New York City’s Black Sheep
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If a person would have told me two to three weeks ago that the Mets would lose two of three games at home against the San Diego Padres without Fernando Tatis Jr. and a not so solid rotation of pitchers, I would have bet anything in my possession against that person. The Mets, who clinched their playoff spot while being first in their division until the last few weeks, finished the season with 101 wins (fourth best record in the league) while also being top five in many statistical categories within the MLB on both the defensive and offensive side.
The Mets were being viewed as a team that was built for the NLCS and more, considering the talents and names of some players such as Jacob DeGrom, Max Scherzer, Pete Alonso, Francisco Lindor, Brandon Nimmo, Jeff McNeil (NL/MLB batting champ), Taijuan Walker, Edwin Diaz, Starling Marte and plenty more star studded names. Not only did the team have a change of scenery in terms of players, but they also had a change of scenery from the manager’s position all the way up to ownership.
Steve Cohen purchased the Mets in 2020 and since then has made moves financially that have benefited the Mets from that time. After getting Scherzer to pair with DeGrom, while also filling in some holes on the defensive and offensive side of things and racking up the highest payroll in all of MLB, the Mets were becoming a force not only in just NL East but in all of baseball. They had this aura and swagger that made them look like they’ve been together for years and have been on a World Series runs together, even though that team that was just assembled together in March to April. The Mets started making so much news and headlines for their great style of play and winning baseball, that it started to feel like the year 2000 again and people from different boroughs of NYC started the debate of “Yankees or Mets?” This even had people thinking a potential Subway Series can be the future of October baseball to come.
In typical Mets fashion, though, New York collapsed and fell short to a good, yet not as talented team in the Padres. Max Scherzer looked like a shell of himself in game one, giving up four homers and seven overall runs, while the offense’s response was only one run answered back. The Mets won game two with DeGrom pitching but then lost game three in the worst way possible, by being shutout. And then to make matters worse, manager Buck Showalter accused Padres pitcher Joe Musgrove of using a foreign substance while pitching, only to find out Musgrove wasn’t using anything at all and proceeded to obliterate the Mets some more. This comes as a shock and a huge disappointment for the Mets, as well as the city of New York.
This was supposed to be the year we saw the historic and prestigious Yankees take on their “little brother” in the Mets, who have established themselves as the perennial contenders and more than the shadow of the Yankees, Dodgers, and Braves. The Mets gave not only New York hope, but the city of Queens hope that they could get to the promised land and actually show people that they’re more than just a miracle or a team blessed by unfortunate circumstances.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/07/sports/baseball/max-scherzer-mets-padres-wild-card.html
The last time the Mets made the World Series was in 2015, where they came up short and had not reached that level of success in years until this past season. To take things even further, the Mets haven’t won a championship since 1986 and three generations later, the Mets still haven’t prevailed or even become a consistent winning franchise.
Think about this stat for the Mets: they have been to the playoffs only ten times in the sixty years they’ve been a franchise, and have only made the postseason consecutively twice in franchise history.
I bring these stats up to say that whenever the Mets are amazing and actually a contender in baseball, it affects the city differently than any other sport in NYC. New York City is a city that’s passionately known to root and stick beside a team no matter how horrible or discombobulated the team is. But that same city will also let you know if you’re playing mediocre and want you to do a better job. The people in the city also know which franchise to trust and root for the most. For example, people expect the Yankees to win based off of the track record the Yankees have historically shown.
The Yankees are the only franchise in any sport to have 27 championships, and the last team to three peat from 1998-2000 while also winning four out of five titles from 1996-2000.They also gave NYC a championship in 2009. The Knicks and Rangers together haven’t won a title for the city in 25 plus years and the football teams, New York Giants/Jets, haven’t been much of a huge thing to celebrate in NYC as well until recently. The point I’m making is that even though the city of New York hasn’t been able to have a parade and enjoy winning from one of their sports teams since 2011 (NY Giants), these teams still make the playoffs and still give New Yorkers hope that possibly “this is our year.” New Yorkers will always believe that if you’re constantly competing and trying your hardest to fight for a championship.
What makes this Mets blunder worse than just a typical David beats Goliath scenario, is the fact that people expected this team to fail instead of prevailing and started up the embarrassing yet true phrase of “Mets gonna Mets'' insinuating that the Mets will aways find a way to mess things up. New York City is reluctant to be all in on the Mets because unlike every other sports team in New York, the Mets only spiral downhill from here on out and losing seasons end up being the result for the next five to seven years. With the Yankees in the ALDS, the Giants being 4-1 currently, the Rangers season starting soon after losing in the conference finals round, and the Knicks season starting with the new acquisition of Jalen Brunson, the city is ready for change to happen and for this new era of winning to be in NYC.
The Big Apple is tired of being bamboozled in the playoffs after having so much joy from seeing how well their team is doing in the regular season. Even though I've been a Yankees fan since I was a child, it felt good seeing the Mets be in contention for a championship and be a real threat. With the Mets being eliminated earlier than expected, I expect them to negotiate deals with some of the stars that will be free agents once this season ends. I also expect them to come back hungrier and more focused than ever because if not, the city of Queens will let them know in typical New York fashion how they feel every night the Mets play in CITI Field for the 2023 season.
