The Yankees and Mets will battle for New York bragging rights when they meet for a three-game series at Citi Field beginning on Friday

As the Yankees and Mets meet for another round of the Subway Series -- this time in Queens -- the dynamic between New York City's two franchises has reached a point that those who have lived the rivalry were skeptical they'd ever see.

Both New York baseball teams were cruising along and comfortably in first place when the Mets and the Yankees crossed paths six weeks ago. The dominant storyline of that mid-May interleague series mostly was about one individual as the slumping Juan Soto returned for the first time to rounds and rounds of Bronx cheers after spurning the Bombers for a landmark $765 million deal from Steve Cohen and the Mets.