New York's other team enters at 68-78 with plenty on the roster banged up, while the Yankees sit at 84-62 as one of the better records in the league — a gap wide enough that the shape of Saturday's roster gaps matters more than the standings themselves.
The Mets have won 4 straight and have taken the first 3 against the Marlins, while the Yankees have won 3 straight after taking the first 3 against the Rockies. Both clubs also play each other on September 11 before this one, so whatever the head-to-head has looked like by Saturday morning is still being written, not already decided.
Brett Baty is day-to-day for the Mets with left knee pain, and New York's bullpen is down Cionel Perez, Devin Williams and Reed Garrett to injury. The Yankees, meanwhile, are working around Jazz Chisholm Jr.'s thumb sprain and Trent Grisham's hamstring strain on top of the rotation and bullpen names already on the shelf — a cloudy, 81-degree afternoon at Yankee Stadium with both lineups running thinner than their records suggest.