Mets-Yankees: Prediction, how to watch, five things to know as rivals begin unique Subway Series in Queens

Tuesday night at Citi Field, the New York Mets and New York Yankees will begin the first leg of the 2022 Subway Series. The crosstown rivals will play two games in Queens this week, then two games at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx from Aug. 22-23. Could see we these two teams meet again in October? It’s improbable but hardly impossible.

Here are the top of the MLB standings going into Tuesday’s series opener:

1. Yankees: 66-31
2. Dodgers: 64-31 (1 GB)
3. Astros: 64-33 (2 GB)
4. Mets: 59-37 (6.5 GB)
5. Braves: 58-40 (8.5 GB)

This week is a Subway Series first. It is the first time ever the Yankees and Mets will meet with both teams in sole possession of first place. Interleague play has been around since 1997 and it’s somehow never happened before.

“There are games, there’s series, there’s things that come up within the course of the year, especially in the long grind of it, that I think are a little shot-in-the-arm series,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone told the New York Daily News over the weekend. “I think anytime you have that crosstown rivalry, those games, they add a little extra something … I also think where the two teams are this year, I think it’d be really good for New York City.”

Here are the details for this week’s two-game Subway Series. Wednesday’s game can be streamed on fuboTV (try for free).

The Yankees have not yet confirmed their starter for Wednesday night but it is expected to be righty Domingo Germán (0-1, 15.00), who allowed five runs in three innings in his season debut last week. He’d been sidelined with a shoulder issue suffered in the offseason. If not Germán, the Yankees could start Jameson Taillon (10-2, 3.93) on normal rest.

Here are five things you need to know about this week’s installment of the Subway Series, with a prediction thrown in for good measure.

1. Subway Series history

The one true Subway Series was the 2000 World Series. The Yankees and Mets met in the Fall Classic that year and the Yankees won the championship in five games. It was their third consecutive World Series title. No team has won back-to-back championships since. The 1998-2000 Yankees remain baseball’s last repeat champs.

As for the regular season Subway Series, the Yankees hold a 76-58 (.567) edge all-time, which is a 92-win pace in a 162-game season. The Mets have had the upper hand in recent years though. They have won four of their last six games against the Yankees and 12…