So I’m going through my Facebook newsfeed early this morning and came across an interesting update from Lisa at Subway Squawkers — she came up with the idea to run a simulation (courtesy of WhatIfSports) involving the 1986 Mets and 1998 Yankees. Why, you may ask? She, like many other NY baseball fans, was disappointed with fan favorite Darryl Strawberry’s decision to offer himself to be fired from “Celebrity Apprentice” (Donald Trump’s reality show on NBC, for those who live under a rock). Subway Squawkers will be running simulations of this 7-game series throughout the week leading up to Sunday’s season opener with the Red Sox.

This got me thinking: last year’s World Series-winning team shares some similarities to the team that kicked off the most recent dynasty in 1996. Both had a mix of homegrown talent (Jeter/Pettitte/Bernie/Rivera/etc in ’96, Jeter/Pettitte/Rivera/Posada/Cano/Hughes/Joba/Melky/etc in ’09) and imports who bought in to the team concept (O’Neill/Tino/Boggs/Cone/Key in ’96, CC/AJ/Tex/Damon/Matsui/Swisher in ’09). Both teams had managers named Joe under pressure to win (Torre and Girardi). Both teams were starting new eras (Don Mattingly retired after ’95, Brian Cashman stop spending foolishly in ’08). So the question must be asked: who would win in a seven-game series?

Thanks to WhatIfSports, we can answer this question. All this week, I will let WIS simulate a seven-game series between the ’96 Yankees and ’09 Yankees as a warm-up for Opening Night on Sunday. With the ’96 team winning home-field advantage, game recaps will come every morning this week until a winner is decided. For instance, here is a recap of Game 1:

Game 1 featured two young, gifted left-handers in a marquee matchup: CC Sabathia for the ’09NYY and Andy Pettitte for the ’96NYY. A four-run 4th inning from the ’09 team, thanks to back-to-back HRs from Hideki Matsui and Jorge Posada, was more than enough support for Sabathia as he easily outdueled Pettitte. Godzilla would go 2-4 with the three-run homer, while Mark Teixeira added a two-run single in the 9th. The ’96 team looked overmatched at the plate, mustering only six hits against CC and Phil Hughes.

View box score here.

Tomorrow: Game 2 (A.J. Burnett vs. Jimmy Key)

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So there’s a little taste of what’s in store for this week here. With the 25-man team all but set, there isn’t too much commentary to be made — plus the simulations are a great way to break the monotony of The Gospel of Smoov. Hope you enjoy the simulations!