The Brewers were better than the Mets in 162 games, but the Mets were able to solve that problem thanks to a perennial bat from Pete Alonso, and thus they advanced out of the National League play-in series .
The Phillies were better than the Mets through 162 games, but the Mets managed to solve that problem because at some point during the four games, five days of the NLDS, almost everyone stood up to be counted , then Francisco Lindor hit a grand slam to serve as a forever bookend to the home run he hit to beat the Braves in Game 161.
There was a lot of talk about “magic” as the Mets continued to sink deeper and deeper into October, and those of us with laptops and microphones were some of the loudest bell ringers in that story. But somehow, reducing what we saw from September 30 to the foggy quagmire of mysticism did the Mets a disservice. After all, they were the best team in baseball as of June 1st. It’s real. It’s legit.
But sometimes the legitimate clashes with the legitimate.
And so the Mets ran into the Dodgers. The Mets’ 65-39 record after June 1 was the best in the big leagues, but the Dodgers’ record was fifth, at 61-41, and the Dodgers already had the advantage of already having a 37- 23 at that time.
There was a reason the Dodgers won nine more games this year than the Mets, a reason they were able to relax in October rather than sweat, a reason they were able to sit out the rounds of play-in. One reason they beat the Mets in six games in the National League Championship Series ended Sunday at 11:24 p.m. when Francisco Alvarez bounced to second base, finishing the game 10-5, ending the season with six wins short of what they wanted. it must be okay.
And a reason why the Mets want to co-opt their conquerors.
“We want to not only be like them,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said of the Dodgers, who will renew their old playoff rivalry with the Yankees starting Friday night, “but be better than them.”
The Dodgers have made the playoffs every year since 2013. That’s the pattern. That’s the plan. But part of the package that comes with being a regular October member is being a regular October mourner. Each of those years — except for the strange COVID year of 2020 and (so far) this year — has ended for the Dodgers the same way the Mets’ season just ended.
With regret. With disappointment. With the empty echo of elimination.
But that’s what happens when you photograph your photo every year. And what the Mets want to do, more than anything, is make this a habit, not a peculiarity. Like the Dodgers do. Like the Yankees do. In a few weeks, one of these teams will feel the same way the Mets did on Sunday. But they will continue to shoot too.
“It’s October 20 and we’re going home,” Mendoza said. “Obviously it stinks because we not only became a really good team, we became a family.
“But we have now raised our expectations. This is what we should strive for every year: playing until October. We showed it this year.
This is something they want to show every year.
“Honestly,” Alonso said. “Pressure is a privilege. It was a real treat.
Alonso, of course, immediately goes from being a major piece of the package that helped shape the last three weeks to the dominant part of the Mets’ narrative over the next few weeks. Will he stay or will he go? Soon it will be part of every baseball conversation around here.
“I’m proud of everyone in this room,” Alonso said. “It has been a joy to be a part of this team and this season. I love New York. I love Queens. I love this team.
It feels like the outcome of this drama reminded even Mets fans who leaned on the other side of the debate that it would only be fair for Alonso to be part of what everyone here hopes will be the start of a new era, of a new era. , and a new commitment to annual prosperity. Francisco Lindor will be there, that’s for sure. The same will be true for Brandon Nimmo and Mark Vientos, David Peterson and Francisco Alvarez.
Is Alonso? We’ll know soon enough if that will be reflected in the agenda of the clear-eyed, level-headed men who will determine this path – David Stearns and Scott Boras. Boras’s job is to maximize Alonso’s value, Stearns’s is to determine whether retaining Alonso puts the Mets in the best position to do the thing that matters most.
“We want this to be the starting point,” Nimmo said. “We want this to set the standard.”
The standard should be operational no later than October 20 each year. There will be a minimum of heartache that will accompany these regular trips to the summit. Take enough photos, but eventually you’ll make it to the end of the month too. This must be the norm.
