The Yankees are the greatest franchise in the history of sports. When you invoke their name, you invoke the names of some of the greatest players to ever play the game in Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, and Mickey Mantle. With legends like these, it’s no wonder the Yankees won 19 World Series titles before the Mets even took the field in 1962. 

According to the Yankees, they began play in 1903 when they purchased the defunct Baltimore Orioles franchise. In their first 59 years of existence, they would win their aforementioned 19 World Series titles. It’s extremely impressive even if you disregard the fact that baseball was segregated, and the Yankees were definitively pro-segregation. 

The Yankees position was so entrenched they would pass on Willie Mays multiple times. The Yankees would not add their first black baseball player, Elston Howard, to the major league roster until 1955, eight years after Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier. 

I bring this up because now that the Mets are good again, and the Mets fan is puffing out his chest again, the Yankee fan reply is “27 rings.”  Note, they want to own the rings but not the racism. Also, they neglect to mention that 70% of those World Series titles came before the Mets existed. The real argument is eight rings to two. With that in mind, let’s look at the Yankees titles since the Mets began:

1962:  The Yankees won the first year of the Mets existence. It was the Yankees second straight title, and third in five years. They would not win another one for fifteen years. 

1977 & 1978: The Yankees won two straight titles. At this point, the Yankees had three rings to the Mets one. The Yankees would not win another ring for 18 years. The Mets would win another in 1986 narrowing the gap to 3-2. 

1996: The Yankees were on the dawn of their next dynasty. This raised the Yankees advantage to 4-2. 

1998 – 2000: If there was a pitcher named on the Mitchell Report or elsewhere, chances are they pitched for the Yankees. As an example, three of the Yankees winning pitchers in the 2000 World Series aused PEDs: Mike Stanton (2) and Roger Clemens. Three of their four SP in that World Series used steroids during their career: Clemens, Andy Pettitte, and Denny Neagle. Since there’s no steroids asterisk to these titles, they all count increasing the Yankees lead to 7-2. 

2009: With a mostly retooled roster, the Yankees won their 27th World Series or 8th since 1962. 

So, in total, the Yankees only have eight rings to the Mets two, or do Yankees fans expect the Mets to have competed for a World Series prior to 1962. The Mets had just as good a chance of winning one then as a black player had of playing on the Yankees. Remind them of that because if the Yankee fan wants credit for their entire history, you should make them own it. 

In any event, I don’t care about the Yankees and how many rings they have. I’m only concerned about the Mets, their two rings, and their chances of winning one this year.