State of the Mets as they welcome Yankees for the first time in 2026

With one of their toughest matchups of the early season looming, the Mets are gathering a little bit of momentum. As the Mets are due to welcome the Yankees for their first Subway Series of the season, beginning at 7:10 p. m.

Friday at Citi Field, they capped their first three-game sweep on Thursday afternoon with a 9-3 win over the Tigers. The Mets scored 22 combined runs in the series, including a season-high five home runs on Thursday. In the month of May, they have won three of their four series and amassed a 8-4 record, crawling out from a miserable April.

"Obviously we've been struggling for a while up until these last couple of games, but I wouldn't say we got down on ourselves in here," Nolan McLean told reporters after notching his second win on Thursday. "We know how good our clubhouse is and that's all that matters is what we think of each other. At the end of the day, we're not worried about anybody else.

" So is this the right time to face the Yankees, who despite holding a 27-17 record — fifth-best in Major League Baseball — have lost six of their last eight games? "Not the Subway Series, I would say the whole season," Juan Soto said. "You just gotta keep the momentum all the way to October.