The Yankees have been sputtering a bit of late, losing five of their last six games while also dealing with injuries, including one to Max Fried that the extent of is not known yet. However, it almost always could be worse, and we just need to look at this weekend’s opponent for an example of that.
This weekend, the Yankees are headed across the city, as they go to Queens for a three-game set against the Mets. Not only do the Mets currently sit in last in the NL East with one of the worst records
in baseball so far, they’ve also been dealing with a mess of injuries. Expected regulars Francisco Lindor, Francisco Alvarez, Luis Robert Jr., Jorge Polanco, and Kodai Senga are all currently on the IL. Juan Soto has been one of the only regularly good bats for them, but he’s already had an IL stint and recently had another scare after fouling a ball of his foot (though he did homer yesterday).
However even with those struggles, the Mets always seem to get up for Subway Series matchups, and both fanbases certainly do, too. Before the action gets going tonight, here’s a look at this weekend’s expected pitching matchups.
Friday: Cam Schlittler vs. Clay Holmes (7:15 pm ET)
In his last outing, Schlittler had a gem wasted, as the Yankees’ offense and bullpen couldn’t hang on after the young ace allowed just two hits and no runs. There’s not much more you can say about Schlittler other than that he’s been awesome, leading the league in a number of statistics (namely ERA, FIP, WHIP, and H/9 entering play yesterday). We’ve seen how he gets up for the rivalry against the Red Sox, so let’s see what he does for this cross-city matchup.
The second year of the Holmes as a starter experiment is going … pretty well. The former Yankees closer has a 1.86 ERA in 48.1 innings across eight starts. He has yet to allow more than two runs in any one start, which is especially solid considering he’s made it through at least five innings in every start he’s made. Anecdotally, the Yankees also sometimes seem to struggle against pitchers who had down notes while a member of the Yankees, so we’ll see what happens this time around.
Saturday: Carlos Rodón vs. TBD (7:15 pm ET)
On Saturday, Rodón will be making his second start back off the injured list. His 2026 debut definitely saw some rust despite some good velocity, as he walked five batters in 4.1 innings. That partially caused him to give up three runs to the Brewers despite only giving up two hits. At least, hopefully that was only rust. You still can’t judge much on only two outings, but we’ll get a better sense of how he looks after this game.
At time of writing, the Mets haven’t announced who will be going in the second game. As mentioned, they’re a bit injured, and previous times at this spot in their rotation, they’ve gone with Huascar Brazobán as an opener. 2025 All-Star David Peterson lost his spot in the rotation with an awful start to 2026, but he’s been getting some work as a “bulk guy,” so he could follow Brazobán.
Sunday: Ryan Weathers vs. Freddy Peralta (1:40 pm ET)
Last time out, Weathers flirted with a no-hitter at Camden Yards, only for things to go to pieces after he left the game, leading to a Yankees’ loss to the Orioles. After an up-and-down start to his Yankees career, Weathers has been very solid in recent weeks. Over his last four starts, he has a 1.88 ERA and a 2.77 FIP.
Peralta was one of the biggest name pitchers to move over the offseason, as the Mets acquired him in a trade with the Brewers. He’s been good so far, especially of late, posting a 3.10 ERA and a 3.67 FIP over his first nine starts as a Met. As was the case in Milwaukee, he’s not the type of guy to go 7-8 innings, as his longest outings of the season have been 6.0 innings flat, without ever starting the seventh. However, he can still go out there and strike a bunch of batters out in bunches.
