Mets slugger isn’t buying into the fanfare of the Subway Series

It’s a tale as old as 1997. The New York Mets and New York Yankees are natural geographical rivals as they share the same city. Until interleague play was introduced, the two never played each other in a meaningful game that counted. The Subway Series is now a yearly thing and a money-grab for some television ratings.

Whatever you think about the Subway Series at this point, you’re probably not as unimpressed with it as Mets slugger J.D. Martinez. About to play in his first ever Mets vs. Yankees game, he likened it to how the rivalry between the Yankees and Boston Red Sox was often portrayed.

The levelheaded way of thinking about games against the Yankees is easy for Martinez who has played them plenty in a variety of uniforms. The well-traveled veteran has seen it all. He has faced rivals in one uniform who became meaningless opponents in another.

Every year we stop to wonder how much the Subway Series even matters. This year, the Mets seem to have no issue brushing it aside as just another series when it comes to the results on the field.

The Mets correctly took away a chance for the big pitching matchup on Tuesday

The ball was supposed to go to Luis Severino on Tuesday. Instead, they pushed him up a game and allowed him to dominate the Chicago Cubs on Sunday night. We won’t get the Severino vs. Yankees game many would’ve liked to see. As a bonus, it would’ve matched up Severino against Gerrit Cole to make it the best bout possible.

David Peterson will start instead of Severino. There’s no buzz there. Peterson would have to pitch against an extraterrestrial for it to be a newsworthy matchup.

This wasn’t a case of Severino pulling a Noah Syndergaard and dodging his former team. Beating the Cubs was far more important. It allowed the Mets to take a victory away from a team competing for the same playoff spots as them. It also gave them a 4-3 record against Chicago this season. They own the tie-breaker. That’s how you think ahead.

Nobody’s head seems more stuck up trying to win than Martinez. His take on the Subway Series might have advertisers screaming. For fans who’ve seen these two teams play every year and the pageantry dwindle into nothing special, we understand why Martinez isn’t shaking in his knees thinking about representing the Mets against the Yankees.