Can the Mets just once in the 21st century occupy rarified air alone in their own city?

This was supposed to be the year. The Yankees were getting crushed by their fan base for the clamp Hal Steinbrenner seemed to place on the team’s purse over the winter while his Mets counterpart Steve Cohen, if not spending like a drunken sailor, was at least somewhat tipsy.

The Mets (26-14) have been superb through six weeks, jumping into first place early and building a solid lead against a weakened NL East. The only problem for the Mets in trying to become the biggest story in town is the Yankees (28-10) have been great, amassing MLB’s best record, with Aaron Judge the toast of not only NYC, but maybe all of baseball. It has happened as the Mets’ most exciting player, Jacob deGrom, has sat on the injured list recovering from a stress reaction in his right scapula. In a best-case scenario, the Mets won’t get their ace back until July. The Mets aren’t ready yet to acknowledge the possibility of a worst-case scenario, a lost season, but the longer it takes the right-hander to climb back on a mound, the more such an outcome is going to seem possible.

And now he’ll be joined on the shelf for the foreseeable future by the Mets’ co-ace, Max Scherzer, who was diagnosed Thursday with an oblique strain. The injury is expected to keep Scherzer out for a minimum of six-to-eight weeks.