The Yankees-Mets Express team talks Opening Day, reasons to be positive on the COVID-19 front, and updates on the sale of the Mets.
Baseball is almost back! Listen to the newest episode of Yankees-Mets Express here: https://t.co/PENTRQKnpA
— ESNY (@EliteSportsNY) July 18, 2020
Josh Benjamin and Leen Amin were in full swing with MLB summer camp as they sat behind the mics once again. The New York Yankees and New York Mets are getting reps in via intrasquad games, and there was a lot to cover ahead of exhibition games this weekend.
The highlight of the show was Amin predicting both teams’ Opening Day lineups. She made the aggressive decision to not only put Yoenis Cespedes in the cleanup spot, but in the field. This spurred concerns over his health, but Benjamin was quick to remind everyone that a universal DH in 2020 means the Mets “have options.”
The duo also discussed what a shortened MLB season would mean for teams’ championship odds, especially given the Washington Nationals’ run in 2019. Benjamin expressed heavy optimism at MLB’s low positive test rates, though Amin had another unrelated concern with a shortened season.
“One of my issues with having a shortened season is teams like last year’s Nationals won’t be given a fair enough chance,” she added after Benjamin said a complete dark horse could win it all in 2020. “But at this point, I guess we’ll take what we can get.”
The conversation later shifted to the bidding war for the Mets. Both commented on Sheldon Adelson joining David Blitzer and Josh Harris’s bidding group, and Amin wasn’t shy with her opinion of the sports-owning duo.
“Harris/Blitzer are so cheap,” she said, citing how the pair run the NHL’s New Jersey Devils, the NBA’s Philadelphia 76ers, and the Premier League’s Crystal Palace. “I think of the three [bidding] groups, they’re the worst for the Mets.”
Benjamin concurred, stating the trio would just be “more of the same” in Flushing.
Yankees-Mets Express is available on all platforms. Listen and share your thoughts and opinions on the episode and what you think of the Mets’ and Yankees’ schedules.
Editor’s Note: This post is a podcast summary, but I want to fact-check the “cheap” assertion a bit. The Sixers suffered through a long rebuild in Philly and the Devils are on the outside looking in. But by all accounts, the Harris ownership group has spent heavily on teams they own, particularly the Sixers, where they built a practice facility in Camden and have invested heavily in sports science initiatives. Their payroll is also in the top half of the NBA, with a contending team in the last three years.
