Take me out to the ballgame: Next year is here
The relentless Opening Day optimism of a Mets fan
Dear Baseball Hall of Fame:
I hereby propose a display – maybe a quiet corner in a basement exhibit – reserved to honor the long suffering fans of teams that go decades without winning a World Series championship. As an unrepentant fan of the New York Mets, I think we deserve something for believing, each opening day, that this is the year we’re going to do it. A solemn place for us to reflect on our foolishness deep inside baseball’s Shrine would be ideal.
Yet this morning, the ominous portent of our rained-out Opening Day notwithstanding, I can feel it. This is the year we’re going to do it.
My Metsies wisely shed the mercifully brief tenures of Messrs Verlander and Scherzer, each of whom are well past their prime and spending more time on the Injured List than in the dugout. Our closer Diaz is back after his season-destroying Achilles tear, an occurrence that should bring a permanent end to the World Baseball Classic. Pete Alonso is in his contract’s walk year, so he’ll want to put up big numbers. The team left spring training healthy, drama free, and seemingly stoked to play.
I’ll bet I couldn’t name five guys on our (delayed) Opening Day lineup, and that’s the way I like it. Bring on a bunch of players with something to prove and a chip on their shoulder instead of the laurels festooning the lockers of the big names.
Tell me, fellow Mets fans: what possibly could go wrong?
Cruel as it may be, I’m feeling a good schadenfreude vibe watching the likes of the Yankees and Dodgers start this season with some Mets-level drama. We saw a Dodgers spring training game here in Arizona a few weeks ago and that lineup is fierce. But now that their $700 million man may or may not be tied up in a distracting little betting scandal and their $325 million man got shellacked in his MLB debut, I feel a little less intimidated. My New York newspapers have been filled lately with stories of the Yankees roster spending more time in doctors’ offices than in the batting cage.
I’ll take it while I can get it.
In the meantime, I’ve got another proposal: this one for the Mets. Note that the World Series Champion ’69 Mets got together to sing “You Gotta Have Heart” on The Ed Sullivan Show. The 1986 Mets participated in an all-hands-on-deck video for a song called “Let’s Go Mets.” It could be one of the worst songs ever recorded and may be the first appearance of the phrase “we’ve got the teamwork / to make the dream work.” But what happened in 1986? The Mets won the World Series.
Time for another video.n “Get MetsMerized” does not count.
In the meantime, next year is here. Play ball!
We'll need a part of that corner space for us Clevelanders as well :)