The bullpen, once the strength of the team, has taken a few hits lately with Effross and Albert Abreu landing on the IL. But Boone needs to do something to right the ship because it's been sinking in August.

They also have a passionate, respected manager in Aaron Boone. But they can still hit too, and the lineup will get a boost when Giancarlo Stanton returns from left Achilles tendinitis, perhaps Thursday. The Yankees have the best defense, which is in stark contrast to last season, when the objective was to hit their way past mistakes. Lindor's fWAR is nice and all, but Aaron Judge has been the best player in baseball all season. The lack of playoff experience for some of this team is concerning, but if they look to leaders such as Scherzer, they should be able to stay the course. How long can this period of prosperity last? Well, it's possible it lasts through the regular season considering the Mets have the second-easiest remaining schedule. And it certainly appeared as though that trend would continue when the club started the season without Jacob deGrom and Scherzer suffered a strained left oblique in late May. Even when they tried, something always went spectacularly wrong. It used to feel like the Mets couldn't get anything right. With Montas set to face Taijuan Walker, let's look at how each team got here and which one has a better chance to reach the World Series. What kind of world are we living in when the Mets are quite possibly the least-chaotic team on the East Coast and the Yankees are drastically underperforming? Up is down, down is up and the little brother has suddenly grown up. Despite splashy trades for left fielder Andrew Benintendi, relievers Scott Effross and Lou Trivino and right-handed starter Frankie Montas, their lead in the American League East has dwindled from 15.5 games July 8 to eight games. Meanwhile, the Yankees have struggled in the second half, though they did get to Max Scherzer in a 4-2 victory Monday night.

Threat ii another tomorrow