Subway Series: Mets Are More Interesting Than The Yankees

The New York Yankees and New York Mets open the latest edition of the Subway Series Friday night at Yankee Stadium. Entering the series let's recognize one thing -- with their 27 World Series titles the Yankees are the Big Brother in this rivalry, but this season the Mets have been the Big Ticket. The surprising team from Flushing has been more interesting this season than the big boys from the Bronx.

Let's look at the 2012 realities:

• The Mets have the best player. David Wright.
• The Mets have had the best individual performance. Johan Santana's no-hitter.
• The Mets have comedian Bill Maher. The Yankees are still stuck with Hank Steinbrenner and Randy Levine.
• The Yankees have Derek Jeter having a resurgent year and the comeback story of Andy Pettitte. But they also have Alex Rodriguez and Mark Teixeira, whose games aren't as big as their names, as ESPN radio talking Colin Cowherd said recently.
• The Mets have exciting young players like 22-year-old shortstop Ruben Tejada, 24-year-old outfielder Kirk Nieuwenhuis and 27-year-old second baseman Daniel Murphy.
• They both might win their divisions, or at least make the playoffs. That is expected of the Yankees. It would be an incredible thrill ride for the Mets.

In a way this is a discussion the Yankees can never win, because they are always expected to be the better team. This season, though, the Mets have been the better story