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Well, we’re here. We’re in September. For baseball, that means the home stretch. Four weeks to glory. Four weeks to misery. Four weeks to turn narratives upside down, if you have it in you.
We have a couple of baseball teams who are in the middle of it. The Yankees are more in it, sure, because even though they seem to make their fans roll their eyes an awful lot, they’re still comfortably in playoff position. But the Mets have a puncher’s chance, too. Now all they have to do is punch.
We celebrate champions eternally, and near-champs, and when we do, we mostly revel in what happens in October. What we sometimes forget is just how thrilling a real September Push can be. No matter who you throw your chips behind, Yankees or Mets, it’s worth hoping that maybe they emulate the finishing kicks of these teams who’ve shown us how it’s really done:
2016 Mets: Mets were 69-66 after a loss in Sept. 2, 3 ¹/₂ games out of the last wild-card. Then they went 18-9 down the stretch to sneak past the Cardinals and Giants into the top wild card.
1995 Yankees: Their push actually started a few days early. They were 54-59 on the morning of Aug. 29, 4 ¹/₂ games out of the wild card (and, amazingly, 12 ¹/₂ behind the team they would intimately inch out for the wild card, the Angels) then went 25-6 the rest of the way to end a 14-year playoff drought.
1978 Yankees: The Yankees had chopped their 14-game deficit in half by Aug. 23, but that still left them seven full games behind. It took 30-10 in the last 40 — including 23-9 after Sept. 1 — to get them to and through the one-game playoff with the Red Sox.
1973 Mets: It’s as amazing as you’ve been told. On Aug. 31, the Mets woke up 61-71 and 6 ¹/₂ games out of the NL East. “We haven’t had our hot streak yet,” Yogi Berra said, and no sooner were the words out of his mouth than the Mets went 21-8 the rest of the way to sneak into the playoffs.
1969 Mets: Sometimes it’s lost in the overall wonder of that season just how ferocious a finishing kick that team had, but the Mets entered September 76-54 five games behind the Cubs, and ended 24-8, part of a larger stretch in which they won 38 of their final 49.
1964 Yankees: On Aug. 29 Yogi’s crew woke up at 72-54, third place, 4 ¹/₂ out. They finished 27-9, including an 11-game winning streak that let them skip past the Orioles and the White Sox.
1960 Yankees: On Sept. 14, the M&M Boys Yankees were walked-off by the lowly Kansas City Athletics, 2-1, to fall into a first-place tie with Baltimore. But the Yankees promptly swept a four-game series with the Orioles and finished the season on a 15-game winning streak to end at 97-57, eight games clear of the field.
1951 Giants: Even though they’d already done a lot of heavy lifting in their comeback against the Dodgers by piecing together a 16-game winning streak in August, they were still 76-53 and seven games out heading into September. But a 20-5 September carried them into a three-game playoff, and we all know what happened then.
1921 Yankees: The Bombers were in a dogfight entering September, up only a game over defending-champion Cleveland, but put together a 21-7 September, good enough to qualify for their first World Series.
Vac’s Whacks
The Royals lost 106 games last year. They were on pace (as of Friday) to win 90 and were five games clear in the wild card. Is there really anyone who won’t vote Matt Quatraro for manager of the year?
On Sept. 9, David Wright will be at Engine39/Ladder16 in Manhattan to pay small tribute to the 343 men the FDNY lost on 9/11. And Sept. 12 at Citi Field, he will play host to the third annual Battle of the Badges game between the NYPD and FDNY. “For me all first responders are heroes,” he says. “They run to danger, while most people go the other way.”
The great Jerry Izenberg — longtime mentor to your humble narrator and former longtime occupant of this space in The Post — turns 94 years young Sept. 10. Celebrate by picking up “Larry Doby in Black and White” — or, really, any of the 15 books he’s written … so far.
I’m told it’s only a vicious rumor that it was Tony Manero who broke into Rick Pitino’s office, trying to steal his white suit back.
Whack Back at Vac
Kenneth Meltsner: Similar to Sinatra’s “That’s Life” (”You’re ridin’ high in April, shot-down in May”) I give you … Edwin Diaz, who went from being the best closer in MLB, to the worst, back to the best and, as of Sunday and Wednesday, one of the worst. Sorry, Joe Garagiola wrote, sometimes baseball isn’t a funny game.
Vac: Also like Sinatra, baseball often makes you plea, “Set ’em up, Joe …”
Jonathan Sigall: How blessed are we? First to have the privilege to see the Yankees of Gene Michael win four titles in five years. Then, to have witnessed the longevity of the Core 4 and watching the arc of Derek Jeter’s career. Now we’re watching Aaron Judge carving his place on Mount Rushmore. Let’s enjoy it while we can.
Vac: As sports fans, we’re too often drilled to focus on what’s wrong with our teams. It’s important to pause every now and again and smell the cookies baking.
@joefav: I agree with @MikeVacc and others. John Sterling is a legend and if he wants to do a few innings during Yankees playoffs OK, but taking a game away from the two who have brought it all season, Justin Shackil and Emmanuel Berbari is an ego play that’s not needed.
@MikeVacc: I neglected to include Emmanuel in my Whack last week, but of course he should be involved as well.
Jay Cummings: The question is: Who has more pressure on them? For Aaron Rodgers to get the Jets far in the playoffs, or Aaron Judge to be Mr. October and carry the Yankees to the World Series? I think Judge by a little.
Vac: I think most would agree with you. I’ll say this: If Judge happens to have an ill-timed slump in October, I wouldn’t hold it against him. If the Jets go 8-9 with Rodgers healthy, not so much.
