Yankees and Mets takeaways from Opening Weekend

And, to paraphrase Howie Rose, you can put the opening weekend of the 2026 MLB season in the books for the Yankees, Mets, and 28 remaining teams.

Both New York squads enter the season hungry for different reasons. The Mets spent close to $800 million to poach Juan Soto from the Yankees after the 2024 season, only to be eliminated from the playoffs on the last day of the season. The Yankees pivoted and matched their AL Pennant-winning record from 2024, but had to settle for a Wild Card thanks to an upstart Toronto Blue Jays squad owning the tiebreaker.

Cue another offseason and two separate strategies. The Yankees largely ran it back, while the New York Mets reloaded. And that’s after losing star slugging first baseman Pete Alonso to the Orioles in free agency!

All in all, it was a good weekend for both teams. The Yankees swept the San Francisco Giants almost too easily, putting on a pitching clinic. The Mets, on the other hand, worked hard to take two out of three against the lowly Pittsburgh Pirates. Upside, they knocked reigning NL Cy Young winner Paul Skenes out of the first inning on Opening Day.

Three games are a small sample size but, regardless, here are some takeaways from both series.

The Mets are the blue collar team. In other news, water is wet. No, but seriously. While the Yankees made relatively short work of the Giants on the west coast, the Mets had far from an easy time with the Pirates. Even with Skenes at his worst, Pittsburgh still spotted him a 2-0 lead in the first inning thanks to Brandon Lowe’s home run. New York batted around to score five runs in the inning, but Oneil Cruz missing two playable catches in center played a big part in that. The Pirates got one run back fairly quickly on Lowe’s second home run and still chipped away even as the Mets finally pulled away to win 11-7.

What’s more, both teams dueled through nine scoreless innings on Saturday before trading runs in the 10th inning. The Pirates also led before Luis Robert Jr.’s homer walked it off in the 11th. Then an extra innings loss on Sunday.

It just goes to show that baseball is baseball. And that even though the Mets might be the better team on paper, this Pirates team showed up anyway.

The Yankees’ pitching clinic. The Giants lineup is far from scary, but features known Yankee killer Rafael Devers. But even then, the entire pitching staff posting a stellar 0.33 ERA through three games is almost unheard of. Granted, posting back-to-back shutouts helps, but wait. There’s more!

As most are well aware, New York isn’t operating at full pitching capacity. Big lefty Carlos Rodon is recovering from having bone spurs removed from his elbow. Former Cy Young winner and usual staff ace Gerrit Cole is nearly back from Tommy John surgery. Both are expected back later this month.

Instead, the Giants faced a trio of Max Fried, Cam Schlittler, and Will Warren. Schlittler in particular looked particularly Cole-esque, making San Francisco look foolish with his varying fastball velocities. Oh, and the bullpen didn’t allow a single run either.

Benge pressing? Rookie Carson Benge was the story of Mets spring training, hitting his way onto the Opening Day roster and starting in right field. Sure enough, his solo home run in Thursday’s Opening Day victory got fans rightfully excited.

The downside, if we can even call it that, is that Benge didn’t register a single hit otherwise. He went 1 for 10 in the series, drawing a pair of walks and striking out five times. He’ll get plenty of runway to right the ship, especially early in the season. But even Mets fans have to be just a tiny bit worried about the youngster.

Neither team is the better one. Okay, fine, maybe that’s a little white lie. The Yankees have the better roster on paper, top to bottom. But don’t sleep on these Mets either! Juan Soto didn’t hit any home runs over the weekend, but still managed to bat .357. Yankees captain and three-time MVP Aaron Judge, by comparison, hit two home runs but is batting well below the Mendoza Line. That won’t hold, but it’s still telling as to where each man’s swing currently is.

Giancarlo Stanton, on the other hand? He hit .500 with a home run against the Giants and, though he didn’t draw a walk, only struck out three times. Bo Bichette and Francisco Lindor, oppositely, went a combined 3 for 25 and 11 strikeouts for the Mets. Eight of those K’s belong to Bichette, too.

It’s three games. 159 remain. Cross your fingers and hope for a Subway Series.