There’ll Be No Living With Them After This: Why The Mets Will Win The World Series

Let’s make one thing perfectly clear: I am a die-hard New York Yankees fan and always will be, even during these most difficult rebuilding years. But I have never been a New York Mets hater. And why should I be? They play in my city, and my team beats them routinely, most famously in the 2000 World Series.

Now given the fact that Mets fans are not nearly as gracious, I think I am being very generous. I once had a Mets fan tell me, with a straight face, that the Yankees were “too corporate.” Really? This coming from someone whose team plays at Citi Field. A field sponsored by a bank that should have been broken up after they cost taxpayers billions in bailout money in 2008, yet still managed to get their name on a stadium that same year. If the Yankees are “too corporate” then can someone explain why Fred Wilpon was mentioned in the Bernie Madoff scandal? I didn’t see any Yankees involved in that bullshit.  

Of course I understand why Mets fans hate the Yankees so much, they are regularly overshadowed by the 27 World Series Championships, and 40 American League Championships. Yes, the Yankees have lost more World Series than the Mets have been in, so of course they are bitter. I guess Mets fans are just perpetually angry at how their team just seems to always get it wrong, just wrong. Still paying Bobby Bonilla, huh? Enjoy that last homerun that he hit…when Bill Clinton was President. And considerably even more disturbing, the Mets are a team that for some reason, refuses to embrace its history, or honor the players that actually meant something to that team, with any semblance of dignity or class. 

Hey Mets fans, can you name the four Mets retired numbers? It’s OK I’ll wait…I didn’t think so. Of the four, only one actually played the field in a Mets uniform, the great Tom Seaver. 

Seriously? How can you not honor Dwight Gooden, Keith Hernandez, or Gary Carter from the 1986 Championship team? “You Gotta Believe” that you are being assholes. 

Or what about John Franco and Mike Piazza? These guys won for you and you choose not to acknowledge it? No wonder you have sucked for so long, why would anyone want to play for you?

The Yankees have retired 22 numbers, two are even retired twice, and I can name them all. See that’s why when all is said and done, and the players play and the haters hate, the Yankees are the greatest franchise in the history of sports; players know they will be respected if they succeed, and fans know that everyone on the field is conscious of those pinstripes and what it means to wear them.

OK, well-reasoned and logical rant over...let’s get back to the task at hand…I went to two Mets games this year, and in one of them I witnessed Matt Harvey pretty much shut the lights out on the Toronto Blue Jays’ alleged unbeatable hitting. It is after seeing this that I know why the Mets will defeat the Royals, and the games may not even be close. The Kansas City Royals managed to beat these unbeatable Blue Jays in 6 games, with scores that were pretty high, so it was the offense that carried that series.

Now for this series, let’s talk about pitching. The Royals have two 13 game winners, which in today’s game makes them all-stars, but the Mets have three and one of them is 124-year old Bartolo Colon, who has pitched well for them even out of the Bullpen. The guys who round out the other three, DeGrom, Syndergaard, and Niese have had solid seasons, but have clearly saved the best for the Postseason, and have yet to slow down. And I have always had a thing for homegrown players that contribute. You know, the way the Yankees did it in the 90’s. I guess my argument is the solid but predictable one, that good pitching beats good hitting.

But the Mets have been hitting too. With Cespedes questionable, Curtis Granderson is having a good postseason, and David Wright is working his way into being a solid contributor after a long absence due to an injury. And then there is Daniel Murphy. Murphy’s law will be in effect for the Royals (sorry I just couldn’t help myself). Daniel Murphy is on pace to, and I’m serious here, break some of Lou Gehrig’s postseason records. Yeah you can argue they play more games now but still, it’s Lou F’in Gehrig! They have been playing more games in the postseason for over twenty years and the records in question still stood. 

There is no doubt that this guy Murphy may be the factor that brings the Mets the title. So in typical Mets fashion what do they do? They already let it “leak” out that they will not be signing him next year. (Sigh…) And so it begins before it’s even over. What an appreciative bunch.