Growing up in New York was a sports lovers dream. The Yankees had a dynasty. The Giants won a couple of Super Bowls. The Mets won 2 pennants, one of which set up an all New York World Series. The Jets were always competitive and made back to back AFC championships. The Knicks were perennial contenders and were actually watchable and playoff contenders every year including a trip to the finals. Oh my how the times have changed. It has been a decade since the last major sports title came to New York and fans are growing more impatient by the day. In this piece I will go team by team and explain which team has the best chance to end that drought and also the teams that are still light years away. Note that I am a diehard fan of 2 of these teams but that will not cloud my judgement of reality or bias. Shall we begin?
New York Knicks- Lets just get this one out of the way now. The Knicks are hands down the furthest away from any kind of hope for the New York Faithful. Yesterday, they fired Team President Steve Mills in the latest drama of the soap opera that is this team. This off-season, with hopes of signing some of the biggest names on the market like Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, and Kawhi Leonard, the Knicks failed to sell any kind of hope to them and were instead spurned for contenders like the Brooklyn Nets and Los Angeles Clippers. They then tried to sell the fans the idea that a team of Julius Randle, Marcus Morris, and rookie RJ Barrett was ready to contend. As the season comes to it’s halfway point, we all can see that it is not even close to being the truth. The Knicks sit at 15-36 and toward the very bottom of the league. There is only one man in my eyes who is to blame for all of this, Team owner James Dolan. Time and time again, Dolan has failed this team, the fans, and the city. Chants of “sell the team” rained down in the Garden the last Knicks home game and yet again Dolan had to flex his metaphorical muscles and have people removed. What a joke. This coming a couple of years after banning a legend in Charles Oakley. Charles Oakley knows more about winning than James Dolan by a mile and could probably run this team having no experience and with way more success. Dolan, swallow your pride, shut the heck up and sell this team before we have a riot at MSG. This is a joke of a basketball franchise at the moment and even paper bags can’t hide the shame in all of the fans eyes. It will be a long time before this team is contending for even an 8 seed, let alone a championship run.
New York Mets- I will mirror what Met fans hear every season and are probably pretty sick of hearing at this point, The Mets actually have a decent chance at contending for a playoff run this coming season. They come in with arguably the best rotation in the National League with Degrom, Syndergaard, and Stroman leading the way. They have young talent with Jeff McNeil coming off a great 2019 campaign and Pete Alonso coming off a historic and memorable rookie season. There’s a lot of promise in the Mets this year. The key for the Mets is very simple here. Stay healthy and stay consistent. The health of this team has been their Achilles heel the past few years and consistency has been non existent. The Mets are known to get off to very good starts in April and May then nose dive and tumble down the standings by August. With the Nationals coming off a championship and the Braves the favorite to win the division yet again, they will have their work cut out for them but in my eyes the Mets, on the backs of their pitching staff, have a legitimate chance to at least make it close.
New York Giants– Woof. It’s tough being a Giants fan lately. Eli manning has rode off into the sunset and called it a career. They have hired their 3rd head coach in 5 years. They traded away a generational talent in OBJ. They finished 4-12 this past season and are picking in the top 5 of the NFL draft yet again. The Giants do have a few things going for them however. They certainly have one of the NFL’s top running backs in Saquon Barkley. They seemed to have found Eli’s replacement as franchise quarterback in Daniel Jones, if he can work on his ball security this off-season. They also hit the nail on the head with rookie WR Darius Slayton, who was one of the lone bright spots this year and made life after Beckham a little bit easier. The Giants also have a bunch of money to spend and again, hold a high draft position. There are 2 things GM Dave Gettleman and New head coach Joe Judge need to invest in with that money and those picks, offensive line and any semblance of a pass rush and secondary help. The Giants were near dead last in the league in all defensive categories last year and need to shore that up and get back to Giants football. The offensive line is paramount to continuing the development of Jones in a positive direction and given time to throw the ball and to go through his reads, Jones has shown he can be a star. Still, the Giants seem a few years away from championship contention.
Brooklyn Nets- The Brooklyn Nets are certainly the more successful of the 2 New York basketball franchises at this point. They sit as the 7 seed in the Eastern Conference with a record of 22-27. However, it turns out that Kyrie Irving may have been right when he said that the team needs to make some changes and get him, Spencer Dinwiddie, and Caris Lavert some help. Another thing is health. Their biggest off-season acquisition, Kevin Durant will miss this entire season due to suffering a torn Achilles in last year’s finals . Kyrie Irving has been on and off the court with different ailments, the latest being a knee injury that will sideline him for an extended period of time. The Nets have been doing quite well when he isn’t on the court anyway and they will need to continue to do so to hang onto that playoff spot. The outlook for the Nets is spotty at best for the rest of this season but the future looks bright. It all depends on the health of KD and Kyrie as well as how they draft and build around them. To compete with Milwaukee and Boston, they will need to make some changes but things are looking up in Brooklyn.
New York Jets- Ahh the Jets. Idont know about this team. I don’t know their identity. Head Coach Adam Gase was supposed to be this guru who was going to turn this franchise around and get back to winning. Sam Darnold has shown flashes of being great and at other times he’s “seeing ghosts”. Reportedly, they have no idea what they are going to do with Le’veon Bell, even though the RB says he wants to be there. The defense has also been up and down besides the consistent stellar play of Jamal Adams and the acquired CJ Mosely. The Jets record showed just how average they are finishing at 7-9 and 3rd place in the AFC East. The Jets go into their second year under Gase and we shall see what the adjustments and improvements are. Darnold and Bell’s health are imperative to any kind of success. With the Patriots and Bills ahead of them, the Jets will have to do something very special to launch themselves into contention.
Buffalo Bills- Out of all 3 NY football teams, the Buffalo Bills had the most recent success. They’ve made the playoffs 2 out of the last 3 years and laatcyear finished 2nd in the AFC East with a record of 10-6 securing a Wild Card berth. Led by Josh Allen and Devin Singletary, the Buffalo Bills offense finally found its idenity and sustained great success this past season. That young core on offense plus an equally successful defense led by Lorenzo Alexander and Tre’Davious White in my eyes can sustain a level of success and take the reigns from the Patriots for control of the division. Sean McDermott has the respect of his players and management and has created a level of consistency that shows the bills trending in a positive direction for years to come. Right Now, the Bills are on the cusp of consistent contention as long as Josh Allen keeps up his high level of leadership and play!
New York Yankees- I saved the team with the best chance to win now for last. 2 out of the last 3 years, the Yankees were on the cusp of a World Series berth, but timely hitting and late pitching meltdowns hindered this possibilities. This off-season, they pulled out all the stops to acquire baseball’s top pitcher Gerrit Cole. They added a superstar to an already solid rotation of James Paxton, Luis Severino who seems to be fully healthy coming of Tommy John, and Masahiro Tanaka. The rotation and bullpen are among tops in the league for the Yanks. The main concern I have is the lack of left handed hitters in this lineup. But, still even with that outlier, the Yankees lineup is among the most feared in baseball. Aaron Judge, Gleyber Torres, DJ Lemahieu and a hopefully healthy Giancarlo Stanton seem destined to mash their way into the record books once again. The main thing is to cut down on strikeouts and get those timely hits with runners in scoring position! Right now they stand as the favorites to win the World Series and I see no reason to think otherwise. Hopefully I’m right and come October they make that a reality and hoist championship #28.
So that’s the outlook New York fans! Some look fantastic, some not so much. This past decade has been a nightmare for us filled with disappointment and heartbreak. We deserve a title back here and are in desperate need of another ticker tape parade. How did I do? Comment your thoughts and tell me which team you think I’m sleeping on or which one I’m overrating. Until next time.
To The Rack With Mac 