This Subway Series will actually have some big-picture meaning

By now we are used to the way the Yankees and Mets downplay the significance of the games they play against each other. For years they’ve insisted these games mean exactly the same as any other games they play, against the Reds or the Red Sox or the Rangers or the Rockies. One of 162, all of that.

And look, we get it: This isn’t 1970 anymore where the Yankees could take supreme delight in winning the Mayor’s Trophy Game over the defending-champion Mets that was meaningless except to the 49,569 people that represented the third-largest crowd at Yankee Stadium that year, and to players like Fritz Peterson, who walked off the field with his index finger jabbing the sky, a la Joe Namath.

And no, we understand: This isn’t 1977, when the Yankees got hammered by the Mets in St. Petersburg, Fla., in a game that was televised back to New York and sent George Steinbrenner roaring into the postgame clubhouse where he nearly fired Billy Martin for the first time, so fearful was he of a mass exodus of ticket buyers from The Bronx to Queens because of that outcome.

And, sure: None of it will ever compare to 2000 (until we get that again).

Still, this time, it doesn’t feel like rhetoric, or forced detachment. Even the games the teams played at Citi Field in June didn’t have the kind of big-picture importance the next two days at Yankee Stadium will.

Then, the Yankees were just at the start of what’s been a difficult stretch that was halted, for a day at least, by a 9-1 romp over the Rays at the Stadium. Then, the Mets were playing better but were still loitering under .500 and lingering on the periphery of the N.L. playoff picture. Then.

Now … well, as a man familiar with both ends of the Subway Series would put it: “It’s getting late early out there.” The Mets held on to beat the Marlins in Miami, 6-4, so they come in holding fast to the third wild card, a half game out of the second one. The Yankees win allowed them to maintain a three-game loss-column lead over the Red Sox for the third wild-card spot, and stay within three in the loss of the Orioles.

It may still seem vaguely interesting to watch the Mets and Yankees play each other on the same field in games that count. But the greater concern for both teams is maintaining their status. They are at a juncture of their seasons when every win is essential, with the trade deadline looming a week away.

“We want to win,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “It’s not even so much about the Mets, it’s where we are in the season. They’re the next ones in the way. It’s not overly personal for us.”

Said Juan Soto, who has returned from the All-Star break raging hot and hit a pair of scalded home runs Monday afternoon: “We are just trying to win games. Whatever happened in the past is past. Try to win that series and keep on rolling.”

And sure: The Yankees know what Luis Severino said the other day, how in a text thread he needled a few ex-teammates by pointing out they only have “two hitters.” That won’t be on the home bulletin board Tuesday because it’s meaningless. Far more meaningful was the 10-for-22 performance from their 4-through-9 hitters, including homers from Austin Wells, Anthony Volpe and — no, that was not a mirage — DJ LeMahieu.

It’s good to remember that the Yankees are still tied with the Phillies for the most games in which they’ve scored five or more runs — 51 — and that they are still one of just three teams to have reached 60 wins.

The Mets? Monday represented the final game of a 35-game stretch in which they played 33 times against teams at or under .500 (and two against the Yankees at their depths). They went 23-12, (exactly the record a certain Post columnist predicted at the outset) which has allowed them to look at themselves far differently than 35 games ago.

“We want the same mindset,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said. “One day at a time, come to the ballpark, prepare, compete, worry about the game at hand. We have the Yankees [Tuesday] so we need the same approach to continue to play well.”

They get the Yankees now. They get the Braves this weekend, and then the Twins, and then an August in which they’ll spend most of their time on the road. The fun is over. The serious stuff is afoot. And the Yankees will serve as their welcome-back to the varsity. That’s the stakes. And that’s more valuable than the Mayor’s Trophy ever was.