I know that this is not a baseball blog, but I am a big Mets fan in addition to the Devils, so I really would like to post this.
The New York Mets fell to the Kansas City Royals earlier this morning 7-2 in the fifth game of the World Series, losing the Series 4 games to 1. I would like to congratulate the Mets and manager Terry Collins and captain David Wright for a season that definitely brought the unexpected and a whole heap of joy to Mets fans everywhere.
The Mets made the World Series against the odds, beating a Los Angeles Dodger team that featured Clayton Kershaw and Zack Greinke in their rotation in a five game series. They then swept the Chicago Cubs, a team coming out of the powerful National League Central, to get to the Series – the Cubs had to best the Pittsburgh Pirates and St. Louis Cardinals to get to the NLCS, a feat in itself.
They were not picked to win 90 games (which they just barely did – going 90-72) let alone win their division. But they did, due to a little bit of help from the Washington Nationals, whose season basically imploded, and some shrewd moves (obtaining Yoenis Cespedes from the Detroit Tigers at the trading deadline and keeping Zack Wheeler and Wilmer Flores when a deal for the Milwaukee Brewers’ Carlos Gomez fell through).
They were no-hit twice in 2015: once by Chris Heston of the San Francisco Giants and once by Max Scherzer of the Nats. Yet they persevered and got a few lucky breaks. The right players got hot at the right time: Cespedes in late August and September and then Daniel Murphy and his magical run in the first two rounds of the playoffs come to mind.
In addition to all of this was Wright’s diagnosis of spinal stenosis and subsequent trip to the disabled list, only to return after lots of hard work and dedication to help lead the team to an NL East title and the National League pennant. His dramatic homerun in his first at-bat back from the DL in Philadelphia will long be remembered.
They then ran into the baseball buzzsaw that was the Kansas City Royals. Congrats to the Royals on winning their second world championship, they played great and really deserved it. They outplayed the Mets all around and are an amazing team that plays a throwback brand of baseball. Again, congratulations to Kansas City and their Royals.
The Mets certainly overachieved in 2015 and here’s to more great things in 2016, when their already powerful starting rotation is fortified even further by the return of Wheeler.
Of course, this being a Devils blog, I do have to make the connection back to the Devils. A special congrats to Mets right fielder Curtis Granderson, a Devils fan who had a great playoff for the Mets and has really adjusted to playing in Citi Field very well the last year.
The biggest connection between the two teams, aside from Mr. Met hanging out at Prudential Center with NJ Devil (who was rooting for the team throughout the postseason via Twitter), is Kyle Palmieri who is the Godson of former Mets shortstop, coach and manager, Bud Harrelson. MSG did a special interview leading up to the World Series with Palmieri where the Long Island-born, New Jersey-bred player discussed being a die-hard Mets fan and growing up with Harrelson in his extended family.
The best parallel I can see between these two franchises is that the 2015 Mets are a lot like the 2012 Devils in their surprise run through the playoffs. Of course, the Devils have been trending downward since that Finals appearance that eventually necessitated a reboot at the managerial level, while these Mets seem to be looking good for the future.
Yes, the team’s future looks to be in good hands with both the young, talented pitching staff and position players that are also very talented and have their best years ahead of them. The Mets had a great year that will long be remembered and me, and many Devils fans who share the same allegiances, salute them.