Mets-Yankees like we've never seen it before, but we're happy to have baseball back

On the same day Canada banned the Blue Jays, the Subway Series returned to New York, a wounded but rebounding metropolis once considered the world’s deadly epicenter for the coronavirus.

Four months ago, a night like Saturday at Citi Field didn’t seem remotely possible. The mere suggestion bordered on insanity. Truth be told, it was still a little nutty. When the only “fans” are made of cardboard, the applause is fake and party tents are hastily constructed as socially distanced auxiliary dugouts, this is nowhere near what anyone would consider normal, “new” or otherwise.

But it was Yankees vs. Mets, on a cozy, warm late July evening by Flushing Bay, and that always is regarded as something special, even if the game itself doesn’t count. This was practice, after all. A dress rehearsal on the sport’s biggest stage, in front of more than 40,000 empty seats, a scenario that only a global pandemic could mandate.

Yet baseball happened. When Mets starter Rick Porcello surrendered a leadoff double by Mike Tauchman, instead of the collective Citi Field groan that usually would follow, there was eerie silence. We did get some staticky fake applause on a few occasions, but Edwin Diaz was fortunate the building was empty when he had to be pulled mid-inning in a five-run ninth.

Clint Frazier, striking a blow for mask-wearers everywhere, launched a long two-run homer into the quiet night as the Yankees rolled, 9-3.

This isn’t golf. A packed stadium crackles with energy, and the void created by the absence of fans makes for an oddly sterile environment, regardless of pumped-in noise. But that’s unavoidable for now.

To these two teams, however, it almost felt like the World Series, based on what everyone had to endure just to get here.

“I’m so excited,” Pete Alonso said before the game. “I’m pumped up. This is one of the days that we were wishing and waiting for during the second offseason, so I’m so excited to play a team with another set of colors. It’s gonna be a fun one.”

That “second offseason” Alonso referred to is more commonly known in these parts as the four-month battle with the COVID-19 outbreak that terrified and immobilized New York like nothing ever had, with the exception of 9/11.

That struggle isn’t close to over, of course. And baseball isn’t immune to the threat, either. But making it this far, after so much uncertainty and the numerous obstacles presented by the health protocols, was a significant achievement on its own.

“It was very cool walking into Tom Seaver Lane and walking into the park knowing we’re playing another team,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “But I think it is a little different than what Opening Day will be like.”

Boone’s home is the Bronx, so it’s understandable he whiffed on Seaver Way, not Lane. And despite the quick 10-mile drive across the RFK Bridge, the Yankees had plenty on their mind in what amounted to their first road game of the pandemic era.

There is no such thing as an easy trip anymore, even if it’s just a short hop from the Bronx to Queens. But the closer these teams get to Opening Day, the more real it seems.

“None of us — you guys, us as players, or really I think anybody — knew how it was going to work once we got to camp,” Porcello said. “Each day that’s gone by, it seems to be rolling smoother and smoother, knock on wood. It’s exciting just because of the unknowns coming into this season and how everything was going to work. We’re right there. I think the most important thing is being able to bring baseball to our fans and to our country during this time. We’re knocking on the door of being able to do that. So it’s pretty cool.”

Three hours before first pitch, DJ LeMahieu was on a Zoom call describing how he was surprised to test positive for COVID-19 earlier this month because he had no symptoms. At the other end of that spectrum was the Braves’ Freddie Freeman, who revealed Saturday that he was so critically ill from the virus that his fever spiked at 104.5, scaring him to the point of praying “don’t take me.”

Anybody could be Freddie Freeman. And as sick as he was, more than 143,000 in the United States weren’t fortunate enough to survive their own bout with COVID-19. Scary numbers like those helped convince Canada to close off Toronto to the Blue Jays this summer, and baseball is operating in a very fragile ecosystem right now.

We still have our doubts about the regular season, but the Yankees and Mets managed to clear plenty of hurdles just to make Saturday night a reality. That was more than we expected, honestly.

“I was always talking to the guys that whatever came our way, whatever type of season, whatever number of games, the format, we were going to play baseball,” Mets manager Luis Rojas said. “I know we haven’t started the season yet, but I’m very proud of a lot of things we’ve accomplished.”

All New Yorkers should feel that way after the fight to get here. And Saturday’s return of the Subway Series was another part of the reward.

By David Lennon

dave.lennon@newsday.comDPLennon

David Lennon is an award-winning columnist, a voter for baseball's Hall of Fame and has covered six no-hitters, including two perfect games.