What a fun Subway Series this has been thus far. After a relatively ho-hum 6-2 Yankee victory on Friday night, the Mets won a 3-2 game on timely baserunning by a certain corner outfielder and solid at-bats by the end of the lineup. Now, the Yankees will turn to their stopper—Max Fried—to secure the victory in the rubber match on Sunday Night Baseball.

Fried’s last start was his worst of the past month and change, going five innings and giving up one earned run; his ERA sits at an MLB-best 1.11. If only all Yankee pitchers could be mired in such a slump. The Mets certainly face a tall task in toppling Fried, but as a group, they hit lefties well. The Mets sport a collective 120 wRC+ against southpaws so far. Fried is no ordinary lefty, though, and the Mets bats have been silenced by both the Yankee starters and bullpen in the first two games.

On the other hand, David Peterson is taking the mound for the Mets. Peterson, a righty, is currently commanding a 3.05 ERA—but a 4.41 xERA. Peterson does not have a devastating fastball, but he does garner a lot of grounders, inducing ground balls at a 56.5-percent rate. He throws a sinker, four-seamer, slider, change, and curve, leaning primarily on his sinker and four-seamer for more than half of his pitches. A Mets error on Friday night led to two Yankee runs, so it will be interesting to see if the Mets defense can hold up their end of the bargain tonight.

As for the two marquee stars—the aforementioned Juan Soto and Aaron Judge—both have remained relatively quiet. Judge did have a multi-hit series opener, but went 0-for-5 with three strikeouts yesterday, including the final out. Soto has drawn his walks (as he is wont to do), but he has not delivered the soul-crushing three run shot into the upper deck in right that is all too easy to imagine. You’ll have to tune in tonight to see if the Mets signed an albatross or if the Yankees are now relegated to the status of little brother in the Big Apple — at least in terms of tomorrow morning’s headlines.

With the southpaw on the bump for the Amazins, Ben Rice takes a seat with Jasson Domínguez stepping in at DH and the Yanks running out an outfield of Cody Bellinger, Trent Grisham, and Judge. Lefty-killer Paul Goldschmidt will lead off, carrying a hilarious .571/.634/1.057 triple slash against ‘em in 41 plate appearances this year. DJ LeMahieu is back at the keystone after a very nice afternoon yesterday, with Oswald Peraza handling the hot corner.

How to watch

Location: Yankee Stadium—The Bronx, NY

First pitch: 7:05 pm ET

TV broadcast: ESPN

Radio broadcast: WFAN (NYY); WCBS 880 (NYM)

Online stream: MLB.tv (International); Watch ESPN

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