Mets, Yankees look destined for October baseball — even with their flaws

ARLINGTON, Texas — For all the concerns and complaints throughout an anxiety-filled first half for our ball teams, both the Yankees and Mets wound up confounding critics, overcoming obvious weaknesses and ultimately fashioning mostly positive narratives.

Things looked dicey at times (and dire in the case of the Mets). Yet, the smart money says now our two teams are playing into October.

For all the talk about the Yankees’ being a two-man team, their rotation falling into sudden shambles and manager Aaron Boone having little clue how to get them out of a mess that saw them lose eight straight series, our streaky marquee team sits within a game of the top of baseball’s best division as they hit the break.

The Mets’ story is the real first-half shocker. Long assumed for also-ran status by most, somehow, some way the Mets moved into playoff position. While the Yankees are mostly fulfilling the expectations of the sport’s almost annual favorite, the upstart Mets — only the Mets could be considered an underdog with the sport’s highest payroll! — executed a stunningly speedy rally to relevancy.

Special thanks for that to two top-of-the-lineup stars who should be All-Stars (Francisco Lindor and Brandon Nimmo) and inarguable, intangible assists from fun characters (the fuzzy, fast-food villain Grimace and singing second baseman Candelita). They’re all teaming up to energize Queens. OMG are they ever!

The resurgent Yankees are rallying around eager Ivy Leaguer Ben Rice, their improbable new cleanup man, but their main players remain more typical for the organization known for generational hitters. Future Hall of Famers Juan Soto and the incomparable Aaron Judge did everything possible to carry a lineup that was otherwise mostly underachieving. The Soto-Judge tandem fulfilled the hopes of the Yankees hierarchy as the most dangerous in the game, with the only negative the contract situation that allows Soto to leave at year’s end. (Soto is said to be enjoying his pinstriped time, but the Yankees are now aware there won’t be any in-season negotiations, as they’d hoped.)