Joe Torre always hated the Subway Series, in part because he didn’t care for interleague play, but mostly because he saw it as a no-win situation for the Yankees. And he was right.
Expectations were such that Torre’s teams were never supposed to lose to the Mets, and indeed that perception has defined the nature of these games since they began in 1997.
But this series is different, finally. As the season began, the perception was that the Mets were primed to take back the city from the Yankees this season, in terms of both performance and buzz, and their stunning 11-game winning streak has enhanced that very notion.