Mets. Yankees. Subway Series. What once was a bitter rivalry is arguably still one, but it has largely lost its steam in recent years.
That's not to say that both teams have lost loyal fans since the Clemens-Piazza fiasco. Whenever I talk to a Yankees fan, I somehow always have to listen about the 27 championships compared tot he Mets' two, the number of home runs hit by the Yankees and the star-power of current and past teams. That's all great and all, but that doesn't make the Yankees better than any other team, nor does it convince me to change allegiances.
You could call me a stupid bitter Mets fan for supporting a perennial losing team. Haha, I get it. I mean, My Entire Team Sucks. Real original. But at a time where the talent on the field always never seems to be equal, the Subway Series just simply became a boring week of baseball. In the past, the Subway Series was two series of three games each, one at Yankee Stadium and one at Shea Stadium, similar to a series against any other team. Now, it's two games at Citi Field and two games at Yankee Stadium.
Back in 2015, the Mets were a contending team. David Wright was still healthy, deGrom was stellar as always, Matt Harvey was decent and Yoenis Cespedes was hitting bombs out of every ballpark. Today, Harvey has been pitching like a pitcher in AA and Cespedes hasn't hit the same way. Heck, Travis d'Arnaud of all people played third base against the Yankees on 8/16. The lack of adequate talent on the Mets current roster is reminiscent of the Yankees' 2014 roster, when they rolled out the likes of Brian Roberts and Kelly Johnson.
For a rivalry to be meaningful, both teams have to be contending for a playoff berth (see the Mets and Yankees in 2000) or a player has to instigate (cause an injury to the opposing player, unnecessary showboating). Otherwise, "rivalry games" just run flat. You wouldn't play a video game which you couldn't beat level one, nor would you play one which automatically lets you win every time.