WHO WON:
Welp, it wasn’t the Mets
WHAT HAPPENED, THE SLOW DESCENT INTO OBLIVION THAT IS THE NEW YORK METS:
You could argue that a long standing dogma for our favorite Metropolitans is a slow decent into oblivion. A paralyzing, inevitable downward spiral towards inadequacy. We hope for the best, sure, but we also come to the realization of what we see in front of us. That realization, no doubt negative after beatings like these, put us on the brink of giving up. “There’s no way this team can make the playoffs,” we think, “this team has no shot of chasing down a wildcard berth”. But just like clockwork, right as we’re about to lose hope, they’ll rattle off a couple wins. Boom. We’re back to thinking this team has a chance. It’s cruel, it’s mean. It’s exactly what we saw yesterday, and exactly why that game is reflective of the Mets season as a whole.
Were the Mets ever going to win that game from down 9-1, or the much worse 13-2? No. Too many things had gone wrong (mostly dingers) and snowballed to an insurmountable deficit. Were we released from the grips of a late-night West Coast matchup and impending series loss? Again, no. Herein lies the problem with the Mets this season. We knew what the outcome of that game would be after the fifth inning, but they kept us going regardless. It’s not that they are good enough to make the postseason or bad in general, it’s that (much like last night) they are in purgatory. Yup, that’s it. But you see, this isn’t the good purgatory where the Mets are some type of fun-loving Casper or some variation of a ghost that plays practical jokes on unsuspecting people. Nope, think more along the lines of the creepy girl whose intention is murderous and you see in your nightmares for days after leaving the movie theatres. The Mets are the type of undead aberration whose main purpose is to haunt the souls of any and all onlookers. Who knows what we as fans did to the baseball gods that was so devilish to deserve this fate worse than hell. Maybe it was doing nothing while the Mets willingly started Eric Campbell at first base. I don’t know.
WHAT HAPPENED, YESTERDAY:
It was just one loss, but it doubled as a metaphor for the Mets season as a whole. We all knew the end of the story, but we were still forced to wait for the ending.
WHAT HAPPENS, TODAY:
The Mets look to right the ship against another truly struggling team in the San Francisco Giants. Back at .500, the Mets have a great opportunity to gain some ground on a team in front of them in the wildcard standings. One thing is for certain in this upcoming series, one team has to win each game. Jacob deGrom is slated to square off against Madison Bumgarner in the first game of this crucial four game series.
Photo credit: Matt Kartozian – USA Today Sports