With ownership changes at the mothership come some structual changes to the way we do things around here, and part of that means a goodbye to the local sites. People far above my head and far smarter than I will explain what that all means later, but for now, I can offer this.

We’re not going anywhere. A lot of the BP Mets writers you have grown to know (and hopefully love, or at least respect) will still be popping up, just over at the main site now. The podcast will live on (as if we could ever get Jeffrey and Jarrett to stop talking). The Mets, unfortunately, will still give us plenty to write about. We’ll still have to look up how to spell Brodie’s last name and then just refer to him as Brodie anyway. We’ll all still be around.

The BP Mets site will stick around too, at least for the foreseeable future, so you can always go back and read about Jacob deGrom’s magical Cy Young season or Matt Harvey’s fade from glory or Eric Campbell’s, well, Eric Campbellness.

On a personal note, this job has been a dream, if not also a nightmare. I grew up loving the Mets and hating them too, and getting to write about them was a fantasy that SB Nation made come true and BP took to new heights. The last few years have been absolutely miserable to watch, but running BP Mets was an honor. Getting to work with these talented, creative, thoughtful writers was an honor. Pouring my heart out about this stupid team and not having you, the reader, run away was an honor.

I’ll still be around, over at the mainsite and on Twitter, where I will surely still be looking up how to spell Brodie’s last name and then just referring to him as Brodie anyway. I hope you’ll come with us.

It’s been an honor.

Here are some of the numbers that got deGrom where he is. We’ll get warmed up with some counting stats:

835: the number of batters deGrom faced
203: the number of batters to reach base
269: the number of batters to strike out
48: the number of runs that crossed the plate (41 earned)
10: the number of batters to hit a home run

Well, that sounds pretty good. But okay, let’s crank it up a notch with some advanced stats and see if it holds up:

2.09: the smallest Deserved Run Average for a starter since 2015
8.04: his WARP, the best mark in baseball by almost a half-win margin
1.99: runs allowed per 9 innings, fewest in baseball and over a half-run better than his runner-up, Max Scherzer
2.36: deGrom’s ERA for June, his worst month

That seems kind of incredible. But, okay, how did he handle pressure?

.170/.221/.256: cleanup hitters’ slashline against deGrom
.135/.195/.209: batters’ slashline against deGrom with men in scoring position
.110/.170/.139: batters’ slashline against deGrom in high-leverage situations
.120/.120/.160: batters’ slashline against deGrom after his hundredth pitch
.000/.000/.000: batters’ slashline against deGrom with the bases loaded

What more can you say? deGrom crushed batters with a quiet fierceness not seen since Clayton Kershaw’s peak. His historically poor luck battled with his historically good run prevention and deGrom emerged victorious. Watch out, National League East, there’s a new king in town.

The Veteran: Doug Melvin

The only remaining candidate with prior experience as a GM, Melvin spent long stretches with the Yankees, Orioles and Rangers before landing with the Brewers. The 66-year-old was endorsed by Bud Selig as “a baseball man,” answering the question of whether one could be any vaguer with praise than Terry Collins.

The team likely views the longtime exec as the safe choice, viewing his GM experience, which saw mixed results, as a potential weapon in rebuilding the struggling franchise. While he’s not known for an analytical approach, a feature that likely appeals to the elder Wilpon, Melvin has a reputation for bridging divides and encouraging collaboration, something essential given how many different voices the Mets have in the front office right now.

The Rookie: Chaim Bloom

Just 35 years old, Bloom made his way through the Rays organization from intern to Senior Vice President of Baseball Operations. His work in transactions and scouting is likely appealing to the Mets, who were less than happy with Alderson’s results in that regard in recent years.

Bloom also took a hand in developing the franchise’s organizational philosophies and player development, two areas the Mets currently struggle with. He’s got a reputation for being very sharp and open to analytics, and is a strong bet to shake things up and try new and creative approaches wherever he eventually ends up. That’s a pretty exciting proposition for a team in a serious rut, but it’s hard to imagine the team taking a real chance.

The Wild Card: Brodie Van Wagenen

Van Wagenen’s presence on this list is fairly surprising given that his primary qualification seems to be that the Mets really want his client, Jacob deGrom, to stick around for cheap. The longtime sports agent has seen a lot of success, representing stars like Robinson Cano and Tim Tebow, as well as a number of Mets including Yoenis Cespedes, Brandon Nimmo and Justin Dunn.

With the amount of wheeling and dealing Van Wagenen has done with the team, it’s safe to assume they have a pretty good sense of his skill set and general philosophy about baseball, but it’s hard to imagine a candidate with less available information about how he would operate in this radically different role. Does he value analytics? Maybe. What about the international market? Perhaps. Organizational philosophy? He’s got one somewhere. Probably.

The Verdict

All of the smart money should be on Melvin, no question. Fred Wilpon loves his “old school” mentality and he’s an open book when it comes to how he would run a team. The Mets are risk-averse to a fault and Melvin is the perfect candidate to give them the cover of experience without having to take on any new ideas.

This utter lack of imagination is all the more frustrating given that Bloom is a rising start in baseball operations and a team as dysfunctional as the Mets should be champing at the bit to bring him on board before he realizes what he’s gotten himself into. The Rays haven’t seen bountiful success in the time he’s been with them, but what they’ve done with such limited resources is remarkable and any team laser-focused on the bottom line would be lucky to have him. Is there a chance he blows up? Sure, but it’s nothing compared to the strong likelihood that Melvin will fizzle.

As for Van Wagenen, he’s such a closed book, it’s hard to say what his odds are of scoring the job, or why it is that he has outlasted more predictable candidates like Kim Ng. Could the Mets be sweetening him up for friendlier contract negotiations with deGrom? Is it wildly cynical to even be considering that possibility? Yes and yes.

So, congratulations to Doug Melvin in advance for winning the 2022 “Getting Slammed on His Way Out the Door” award.

Photo credit: Charles LeClaire – USA Today Sports

A Long Island native with lifelong ties to the orange and blue, the 51-year-old endeared himself to the fan base during New York’s pennant-winning 2015 season when his selfie-style video reactions to the Mets’ daily fortunes became popular on social media. Rather than watch the action from a suite like many celebrities prefer, Breuer can often be seen cheering amongst the crowds at Citi Field.

While his energetic and offbeat style makes him an ideal fit for the stage, the “SNL” alum is just as comfortable discussing the history of his favorite baseball team. A follower of the Amazins since 1973, Breuer reflected on Mets third baseman David Wright and what the team captain meant to him personally over the course of a storied career.

“He was the guy, you know? I’ve only went through two cycles of players where I got to watch them come out of the system,” Breuer said during a recent phone interview. “Watching him come through the system and then become that Met guy was really awesome because there really hasn’t been once since the ’80s.”

Drafted by the Mets 38th overall in 2001, Wright was the longest-tenured active player to spend his career with the same team. Until returning to action last Friday night as a pinch-hitter, the seven-time All-Star had missed almost two and a half years with debilitating back, neck and shoulder injuries. The franchise leader in hits, RBIs, runs, extra-base hits, walks and a few other offensive categories, Wright played in his last major league game on Saturday in front of 43,828 emotional supporters whom he addressed in a brief on-field ceremony following the last out.

Currently on the road performing stand-up and touring with Metallica, Breuer planned to watch the night play out backstage on his iPad as he prepared for a private show in San Francisco. Wright’s 2-year-old and infant daughters were in the ballpark, however, to witness him play for the first time in the 35-year-old’s big league career.

“I always say God has you out there for the right reasons. For all you know, he needs to be home with his little girls. He needs to be taking care of his body for something deeper that may happen down the road, so in the end it doesn’t even matter if his kids saw him play,” Breuer said. “My kids have no clue that I did TV and stuff. They just care that you’re a dad. My wife just cares that I’m a husband, and maybe at this point in his life it’ll be a little more important for him and he can relax and give his body a rest and know that he gave it his all and he was one of the all-time greatest.”

Wright provided many memorable moments since first appearing as a fresh faced 21-year-old from Virginia, but one in particular that stands out for Breuer came in a key game down the stretch in 2015 against division-rival Washington.

“That summed up a career and his life as a Met. As a Met fan I felt like one of my children just felt that all-time, lifetime moment,” Breuer recalled. “I believe it was against the Nationals and they were coming to the final stretch and there was a play at the plate and he slid in and he got up and he did the big fist pump down, and you see that clip a bunch of times now. I’ve been seeing it more and more. I remember watching that moment and seeing the excitement in his face, and that thrill and the passion. For me that’s the moment I’m going to remember (from) him forever. The passion he had as a Met. The thrill of feeling that we can win this. We can beat these guys. We can take it all.”

Wright’s enthusiastic reaction after sliding in safely with an important run late in that game was both exciting and also somewhat out of character for the typically-reserved Mets captain. In fact, Breuer wasn’t convinced early on that Wright had what it took to be a leader based on his calm demeanor. That all changed when the third baseman stepped in after separate incidents where two of the club’s young pitchers behaved in a manner he thought was unbefitting of a major leaguer.

“There was a long time where people would say he needs to be the leader, he needs to be the captain, and he’s got such a soft, I don’t know the exact word, clean-ish personality. And I went, I don’t know, is he really the captain?” Breuer said. “But I have to say, you’d see little examples which made me respect him so much more. He looked like a timid guy and he seems to be the guy that, I wouldn’t say is a pushover, but can easily be like, ‘ahh, just let it go, it’s all good.’ But there were a couple moments where Noah Syndergaard came up and I believe he stepped up and said something to Noah.”

Breuer added: “And then that whole thing with Matt Harvey. I remember that moment too, when Matt was walking in the outfield (during batting practice) and they showed it and David Wright kind of gave that ‘You just disrespected the team, bro. You put yourself ahead of the team.’ look. That was a powerful moment for me as a fan, not so much against Matt but I saw that full-blown respect like, ‘hey, David’s in charge here and he sets a tone on how you’re supposed to be as a player and as a gentleman.’ It almost goes up there with, I got to say, like a Gary Carter but without the high intensity.”

Jose Reyes, Wright’s partner on the left side of the infield for many years, took his usual place at shortstop for Saturday night’s sendoff and shared several laughs and embraces with his old buddy throughout the evening. A former batting champion who led the NL in stolen bases three consecutive years, Reyes batted just .189 this season and his career may also be coming to a close, a fact not lost on Breuer.

“I say he was one of the most exciting Mets that I’ve ever watched and rooted for in my whole life. I love Jose Reyes,” Breuer said of the former shortstop who was brought back to the Mets in 2016 after his domestic violence suspension ended. “I loved him from the moment he showed up. I was absolutely heartbroken when he left. When he came back I know he wasn’t the same player. I don’t care. It’s like having an old family member. He gave me the greatest thrills for the longest time as a Met fan. I adore Jose Reyes and he’ll always have a special place for me in my heart as a Met fan. He’s one of my all-time favorites. Everything about him. That smile, the years when he would just get on base and be a menace to society. He’d hit one in the gap and before you blink he was on third and it was over.”

Wright has stated that he’d like to stay involved with the club in some capacity, a development that could provide some consolation to Breuer and his fellow Mets fanatics.

“I hope he stays in the organization forever. That would mean so much to me as a Mets fan, to see David Wright always be a Met,” Breuer hoped. “I feel better as a Met fan moving forward knowing that he’s going to be somewhere in the organization and I hope Jose Reyes is, too.”

Photo credit: Brad Penner – USA Today Sports

As throngs of folks lucky enough to land tickets formed long lines that snaked from the ballpark’s main entrance all the way to Roosevelt Avenue and the stairs to the 7 train, a family of five milled about near the third base marker from Shea Stadium, their young son beaming from ear to ear, exclaiming, “I can say I stood on the same third base as David Wright!”

Others in the parking lot were similarly appreciative, but also melancholy about their favorite Met’s impending swan song. By the close of the on-field theatrics later that night, both Wright and many in the stands had shed their share of tears. The waterworks began much sooner for some tailgating supporters, however.

Donning a standard-issue David Wright home jersey and struggling to contain her sadness about the finality of the moment, Anna Connelly’s dark sunglasses couldn’t mask the wave of emotion hidden behind their lenses.

“I’m hoping I’m not going to cry,” said the Dumont, New Jersey resident, a proud member of the Flushing faithful since 1973. “His teammates love him and he tried so hard. It’s such a shame that he has to go out like this but I’m so glad to be at this game.”

“He’s just classy. You don’t hear anything bad about him, and for his daughters to be able to see him play is something amazing,” a choked-up Connelly added. “That he could make this comeback, and the work that he has to take just to be able to play a game. Hours to get ready, I can’t believe it and I can’t believe I’m here. I just can’t.”

Kyle Brancato, 25, reflected on Wright’s debut and how he rooted for the always-smiling Virginia kid from day one.

“He means the world to me. I remember distinctly listening to his first game on the radio when they were playing the Expos and there was something about him,” Brancato said, wearing an orange T-shirt with the word ‘Captain’ emblazoned across the chest. “Announcers were talking about him and talking about his experiences in the minors coming up, and over the years I feel like whether they were winning or losing he was just always the first one doing an interview, talking about how much he loved being a Met, and obviously on the field he was going to be a Hall of Famer. It didn’t work out but he’s always going to be Hall of Famer in my eyes, for sure. He was that good.”

Brancato’s pal, Michael Bonello, saw the night as a kind of closing time for his younger years.

“It’s going to be an end of an era,” Bonello said about Wright and Jose Reyes taking the field together for the last time. “A bit of my childhood leaves today along with them.”

Long Island native and lifelong Mets fan Tim Massa spoke passionately about Wright, comparing him to another New York baseball idol.

“Wright has a special place for me based on his pride to wear the orange and blue. He loved being a Met,” said the 57-year-old Massa. “Wright wanted to be a Met and never wanted to be anything but a Met and you’ve got to respect that. He’s the closest we have to our Derek Jeter.”

Massa added: “I’m a grown man but I’m going to cry. I know it. It’s going to happen. Listen, baseball is threaded into your body. You’ve got to be a special guy to be a Met fan because they put you through hell, but that’s what it is to be a Met fan and having a David Wright day, it can’t be better than this.”

Massa’s son, T.J., a fan since the late ’90s, has tried to follow Wright’s lead off the field as well.

“David Wright came up when I was just like in the sixth or seventh grade and I was immediately drawn to him in the way he carried himself and he was such a great ballplayer and he was such a leader,” the younger Massa said. “I always kind of wanted to be like that myself in my life. I just always looked up to David, one of my favorites of all time.”

Eventually, they all huddled inside the park to watch a game that they’ll never forget, and as Saturday night turned into early Sunday, a flock of weary scribes hung around in front of Wright’s locker in a mostly empty Mets clubhouse. Several cracked jokes with the always affable third baseman, the class that Connelly alluded to still on display despite a physically and emotionally draining couple of days. With family and friends waiting patiently in the hallway to continue the celebration, Wright had a few kind words and a handshake for every one of us individually. No big surprise, though. Since 2004, that was David Wright. I imagine that it always will be.

Photo credit: Scott Orgera; pictured: Kyle Brancato (left) and Michael Bonello (right) 

Sunday? The Mets.

In the year of our Lord, 2018? Well…

WHAT HAPPENED, DON’T YOU EVER TELL ME THERE IS CONSEQUENCES:

The odd thing about having the final recap of the season is that, well, this article can go in multiple directions. Do you focus on Game 162 like it was any other? Do you turn one game into one long, drawn-out metaphor for a 77-85 season? I had the, let’s say, pleasure of recapping this very game last season. It ended, as follows: “Farewell, 2017, and may you rot in hell.” As you can tell, I wasn’t exactly filled with optimism for 2018. And, as you might remember, there was a lot to be upset about when we were here last season.

While 2018 was similar in a lot of ways, it felt different in all the wrong ways. Overall, it just felt tired. It felt exhausting to yell the same things into the same void and question if anyone with decision-making ability is watching the same game that you’re watching. As a sports fan, that’s just how it is sometimes. It’s one of the more pointless aspects, sure, but it’s a feature of fandom nonetheless. That’s because we view sports as our release. Our mental break from the seemingly endless grind for the thankless bourgeoise. No matter how in-depth your fandom is.

It’s this aspect of fandom, escapism, that allows fans to see themselves as owners much too often. It’s this aspect that allows fans to focus on the vision they had of themselves playing professional sports, for better or worse. More importantly, it is this aspect that creates an environment where the thing you feel so deeply invested in, well, it might not actually matter at the end of the day. It is this aspect that allows fans to tell themselves the game they see is completely devoid of the context of society. Out of sight and out of reach, even when it is so clearly, painstakingly not.

The Mets started Sunday by allowing an accused domestic abuser to hit and/or play the field. This, of course, isn’t new. For this specific player, Sunday marked the 315th game in which that statement reigned true. And while that might seem a bit abrasive, that fact about Jose Reyes cannot possibly be separated from him. It is central to how he even wound up here in the first place.

On May 13, 2016, Jose Reyes was suspended 52 games by Major League Baseball under the league’s joint domestic violence, sexual assault and child abuse policy. He was immediately released by the Colorado Rockies on June 15, 2016, upon completing his suspension and being taken off of administrative leave. After waiting the required amount of time, Reyes was scooped up by the Mets for the pro-rated Major League minimum. He was immediately welcomed with open arms. He received a standing ovation by Mets fans.

Everything since than has been pretty simple. Reyes has played at an awful level, but somehow managed to get a seemingly unlimited amount of opportunities. To anyone paying attention at the end of the year, it’s been pretty clear why. The Mets front office and the Wilpons have an insatiable desire to rehab the former great. Waiting for the perfect opportunity, all parties seized the David Wright opportunity. And, using the credibility/persona that is ‘The Captain,” the Mets seem to have been successful in their efforts to rehab Jose Reyes. Like he did the day he returned, he received a standing ovation on his way out the door.

Reyes isn’t the first person to be accused of domestic abuse and see their career rehabbed. About the only thing that makes him unique is that, despite poor play, he still found some form of redemption among the fanbase, which, ultimately, speaks to the farcical and downright awful fact that plenty of fans conflate athletic performance with some sort of corrective action for domestic violence charges. It lays barren the biggest lie sold to our society: actual domestic abusers, specifically high-profile ones, don’t face actual repercussions.

No matter how many times we repeat and shout about what Reyes allegedly did, nothing changed. People forgave in the absence of any true reason to forgive. People were eager to assume change and “time served.” He was immediately given a blank-check chance for redemption, as if the area of baseball were even remotely able to provide him such a thing, and never looked back. The Mets, who understood that the fanbase was truly eager for a reason to forgive, made sure this narrative was written in stone.

This type of treatment also holds up to what occurs in our world at large. Be it domestic abuse or sexual assault. Aroldis Chapman won a World Series ring the season he served his suspension. Not even a year after the public learned about some truly heinous acts committed by Louis C.K., he had a gig in New York at the Comedy Cellar. Chris Hardwick is back to riding whatever coattails “The Walking Dead” has left. Barry Bonds just had his number retired in San Francisco. If Brett Kavanaugh doesn’t get his promotion, he’ll just go back to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. The list goes on and on.

It is truly remarkable that people can say charges of domestic violence/sexual assault can ruin someone’s career. It is a boldface lie. It is always told to serve a purpose. And, with Jose Reyes in particular, it is so easy to see. Accept for a second the premise (a premise which has a abysmally low rate of even occurring) that some levied accusation is false, but believed as truth. Is there really any overwhelming evidence that someone already owning notoriety will even feel more than a slight road bump in their career?

We sit idly by as the powerful use their clout to shake off the irreversible and deep trauma that they have imposed on another human being. While I’d like to believe we’re better, the fact of the matter is that many of us look for any excuse at all for things to go back to the way they were.

We disregard the pain and suffering of people we don’t know in favor of more well-known people that we don’t know. We have no reason to give high-profile abusers cover or a pass because we like the way they used to hit a baseball or throw a fastball or act or vote in ways we would vote. And yet, here we are.

At the time of Reyes’ return, Sandy Alderson had this to say: “I go back to the fact that he was with this organization as a teenager, as a young adult, and during all of that time with us — admittedly a few years ago — he was a very good citizen across the board. We are confident we’re going to get the best possible version of today’s Jose Reyes.”

Even if Alderson isn’t running things nowadays, that quote is very telling. It lets us know where the Mets wanted to try and return Reyes’ career. It perfectly combines the use of a non-sequitur and a strawman to skate around the fact that people we view as obtaining all types of great characteristics can still do terrible things to other people. And, at the end of the day, those other people should be who this whole discussion deserves to be centered around.

So, this is (potentially) the last time we’ll see Jose Reyes in a Mets uniform. It is long overdue, but all the Mets have done to rehab his character should remain a stain on this franchise for years to come. The sad reality, however, is that it won’t. Because even though we think of sports as some event outside of the jurisdiction of modern society, it isn’t. And if our society and our culture is an indication of the future of Jose Reyes, he’ll have his number retired in seven years. What a just world this is.

Photo credit: Brad Penner – USA Today Sports

The fans showed up to bid adieu to their captain, because for so many fans, for so many years, David Wright was the Mets. The lone bright spot during losing seasons, the catalyst behind thrilling playoff runs, and an amazing teammate and ambassador for the game of baseball.

Health robbed the greatest position player in franchise history of a chance for immortality in Cooperstown, but Mets fans made it clear Saturday night that they’ll never forget Wright’s immense contributions to the franchise. And honestly, how could they? Will we ever get tired of watching that catch? Or the World Series home run? Because if we do, there’s an entire career’s worth of legendary, legacy-defining moments that Wright left us with. If that’s not enough, he’ll even walk away as the franchise leader in hits, doubles, RBI and extra-base hits.

Good baseball players (and all professional athletes in general), whether they like it or not, become role models for the next generation of the game. They’re thrust into a role of leadership at a young age solely because of their athletic abilities, an unfair proposition no matter which way you slice it. Some take the responsibility seriously, some don’t and some even use their platform to do some absolutely incredible things. David Wright took that responsibility seriously and used his platform to inspire real change in the community, yet somehow that still doesn’t even begin to describe the type of human being he is.

His body betrayed him time and time again, as did ownership and the front office, but Wright’s ninth baseball life allowed him to go out on his terms. The Mets only found him two plate appearances in his last ever game — he went 0-for-1 with a walk — but David looked as happy as he ever has after he was lifted from the game. We all would’ve liked to see him play semi-regularly in September, or even for a couple of more innings on Saturday, but Wright seemed genuinely elated with how his career ended. How many athletes can say that?

Saying goodbye to some of the best things in our life is, unfortunately, a part of the human experience. We get to know people and become familiar with them, only for them to leave us in one capacity or another. The end of David Wright’s baseball career is the end of many of our childhoods. Waving him into the sunset hasn’t been easy for us because he’s all we’ve ever known as Mets fans. The impact he’s had on many of our lives transcends his baseball ability. When David walked into the Citi Field dugout for the final time, it hit us all. What is our Mets fandom without him?

Photo credit: Brad Penner – USA Today Sports

The game started out well for the Mets, as after Corey Oswalt hurled a scoreless top of the first, Amed Rosario gave the Mets the early lead in the bottom of the frame, singling home Jeff McNeil with an opposite field hit. Unfortunately, that was the highlight of the ballgame for the New York offense.

Oswalt did his part to keep the game on track in the final start of his rookie campaign, keeping the Fish off the board for the first three, but he ran into a patch of difficulty in the fourth. After allowing a pair of singles and a walk to load the bases with one out, Oswalt got the ground ball he needed from Magneuris Sierra, but unfortunately the speedy Marlins right fielder beat the return throw to first to allow the tying run to score. It became clear following that inning that Oswalt was done, and that was when the only real drama of the night unfolded.

It was already known Wright would be the first man off the bench tonight, and with Oswalt due up fifth in the bottom of the fourth inning, the stage was set. The Marlins however, delayed the moment, retiring No. 8 hitter Kevin Plawecki to end the frame and leave the captain in the on deck circle. Temporarily.

Paul Sewald entered for the Mets in the fifth and was unimpressive, surrendering two runs on three hits to the middle of Miami’s lineup, but all the crowd really cared about was the next half inning. Wright emerged from the dugout to a chorus of cheers, and the longtime face of the Mets’ franchise looked visibly nervous as he dug in. His at-bat was short lived, when he hit the first pitch he saw from José Ureña directly on the ground to third, but making an out was far from enough to wipe the smile off No. 5’s face.

After that, the rest of the night went downhill fast for the home team. Drew Gagnon entered for New York in the sixth, and while he only allowed one earned run in what  ultimately amounted to 1.2 innings of work, thanks to errors from Todd Frazier and Rosario, the Marlins were able to push five runs across against him, establishing an 8-1 lead that would be the eventual final score.

Tim Peterson pitched very well in the eighth and ninth innings to maybe provide a slimmer of a silver lining at the end, but it’s clear that everyone associated with this team began looking forward to tonight’s contest the minute Wright’s at-bat tonight concluded.

This evening, left hander Steven Matz will make his final start of 2018, but more importantly, Wright will take third base for the final start of his memorable Major League career, and it will be fascinating to see what kind of final moment he can give us.

Photo credit: Wendell Cruz – USA Today Sports

It’s only in retrospect, as we witness the end of a career that at the time appeared to be just at the beginning of a decline, that the figure of David Wright looms larger than ever, and his role in that run truly stands out.

Just two weeks into the 2015 season, Wright went on the disabled list for, of all things, a pulled hamstring. Whether that minor injury report was a cover or just the canary in the coal mine, what was expected to be a short stint exploded a month later as the team announced a much more dire diagnosis: spinal stenosis, a degenerative condition characterized by a narrowing of the spinal canal, which eventually led to a cascade of pain and immobility in his back and neck.

With that announcement, the premature end of Wright’s career was a near certainty, but just how premature was still unknown. He rested and rehabbed and occasional, optimistic notes appeared in the team’s injury updates, but would he ever step foot on a field again? And if he did, would it really be him?

Wright answered that question resoundingly when he stepped up to bat on Aug. 24 at Citizens Bank Park, a stadium he’d always thrived in. If there was any doubt that Mets fans were witnessing a magical season, it was silenced as he rocketed a home run deep into the left field corner.

It was simply perfect. A perfectly Wright-like moment done in a perfectly Wright-like way, to his favorite spot in his favorite park. He was back, there was no mistaking it.

2015, the oasis of joy in a dreary decade-plus of Mets mediocrity, would never have been the same without Wright. He put up a solid line that season and while his play in the postseason wasn’t especially good, it wasn’t really a factor given (a) how good everyone else was before the World Series and (b) how bad everyone else was during the World Series. But his smiling face, hardly seeming to have aged a day from the cigar-chomping 23-year-old who celebrated the playoffs nine years earlier, was an indelible image of those heady days.

Wright more than anyone deserved to be there. He earned it with the months of painful recovery, the miserable years of playing hard while surrounded by borderline major leaguers, the constant energy and love poured into his teammates and fans. He gave everything he had so that we could watch him take the Phillies deep his first at bat back, so we could cheer with him through three glorious champagne-soaked clinchers. If it was a just world, there would have been a fourth that year. And if it was a really just world, I wouldn’t be writing this post for another five years.

Thank you, David, for making us all believe in 2015. Thank you for being our captain, in every sense.

Photo credit: Bill Streicher – USA Today Sports

In honor of the Captain, a few BP Mets staffers pulled together their favorite memories of No. 5:

Dave Capobianco: I witnessed David Wright’s World Series home run in person, but there’s another memory I have of him that clearly stands above that or anything else. I’ve told this story before, but it’s worth repeating now: In 2006, as a 9-year-old, I attended a small baseball clinic for kids that was held by Wright. He was 23 at the time. It wasn’t much, just a few hitting and fielding tips for a bunch of kids in a stuffy high school gym. To be clear, Wright was getting nothing out of doing this, but he didn’t seem to mind at all. Throughout the entire clinic, Wright was engaging, personable and seemed genuinely happy to be there. At the end, Wright took pictures with everyone single person there, including me:

Justin Birnbaum: Mike Piazza was my childhood, but David Wright represents my formative years as a baseball fan. I could never ask for a better role model and player to represent a team that I love so dearly. When I think about Wright’s career, so many memories come to mind. The image of him with his arm around Jose Reyes, covered in champagne with a cigar in his mouth after their 2006 division title is forever burned into my memory. I sat in the upper deck at Shea Stadium when he rocketed his first walkoff home run over the left field fence against the Padres. I was sitting right behind first base in right field when he knocked a single for his last walk-off hit in 2016 against the Brewers. Captain, all I can say is thank you. Thank you for being a leader. Thank you for being a role model. Thank you for being an ambassador to the game. When I have children, I want them to play the game like you — filled with passion and exuberance. The world is not fair and you were robbed of your career, but as a fan, I rest easy knowing that you left it all out on the field.

Jordan Rabinowitz: I could dig through my brain for hours trying to excavate the most indelible memory I have of David Wright doing something with bat, legs, arm or glove that actually helped the Mets score or prevent runs, (there’s plenty to choose from) but ultimately it’s this: David Wright realizing, after 12 Major League seasons, that he’s finally going to the World Series. I feel secondhand catharsis every time this GIF loops. You watch that and understand that Wright wasn’t just a player happy to finally reach the World Series, he was a player happy to finally reach the World Series as a Met. What began in 2004 as hope, followed by bitter disappointment, followed by bitter-er disappointment, followed by waste, followed by hope again — it all culminated in this moment. It’s perfect, and thanks to GIF technology, it can be endless.

Photo credit: Brad Penner – USA Today Sports