Pennant races, kickoffs and playoff duels: The dates every sports fan should circle this month

When the summer began, it felt as if we’d all be humming Green Day’s “Wake Me Up When September Ends” through the final month of baseball’s regular season.

The MLB postseason in October, and likely first-round byes under the new 12-team playoff format, seemed like a lock for much of the first half for the Yankees and the Mets as they built double-digit division leads.

Now that Labor Day — and with it, unofficially, summer — is behind us, sudden divisional pennant races for both first-place local clubs only will add to an already busy September viewing schedule amid the New York sports landscape.

Here are some key dates to mark down for the remainder of the month, including the most important series for the Yankees and the Mets.

MLB

Sept. 9-11: The Yankees staved off what would have been a crippling sweep in St. Pete with Sunday’s victory over the charging Rays, and they perhaps took another step toward righting their sinking season with another victory over their personal patsies, the Twins, on Monday at the Stadium behind Aaron Judge’s 54th home run and the second of the year by Isiah Kiner-Falefa. The Rays will be in The Bronx this weekend, interestingly on nearly the same dates that the Yankees pulled off the so-called “Boston Massacre” (Sept. 7-10) with a four-game sweep of the Red Sox by a 42-9 aggregate to tie for the AL East lead in 1978 after trailing by as many as 14 games that July. The Yankees’ win Sunday likely took that scenario out of play for this coming weekend, however, as the Rays are now five games back — instead of three — after their 4-3 win at home Monday against Boston.

Sept. 30-Oct. 2: The Mets’ division lead over the Braves has been slashed from 10.5 games on June 1 to one game after Monday’s washout in Pittsburgh (the Braves were traveling to the West Coast and open a two-game set Tuesday in Oakland). Buck Showalter’s club needs to take advantage of a favorable closing schedule, at least better than they fared in dropping two of three to a decimated Nationals team over the weekend. That series began a stretch in which they’ll play 24 of their final 30 games against teams with a combined .388 winning percentage. The key remaining series, if neither team separates itself from the other in the interim, will come in the penultimate three-game set of the regular season at Truist Park. At stake is the right to be the No. 2 seed behind the runaway Dodgers in the National League and the all-important bye in the first round of the playoffs.

NFL

Sept. 8-11: The NFL season kicks off Thursday night when the defending champion Rams meet the loaded Bills. Fantasy football has never been my bag, but, obviously, along with legalized betting, these are the primary reasons that many fans tune in to games. So have at it. I’m more interested to get first looks Sunday at the Giants and the Jets, in what will be all-important seasons for their respective could-be franchise quarterbacks: Daniel Jones and Zach Wilson. Wilson might not start Sunday against the Ravens due to his preseason knee injury, but Jones — unsigned beyond this year after the Giants declined his fifth-year option following another injury-shortened season — is back on the clock Sunday against the Titans, playing for a third different head coach (Brian Daboll) already in his career. It’s been a rough decade for the Giants, missing the playoffs nine years out of 10 since their second house-money Super Bowl victory in five years over the Patriots following the 2011 season. The Jets’ futility extends even longer, most recently with zero postseason appearances in 11 years since back-to-back trips to the AFC title game in the 2009-10 seasons.

Tennis

Sept. 9-11: Now that Serena Williams has been sent off into expected retirement and No. 1 men’s seed Daniil Medvedev has been ousted by bad boy Nick Kyrgios, the second week at the U.S. Open still promises some intriguing storylines through the finals on Saturday (women) and Sunday (men). A pair of American women, No. 8 Jessica Pegula and No. 12 Coco Gauff, advanced to the quarterfinals along with No. 1 seed Iga Swiatek and Williams eliminator Alja Tomljanovic. Still, the match I have circled would be a potential semifinals clash Friday between improving American Frances Tiafoe, who ousted Rafael Nadal with an impressive four-set win Monday, and rising 19-year-old Carlos Alcaraz (who survived in five sets Monday night against veteran Marin Cilic).

NBA

Sept. 26-27: The Knicks and the Nets open camp in three weeks after headlines all summer about blockbuster trades for both teams ultimately produced little movement. The initial media availability for the Nets, especially, should be popcorn-worthy, marking the first time stars Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving will take questions since both agreed to return to Brooklyn. Knicks questions will be more directed at team president Leon Rose, if he makes himself available, following the failure to land offseason target Donovan Mitchell, who was dealt last week to the Cavaliers.

NHL

Sept. 21: Local puck camps also open this month, likely with less fanfare than their NBA counterparts. But both of New York’s NHL teams are beginning a crossroads campaign, albeit for different reasons. The Rangers advanced to the Eastern Conference Final last spring under Gerard Gallant before losing to the Lightning, and they return largely the same cast aside from an upgrade at 2C (Vincent Trocheck from Ryan Strome) and new backup goalie Jaroslav Halak. The Islanders had made it that far in each of the previous two years before missing the playoffs altogether in 2021-22, and Hall of Fame GM Lou Lamoriello drew warranted criticism after his only significant personnel move this summer was to fire two-time Coach of the Year Barry Trotz and replace him with rookie head coach Lane Lambert.

WNBA

Sept. 8: The Seattle Storm face elimination in the best-of-5 WNBA semis, down 2-1 to head coach Becky Hammon’s Las Vegas Aces. That means that Tuesday’s game could be the final one in the decorated career of local legend Sue Bird — out of Long Island, Christ The King HS and UConn. The 41-year-old Bird is seeking her fifth WNBA title to go along with five Olympic gold medals representing Team USA. The Chicago Sky, the defending league champions, lead the Connecticut Sun, 2-1, in the other semifinal series.

Soccer

Sept. 10: The EPL already has been in full swing for a few weeks, and the early-season developments include quick starts by usual also-ran sides such as Leeds, Brighton and Brentford to land in the top half of the league table. One interesting early clash comes this Saturday between Tottenham and defending champion Manchester City after each team picked up four wins and two draws in its first six matches. On the MLS side, the Red Bulls and NYCFC — currently in third and fourth place in the Eastern Conference — will square off in the latest Hudson Derby on Sept. 17.

Today’s back page

Judge for yourself

Shohei Ohtani is the most remarkable baseball player of my lifetime, and he’s having another eye-popping season statistically for the eliminated Angels. But Aaron Judge has been the AL MVP this season, and it should be unanimous.

Judge’s 54th home run of the season Monday also marked his sixth in his last 13 games, at a time when the rest of the fading Yankees’ offense has become completely undermanned and overmatched. The pending free agent clearly isn’t wilting amid the chase of Roger Maris’ longstanding AL record of 61 nor within his season-long bet on himself financially, and those traits have to count for something in this voting process.

Yes, it would take an otherworldly season to beat out Ohtani, who’s notched 30 home runs and an .880 OPS at the plate plus a 2.58 ERA with 181 strikeouts over 136 innings from the mound. Judge most certainly is accomplishing that, and deserves to win his first career MVP award.

We love to hate them

Few current athletes seem to thrive on playing and embracing the villain role as well as Kyrgios, the 27-year-old Aussie still seeking his first career Grand Slam title after falling to Novak Djokovic in the finals at Wimbledon earlier this summer.

Where would you rank Kyrgios — who will face Karen Khachanov in Tuesday’s quarterfinals — on a list of current athletes or sports figures we love to hate? Here are a few suggestions, or feel free to add your own in the comments section below.

Jose Altuve, Astros second baseman
Deshaun Watson, Browns quarterback
Dan Snyder, Commanders owner
Greg Norman, LIV golf
Tom Wilson, Capitals winger