Should Mets, Yankees Trade Ballparks?
The Mets find power and swagger at Yankee Stadium, so we have a modest proposal to help both New York teams.
Who would have guessed it, but the Mets, basically the butt end of the Subway Series for 15 years, have suddenly taken charge, winning all four meetings last year and inaugurating this year’s series with a rousing comeback win in a 9-7 slugfest last night. What’s more, the Mets, the NL’s most anemic home run hitting team entering the game (0.61 per game), blasted four last night while overcoming two three-run deficits. Even struggling ex-Yank Curtis Granderson joined the party with a two-run jack to right in the sixth. Of course, home runs to right in Yankee Stadium are commonly referred to as “fly balls” in most major-league parks.
Which got us thinking: Maybe both teams would benefit from playing home games at the other’s field for a while. After all, the outfield at Citi Field in Queens is a place where aspiring home runs go to die (ask David Wright, who’s sitting on 2HRs this year), so the Mets’ hitters would surely up their power numbers with the stadium’s bandbox dimensions. Moreover, Yankees’ pitchers, who have been prone to the gopher ball (44 total, including 10 on CC Sabathia’s tab), would breathe many a sigh of relief upon seeing deep fly balls land harmlessly in outfielders’ gloves in the deep recesses of Citi Field.
Our (admittedly light) research of the MLB bylaws shows no specific prohibitions against a crosstown stadium swap. And in a town where two NFL teams have shared a stadium for 30 years, what’s wrong with two baseball teams driving a few extra miles to work to turn their seasons around?
Photos by Kathy Kmonicek / AP
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