The Yankees and Mets were set to conclude a five-game, three-day series on Sunday at Yankee Stadium in a season known for its strangeness.
If you had somehow forgotten the uniqueness of the 2020 Major League Baseball season, the Yankees’ weekend series against the Mets had plenty of reminders. They played five games in three days at Yankee Stadium after a Mets player and staff member tested positive for the coronavirus, forcing a postponement of the previous weekend’s series at Citi Field. They played doubleheaders on Friday and Sunday, which were made a bit more manageable thanks to the seven-inning games and expanded rosters. But all the cramming led to a moment on Friday that encapsulated the Yankees’ fortunes of late. When closer Aroldis Chapman surrendered a walk-off, two-run home run to Mets shortstop Amed Rosario in the seventh inning of the second game, both players seemed to forget the Mets were the home team even though the game was in the Bronx. Rosario said he did not realize his blast had won the game until he saw his teammates streaming out of the dugout in delight. Dominic Smith said he thought he had seen Chapman signaling to the home plate umpire for a new ball so he could continue pitching. “I was a little confused,” Chapman said later. The Yankees, who were 18-13 entering the second game of the doubleheader on Sunday, have witnessed similar scenes, although with less awkwardness, over the past two weeks: Their offense has struggled to produce enough runs, and their bullpen has squandered opportunities. Both are normally Yankees strengths — even when the team was depleted by injuries last season. That has not always been the case this year, which was why General Manager Brian Cashman said over the weekend that he was looking for outside help, particularly for pitching, ahead of the trade deadline, which is 4 p.m., Eastern time, on Monday. Entering Sunday, the Yankees had lost seven of their previous eight games. In that stretch, their offense averaged an anemic 2.6 runs per game, and their bullpen produced a 7.65 earned run average while blowing leads or falling behind in ties in six games.
