Adam Hunger/USA Today Sports

By Joe Giglio | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

The usual Subway Series buzz has disappeared.

Since the start of interleague play in 1997, the annual summer head-to-head battles between the Mets and Yankees always felt like must-see television. For those in the parks (Shea Stadium, old Yankee Stadium, Citi Field, new Yankee Stadium), a playoff-like atmosphere always took over the building.

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Now? Those feeling have waned. As the Subway Series takes on its 21st (22nd if you count the 2000 World Series) run of existence, baseball should step in and make things a bit more exciting.

Here are some ideas that would spice things up between the Yankees and Mets.

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Go back to two sets of three games

Remember when these teams—along with every interleague geographical rival—played two sets of three-game series? That allowed for a buzz to build up a second time, each franchise to have its own real series in its building and for a rematch to emerge a few weeks or a month after the first battle.

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Now? The four-game, two-stadium set is over in a flash. If you're busy or on vacation, you'll miss the most interesting four nights of baseball played in New York all summer.

This feels like an easy fix for schedule makers to work on.

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Play it on the weekend

There’s something bigger in baseball about a weekend series. It’s why rivals play each other on weekends and prime time games still garner huge television contracts on Saturday and Sunday night. These games feel less important on Monday and Tuesday evenings.

When the Subway Series first began, a Friday night set the stage for a captivating weekend. Now? It's easy to get lost in the start of a week—when some other teams have the night off—for a Monday start to the series.

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Move the series up to earlier in the season

This is critical. For the second consecutive year, it feels like one of the teams isn’t in the race heading into the series.

Last year, the series started on the day of Major League Baseball’s trade deadline. That in itself took away from the game on the field, but also cemented the 2016 Yankees as sellers that were looking toward the future.

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This year, that’s the Mets. With Addison Reed, Jay Bruce, Lucas Duda and Neil Walker all dealt in the last month, it’s tough to pretend the Mets haven’t packed it in for the hope of a better tomorrow.

In June—especially in New York—there’s no such thing as a seller. The games used to feel bigger because there was so much season left. Theoretically, August games could be bigger with both teams in races. But they can also be duds.

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Don't sandwich games around division foes

Prior to Monday’s series opener, Yankees manager Joe Girardi talked about how his team’s rivalry week was really 10 days long. It’s a disservice to fans to surround Yankees-Mets with division opponents.

For the Yankees, this series simply isn’t as important as the games vs. the Red Sox in the weekend’s surrounding it. That’ll be reflected in how the managers hand out playing time and in-game decisions.

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Yankees justify Chapman's poor pitching

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Re-introduce the ultimate double header

Remember the ultimate double-header? On July 8, 2000, the Yankees and Mets played a two-stadium, one-day double-header. First in the afternoon at Shea Stadium in Queens, then in the Bronx at the old Yankee Stadium.

Making that a yearly occurrence would captivate fans for an entire day each summer.

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Accept reality

This one is on everyone—from fans to players to anyone around the game: The Subway Series isn’t what it used to be. Players and coaches try to answer questions the right way about how big it is, but it’s clearly a different feel than it once was among the two fan bases.

Some suggestions would help, but it’ll never be June of 1997 again. If baseball and the teams can enhance the series a bit, both Yankees and Mets fans will be better for it.

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Joe Giglio may be reached at jgiglio@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JoeGiglioSports. Find NJ.com on Facebook.