Pete Alonso is here to own the Subway Series, one monstrous home run at a time

By day, it all appeared to be going to script.

The Subway Series has always see-sawed, but recently things had leaned a bit more toward the Bronx. Not only did the Yankees enter 2019 having won seven out of their last 10 games against the Mets, but they'd reached the postseason in each of the last two years while their counterparts in Queens fell short.

If there's a moment that defines the current era of the rivalry, it's probably a rookie Aaron Judge nearly hitting a home run clear out of Citi Field.

And sure enough, in the first game of their doubleheader on Tuesday, the Bombers hit bombs. Luke Voit and Gary Sanchez hit missiles into the bleachers en route to an easy 12-5 win, as if just to reiterate in case you'd forgotten over the offseason: the Yankees had the first-place team, the young stars, the back page of the New York Post. (The headline after Game 1: "Yankees demolish Mets in familiar Subway Series theme".)

But just minutes into the nightcap, something changed. Something with the power to tilt this rivalry on its axis. Something named Pete Alonso:

Sure, it was just one swing in one game. But Alonso gives the Mets their very own Judge or Sanchez, a dinger-mashing superstar with seemingly limitless swag who's taken the league by storm over his first few months -- and who would love nothing more than to turn New York blue and orange.

“I’m really looking forward to the ones at Citi Field, this environment was nuts,” Alonso said after the Mets had wrapped up a 10-4 win. “I am just really looking forward to the next two [Subway] games.”

Really, is it any wonder that it took him exactly one at-bat to put everyone on notice? The Mets still have plenty of work to do to tip the see-saw back in their direction, but who knows, maybe we'll look back on this as the dawn of a new Subway Series.