There were probably a couple thousand people who arrived at Citi Field at 4 p.m. to see the 65-78 Mets play the 57-86 Marlins in a meaningless September doubleheader. I question the decision to attend this game in the first place, but hey, if you scored tickets and a day off, why not? The thing is, though, that at least a few hundred of those poor souls then made the conscious decision to wait through a five hour, 45-minute rain delay in order to see this game take place.
What’s more, a few dozen of those human beings, all of whom presumably have families and people who care about them, not only stayed the entire delay, but then also stayed for the duration of the game, just to witness the awesome spectacle of two losing teams playing each other in September. These sick people die-hard fans then saw the Mets put up 13 runs and the game become a complete formality, devout of any drama, and still decided that, yes, it was worth it to stay past midnight to witness the undramatic, irrelevant ending to this game.
And I would like to know why. In fact, I would like to get to know all of these people. What are their goals and ambitions in life? What are the choices that led them to where they were last night: standing in an empty, humid, damp Citi Field on a weeknight in September for the payoff of getting to watch Paul Sewald strike out Peter O’Brien to finish a sporting event that affected nobody and will not make a difference in anything, anywhere. Hell, this game could barely be considered a “sporting event,” because that term presupposes a winner and a loser, and some sort of competition between the two sides. But there were no winners and losers last night. The two teams did not appear in competition. Instead, they formed more of a coexistence, combining forces to get the game over with as soon as possible and go home. The Mets, of course, couldn’t even do this right, because they accidentally scored 13 runs.
The Marlins, on the other hand, were clearly not there to compete, and did not appear the least bit interested or motivated at any point during the entire affair. Even Zack Wheeler, who fired eight shutout innings and threw only 89 pitches to do so, was not very interested in playing baseball:
Mickey Callaway said coming out after eight innings and 89 pitches was essentially Zack Wheeler's call.
"When we talked to him, he was just kind of like, 'I'm done,'" Callaway said.
— Anthony DiComo (@AnthonyDiComo) September 13, 2018
So why did the few fans who were there care? Or did they care? What exactly did they get out of this endeavor, anyway? There are so many questions.
But then again, I’m the one spending the time to write the recap here. I guess I care? It doesn’t feel like I do. And, hey, you’re the one reading it. Why did you care enough about this game to read a recap of it?
Maybe we’re all a little crazy.
OTHER NEWS OF THE DAY
There will be a press conference today to announce the plan for David Wright going forward. I’m calm. Don’t worry. Are you worried? Why are you worrying? I’m totally okay.
WHAT’S NEXT:
The straight doubleheader that was supposed to be yesterday will now occur this afternoon, with the first game starting at 3:10 p.m. Jason Vargas and Steven Matz will be the pitchers who get the ball for the Mets today.