As We Head Into The Labor Day Sports Transition, Is Your Team Rising Or Falling?
Labor Day weekend is always bittersweet in our household. The nominal end of summer portends a change in weather (as if the seemingly weekly hurricanes weren’t enough of a reminder) and the start of a new school year for our kids.
As a sports fan, however, September is when things start to liven up. On one end, you have the first week of the NFL, to be followed by the opening of NBA and NHL training camps later in the month, which in turn corresponds to the winding up of the grind that is the MLB regular season in favor of the thrills that come with playoff baseball.
As such, now is as good a time as ever to take stock as to where all our teams stand at this pivotal juncture. So, without further ado, here are our risers and plungers from the four major pro sports (sorry, I don’t watch MLS):
Yankees (---):
Down 6.5 games to the Rays in the AL East as of this writing, the Yanks seem destined for a fourth Wild Card round in five seasons. Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton are must-watch at-bats and the team got even more juice (no pun intended) from recent additions like Anthony Rizzo and Joey Gallo that sparked a recent 13-game winning streak, but I feel it still lacks that second dominant power pitcher behind Gerrit Cole that is usually necessary to win it all, which is how the Yankees have always been measured.
Mets (↓):
All that’s missing from this season’s Mets Scandal Bingo card is a runs-shaving investigation. If the executives aren’t harassing women, they’re driving drunk. On the field, the players turned the tables by heckling the fans. Meanwhile, injuries limited perennial Cy Young candidate Jacob DeGrom to 15 starts and only the Pirates have scored fewer runs among NL teams. Other than that, Mets fans, how have you enjoyed the season?
Jets (?):
New coach, new quarterback--we hear this tale every three-to-five years with this franchise. You can be enthusiastic about quarterback Zach Wilson’s promise and appreciate that Head Coach Robert Saleh appears to be the antithesis of comatose Todd Bowles and the aloof Adam Gase, but that won’t stop opponents from rolling up 30-plus points on the Jets’ inexperienced defense every week. This team has far more offensive potential than recent iterations, so if they’re losing games 38-28 instead of 38-10, that would be a step in the right direction in my book. Why the question mark, since you can’t do much worse than 2-14? Until they show some stability, it’s Same Old Jets to me.
Giants: (↑):
I know many are down on Big Blue this season, but for some reason, I see them being a lot more competitive and improving on their 6-10 mark from 2020. Not that they’ll be winning a Super Bowl with Daniel Jones at QB, but he has the ability to take a step forward this season with improved weapons around him. The defense should keep most games within reach, and if Jones can figure out a way to use his legs to keep plays alive without turning the ball over, the Giants can challenge for the crown in the still-weak NFC East.
Knicks: (↑):
Coaching matters (Part I). Under Tom Thibodeau’s tutelage last season, Julius Randle developed into a legitimate All Star and the Knicks became Manhattan’s darlings again, earning their first playoff berth since 2013. So what that they were upset in five games in their first-round matchup with Atlanta—this team found an identity and used it to make important additions this offseason—finding a true point guard in Kemba Walker (good riddance, Elfrid Payton) and another shot-creator in Evan Fournier, though Thibodeau will be tested in getting those two to play merely average defense. Look for wing R.J. Barrett to be the next Knick to make a leap.
Nets (↑↑↑):
New York City’s best chance to celebrate its first pro sports championship since the Super Bowl Giants of 2012 lays with these Nets, who loaded up this offseason by signing scoring guard Patty Mills and forward Paul Millsap in free agency (with the return of center LaMarcus Aldridge possibly in the works after a heart scare forced his temporary retirement last season after just 5 games in Brooklyn). They might have the most talented roster in NBA history, with Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, and James Harden an unstoppable Big 3 when healthy. And did I mention that KD recently re-upped for four more seasons? Plan the parade route, Brook-lyn!
Rangers: (↓):
I like the selection of Gerard Gallant as the new Head Coach, but the re-shaping of the roster screams James Dolan interference. The organization will deny that Capitals hatchet man Tom Wilson is living in their heads, but bringing in all that grit at above-market rates at the expense of skill seems backwards-thinking. Maybe Gallant can coax better production from recent high draft picks Kaapo Kakko and Alexis Lafrenière to make up the difference. The Rangers were only two games under true .500 (27-23-6) playing most of their games against four of the NHL’s top clubs in the COVID-19-altered 2021 campaign, so I would consider a similar mark this season as a decline.
Islanders (--):
Coaching matters (Part II). Barry Trotz won’t rest until he squeaks every ounce of potential out of his team. Otherwise, it could be a bit of a downhill ride for a salary cap-strapped club that is banking fairly heavily on bounceback seasons from former Devils Kyle Palmieri and Zach Parise. We’ll have to wait until Game 14 to find out whether the ambiance of the new UBS Arena in Elmont can match the full-throated lion’s den that was Nassau Coliseum, but I’m skeptical. Still, if General Manager Lou Lamoriello finds a solution for the loss of defenseman Nick Leddy, either in-house or via a trade, then the Isles surely have what it takes to get back to the Eastern Conference Finals for a third straight year. Even if they still haven’t caught up to Tampa Bay.
Devils (↑):
It seems I write every preseason that the Devils are the proverbial team that’s two years away from being two years away. Well, now I think that they’re two-or-three years away, so I guess that’s progress. Management FINALLY addressed the glaring weakness on the backline, bringing in defensemen with size in Dougie Hamilton and Ryan Graves. Hamilton is much more than a six-foot six body, of course—he’s one of the top 10 leading point producers at his position. Former No. 1 overall picks Jack Hughes and Nico Hischier form a quality one-two punch in the middle, but the team needs a winger other than Yegor Sharangovich to step up their development this season in order to generate a consistent offense that would lead to improved results in the standings. That and hoping goaltender Jonathan Bernier can win a few games that MacKenzie Blackwood doesn’t start. Seriously, Devils backups won 11 of 47 starts over the last two seasons. The bottom line is that this franchise has nowhere to go but up.