yankees.

Texas’ Josh Smith started the rally on catcher’s interference on Francisco Alvarez in the eighth. This used to be a once in a blue moon call, now because of the Nerds it is a frequent call because the Nerds who never played the game are willing to risk the CI for a better “framing’’ opportunity. It is baseball madness. Wyatt Langford then doubled and before you knew it the game was tied and then Langford put the gritty Rangers of Bruce Bochy ahead in the ninth on a two-out single to set up the Mets eighth straight loss.

Brandon Nimmo struck out to end the ninth against 35-year-old reliever Shawn Armstrong with runners on first and third as Bochy’s team somehow found a way to get it done for the 3-2 win

I’ve been around for some classic Mets collapses through the years, hello 2007, but this one is a doozy, and the Mets have essentially been a mess since June 13. This loss dropped the Mets out of the third wild-card spot. They have gone from the penthouse to the outhouse in the NL East. This is the Mets longest losing streak in seven years, back to the good old Wilpon days.

After the loss, manager Carlos Mendoza said, “We have to get going here fast. We’ve got to get the job done.’’

If the Mets don’t make the watered-down postseason, there will be plenty of time to dissect the collapse but at first glance there has been one bad move after another in both the short run and the long run by much ballyhooed GM David Stearns. Young pitchers like Jonah Tong have been rushed up too quickly, he gave up six runs on Friday while getting only two outs in a loss to the Rangers, while young players Ronny Mauricio and Luisangel Acuna have essentially wasted the season on the Mets bench.

“They both should be playing every day,’’ noted the talent evaluator of developing those players. “I don’t know who over there told them that Jonah Tong was ready to pitch in the big leagues but (Friday) night he looked like he was scared to death, which is not good. Nolan McLean is a different story, and Brandon Sproat is a lot closer than Tong was, Tong is going to be good but he is just not ready and don’t throw him into a race where you have a big losing streak and you are pitching against Jacob deGrom in front of a full house, that was not fair to him.’’

The Stretch Run is different.