A unified New York on 9/11 did not last very long.

In a microcosm of our country today, the moving celebration at Citi Field before the Yankees and Mets played on Saturday night turned into a near-brawl 24 hours later.

After the U.S. was attacked by its own hijacked airliners on September 11, 2001, America came together like perhaps never before. When the Mets played their first game back in Shea Stadium, a historic night of recovery and redemption took place that would never be forgotten.

Now, two decades later, the country is divided more than any time since perhaps the Civil War. One faction is actually denying that the January 6 attack on the Capitol happened the way we saw it on live TV.

Sure, it was only a game between two longtime rivals that occupy the same city, but the good feeling Saturday night turned into open taunting that you usually don’t see on a baseball diamond.

On one night, the players mixed together along the 1st and 3rd baselines and put on caps to honor the first responders, hundreds of whom died in New York on 9/11 as the Twin Towers came down.

But at Citi Field in New York on Sunday next night, a very tightly contested game turned into accusations of sign stealing and cheating by one team while they were actually playing.

The Mets’ Francisco Lindor, who hit three home runs in the game, reacted to what he thought was sign stealing by the Yankees when he hit his second dinger to put his team ahead.

Supposedly, the Yankees were stealing signs and relaying them to their batters by whistling from the dugout. When Lindor rounded third base on his way home, he glared into the Yankees dugout and made a whistling gesture with his fingers in his mouth.

The next inning, Giancarlo Stanton tied the game for the Yankees with a two-run homer. When he rounded second, he stopped trotting and turned around to taunt Lindor. By the time Stanton crossed home plate and headed for the dugout, players from both teams had come onto the field ready to rumble.

Scenes like this are common in baseball especially among heated rivals. But 24 hours after the emotional 9/11 ceremony, it cheapened their actions of the night before.

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