| When the Mets — pitchers, catchers, Buck Showalter, everyone — descended on Clover Park for last year's spring training, there weren't any thoughts of a trade deadline selloff. Of a 75-87 record. Of their co-aces meeting in the ALCS on opposite teams.
That never happens in the early stages of spring training. Optimism always emanates from the clubhouse interviews and the surprise Grapefruit League performances. But when Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander were dealt mid-season, and when other pieces surrounding them on baseball's record-setting payroll departed for the legitimate contenders, the Mets had barreled toward — and eventually slammed into — a reality check.
So when the Mets hold their first full-squad workout Monday in Port St. Lucie and the Yankees assemble for theirs in Tampa the following day, there will still be the jolts of positivity that might seem more delusional than realistic.
The stars will arrive. Pete Alonso. Juan Soto. Francisco Lindor. Aaron Judge. Aaron Boone already tossed around the word "hellbent" to describe the Yankees' quest to snap the World Series drought, and the Mets certainly don't plan to produce a campaign more disappointing than last year.
"It's one of those days on the calendar that's, frankly, an exciting day," Boone told reporters Sunday ahead of the Yankees' arrival Monday. "We're at the 'hope springs eternal' portion of the show, and it's always good to get everyone here. It's an important day."
 Aaron Boone gets to add one of baseball's best players to his lineup in Juan Soto, but must deal with the pressure that comes with it.
Charles Wenzelberg/New York Post
But that doesn't replace the ominous feeling of both New York teams already being on the clock, with the looming threat for everything to look entirely different by the end of July.
The stars might leave. Alonso sounds as if he's open to signing an extension, but talks haven't gained traction. Soto says he's content with testing free agency. Both the Yankees and the Mets — in an undercurrent to whatever championship dreams they have — need to win enough in the early stage of the season to avoid a harsh reality at the deadline.
The looming contract negotiations for Alonso and Soto aren't exactly identical, though.
Alonso became the homegrown success story for the Mets, the second-round pick in 2016 who made his MLB debut three years later and has slugged an MLB-high 192 home runs in the past five seasons. He became the fan favorite, whose "LFGM" phrase gained popularity as he became their regular first baseman who rarely missed games.
Would there be a hometown discount for the Mets? Probably not, especially with Scott Boras as his agent.
 Will Juan Soto be in pinstripes for longer than the next several months?
Post photo illustration
"I've been sitting back and listening, and the only contract matters that we talked about were my one-year contract this year," Alonso said Saturday. "I'm very happy I'm back with this group, and I'm stoked to get this year going and it's an exciting time in spring."
But the possibility of any type of discount won't even get consideration with Soto, another Boras client. The Yankees "know where to call," he said on his introductory Zoom call, and that, of course, meant his agent.
His Yankees tenure could last 162 games if they again don't make the playoffs. It might not even last that long if they lose games and decide to trade him ahead of the deadline, hoping to get something in return.
Acquiring Soto lifted the Yankees' ceiling for 2024 and, in their ideal scenario, perhaps created leverage to use for negotiating the star outfielder's next deal.
Soto, just 25 years old, won a World Series with the Nationals in 2019, and the Yankees will already be his third team. His addition inserted a threat alongside Judge in their lineup, and provided some cushion if Giancarlo Stanton, Anthony Rizzo and DJ LeMahieu can't replicate their success from past seasons.
 Carlos Mendoza, Francisco Lindor and Co. must keep the Mets afloat in the standings to justify keeping Pete Alonso past the trade deadline.
Corey Sipkin for the NY Post
But that December blockbuster between the Yankees and Padres forced the Yankees to part with key pieces, and it increased pressure for them to win — and keep winning in the playoffs — to validate the cost of the deal.
Michael King blossomed as a starter at the end of 2023 and has positioned himself to become a member of San Diego's rotation. Jhony Brito, Drew Thorpe, Randy Vasquez and Kyle Higashioka went to the Padres, too.
The Yankees encountered a similar dilemma in 2022 when spring training arrived and Judge still didn't have an extension.
It would've been difficult for them to part with him at the deadline, especially during a home-run-record chase, just like it would be tricky for the Mets to do the same with Alonso given his role within the organization. But Judge's contract status continued to loom until the Yankees and Judge agreed to his nine-year deal the following offseason. His contributions had an end date, even if all hints pointed toward the desire for a reunion.
 Aaron Judge's pending free agency diminished as a headline in 2022 as the Yankees retained him and he broke the American League home run record.
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So for now, both the Yankees and the Mets have nearly five months to get everything right, five months for Boone and first-year manager Carlos Mendoza to figure out the proper combination of pitchers and hitters to string together enough wins.
If they pass that benchmark, then anything can happen once the offseason arrives — even a potential bidding war for Soto between the Mets and Yankees, as The Post's Jon Heyman mentioned in December. Steve Cohen inevitably will make another splash signing, and if it's not Alonso, Soto might be the priority.
But unlike the Yankees with Judge in 2022, neither team might be able to justify keeping their star — Alonso for the Mets, Soto for the Yankees — beyond the deadline if their seasons are sinking. This year, they could get moved without it being a surprise.
There has already been a bit of a reality check — even before the Grapefruit League slate begins.
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Rangers versus the field It was the type of game — and, more specifically, the type of comeback — that a contender would have.
The Rangers certainly flashed that potential to start the season, winning 24 of their first 33 games, and then again across the past two weeks with six consecutive wins entering Sunday. But in between those stretches, sub-.500 hockey marked a concern for an experienced group featuring another new coach in Peter Laviolette.
Still, if there was any doubt about this Rangers group, they managed to erase some of it by scoring two goals across the final 4:08 of regulation and then winning their Stadium Series showdown against the Islanders, 6-5, just seconds into overtime — when Artemi Panarin stole the puck from Noah Dobson and managed to knock it past Ilya Sorokin.
 Artemi Panarin pumps his fist coming off the ice at MetLife Stadium after scoring the Rangers' overtime winner against the Islanders.
NHLI via Getty Images
Their power play, dormant with just one goal in the past eight games, produced three goals, including the two that erased a 5-3 deficit in the closing minutes.
"I think that you gain confidence when things are going well," head coach Peter Laviolette said after the game, "and you feel like you can do anything. And so when you're down by a couple goals with six minutes to go, you feel like you can do something — and I think our guys believed that."
Because of that, the 79,690 fans packed inside MetLife Stadium witnessed a thriller. Saquon Barkley was in attendance — yes, wearing a Giants jersey — and Tommy DeVito made several appearances on parts of the ESPN broadcast. Breece Hall and C.J. Mosley, among others, represented the Jets. Legends from both the Blueshirts and Islanders were in attendance, including Mark Messier and Bryan Trottier for the ceremonial puck drop. The Rangers arrived alongside members of the FDNY and NYPD on firetrucks and police cars, too.
The atmosphere lived up to the tradition of past outdoor games, dating back to the first Winter Classic between the Sabres and Penguins in 2008. That year, Sidney Crosby scored the winner in the shootout. The Penguins sprinted to the Stanley Cup final that season, where they lost, and returned again the following year, where they won.
 Rangers and Islanders fans filled into the last rows of MetLife Stadium to watch the local rivals stage a thriller in the NHL Stadium Series.
NHLI via Getty Images
And on Sunday, 16 years later, Panarin stole the spotlight with his game-winning goal. Everything had become a disaster for the Rangers in the first period, to the point where Laviolette called a timeout after a third Islanders goal snuck past goaltender Igor Shesterkin just 7:34 into the game. They also lost defenseman Ryan Lindgren to an upper-body injury.
Maybe the Rangers will manufacture a playoff run like the Penguins did off their outdoor triumph. Maybe they'll fall short again — and nothing will change in Year 30 since the Blueshirts last won the Stanley Cup. At times this season, it appeared as if that could become their sobering reality again.
Or maybe they'll reach their potential. Embody their status as a contender. Click at the right time, carried by their stars. That, especially in the third period on Sunday, didn't seem far-fetched.
Shooting stars Jalen Brunson's dunk against the Nuggets in January was "weak" and "like a 1," according to Donte DiVincenzo. Perhaps Brunson's former Villanova and current Knicks teammate will be more lenient when analyzing the All-Star Game.
Brunson managed a dunk midway through the fourth quarter of the East's 211-186 win — hanging onto the rim and swinging his legs for a few seconds afterward, while Nikola Jokic motioned for the referees to give the Knicks point guard a technical foul — and compiled 12 points in 17 minutes, but that was the extent of his first cameo in the All-Star Game, which, again, lacked drama and tension and drew plenty of in-game criticism on social media.
 Knicks point guard Jalen Brunson lines up a 3-pointer — without a defender in sight, naturally — during the 2024 NBA All-Star Game.
Getty Images
He didn't start and didn't come close to matching the 39 points from All-Star MVP Damian Lillard or the 32 from Tyrese Haliburton. Karl-Anthony Towns led all scorers with 50 points off the West bench.
But reaching that point still marked an accomplishment for Brunson, who's averaging a career-best 27.6 points and 6.5 assists per game for the Knicks. He's become one of the preeminent sports figures in NYC, the free-agent-signing-turned-fan-favorite who completely altered the trajectory of the franchise.
Brunson also compiled 24 points in the 3-point contest Saturday night in Indianapolis, but that night, it was another New York-based guard who emerged in the spotlight.
Sabrina Ionescu, who set the WNBA single-season record for 3-pointers during her fourth season with the Liberty, fell just three points short of Stephen Curry in a 3-point showdown.
 Sabrina Ionescu of the New York Liberty shoots during a 3-point challenge against the Warriors' Stephen Curry during the Saturday night of All-Star Weekend.
USA TODAY Sports via Reuters Con
She shot from the NBA line — and matched the best round in Saturday's customary 3-point contest — to "continue to push boundaries," and when TNT analyst Kenny Smith tried claiming "she should've shot from the 3-point line that the women shoot from," Reggie Miller, as well as others on social media, criticized Smith.
"Well, according to you, you want her just playing with dolls," Miller said, while also telling Ionescu to not "let any man put boundaries on you like Kenny."
What we're reading 👀 🏀 It's all gone wrong for St. John's: The Red Storm lost for the eighth time in the past 10 games by blowing a 19-point lead to Seton Hall (goodbye, NCAA Tournament), and Rick Pitino turned extremely bitter ("the most unenjoyable experience of my lifetime," he moaned in the press conference). Pitino called out his players, assistant coaches and school facilities. The Post's Mike Vaccaro pans Pitino's petty blame game.
⚾ Nick Burdi has recovered from two Tommy John surgeries and thoracic outlet syndrome. Now he's out to secure a spot in the Yankees bullpen. The Post's Greg Joyce relays Burdi's story.
⚾ What will Francisco Alvarez do for a Mets encore? Is the 22-year-old catcher thinking in terms of how many homers he can hit? "How many games I can win," he said.
⛳ Golf is weirdly lacking in buzz, writes The Post's Mark Cannizzaro. After Tiger Woods bizarrely exited the Genesis Invitational, who noticed Hideki Matsuyama actually won the tournament?
🏒 The PWHL's Toronto and Montreal teams drew a record crowd of 19,285 to a women's hockey game, and The Post's Larry Brooks commends the league's template for sustained success.
🏊♀️ Claire Curzan, a 19-year-old American, swept the three backstroke events at the world championships (against a depleted field) and Kate Douglass swam the fastest freestyle in the country's history. Here we come, Olympics.
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