Luke Weaver Faces Yankees Teammates At Citi Field This Weekend
Luke Weaver and Devin Williams are back in the Mets bullpen this weekend for the Subway Series, and both will face former Yankees teammates at Citi Field. Weaver said the matchup brings “a lot of old teammates” and “playing for keeps” with bragging rights at stake.
Citi Field Bullpen Pressure
Weaver said he is looking forward to “the magnitude of what that series and rivalry brings.” He added that the bullpen gives pitchers more exposure to the fans at Citi Field, where “you’re getting chirped [at] and that’s expected,” but “you definitely get more here [at Citi Field] because you’re more exposed to that.”
He also said, “The fans between the two teams obviously have kind of an interesting relationship. I found it kind of cool to” watch Yankees and Mets fans interact in the stands.
Williams Sees Little Difference
Williams said he is “not really expecting it to feel different playing for the other team,” though he is looking forward to the games. He said last year’s Yankees-Mets meetings “had like a playoff feel in the middle of the year” and that both clubs “were very good the first time we met.”
The two relievers split six games with the Mets a year ago while pitching for the Yankees, and this weekend they will come out of the home bullpen at Citi Field for New York’s other side. Clay Holmes, who came over from the Yankees the year before along with Juan Soto, will start the series opener.
Holmes Sees New York Energy
Holmes said Mets-Yankees games have “the best kind of environment I played in for a regular-season game” and that “this is a baseball town and the games feel like they mean so much more.” He called it “a special series” and said, “For the most part, on both sides, you just see the passion [and] what it means for the fans in New York City.”
The backdrop is sharp on both benches. The Mets were in last place in the NL East at 18-25, though they had won eight of their last 12 after Thursday afternoon’s 9-4 win over Detroit completed a three-game sweep at Citi Field. The Yankees were 10 games over.500 at 27-17, two games behind Tampa Bay in second place in the AL East, but they arrived after losing two of three in Baltimore and going 1-5 on the first six games of the road trip.
For Weaver and Williams, the week puts them back in a series where the stakes are measured as much by the noise as the standings. The relievers who wore Yankees uniforms a year ago now have a chance to answer in a bullpen that leaves little room to hide.
