Mike's Mets - Protect Your Sanity

 

By Mike Steffanos

No matter how often they insert the word "nightmare" into an article, it's too early to lose your mind over the 2023 New York Mets.

First off, let me assure you that I, too, am a bit demoralized by the Mets' awful showing in Milwaukee. I won't pretend otherwise. The team essentially failed to show up for the first couple of games. Then, when they had the chance to salvage one before heading home, the Mets coughed up the final in a very disheartening manner. Baseball season is so long you're guaranteed to be disgusted with the team you root for at times. However, it does suck a little more when it happens so early in the year. But hey, we're back in the win column today.

Of course, in the highly competitive media market in which the Mets exist, pushing the panic button when things are going badly is a fairly common occurrence. There was a piece by Mike Puma in the New York Post on Wednesday that referenced the word "nightmare" both in the title and the first line of the piece (refusing to link to it). I get it. Words like "nightmare" and "disaster" grab attention and generate clicks. Clicks sell ads, and those ad sales prolong this time when there is still content to be found that's not sitting behind a paywall. I suspect that won't be the case for much longer.

Still, at times this sort of constant Chicken Little act, running on a loop, endlessly screaming that the sky is falling, seems like an attack on the sanity of fans. Traditionally, Mets fans have borne more than their share of the brunt of this constant negative bombardment. The club had been so poorly run by Fred and Jeff Wilpon for so long that insecurity naturally festered within the fanbase. It wasn't hard to imagine the worst happening when it so often did. Important decisions were often based on shortsighted financial considerations, with frequently disastrous consequences.

Steve Cohen has undoubtedly done a lot to change that, but, as a beaten dog continues to bear the mental scars from a previous owner who mistreated him, many Mets fans like myself carry a deep-seated pessimism within our psyche that is only one short losing streak away from rising to the surface. When you are simultaneously being bombarded from the outside with some over-the-top negativity, it's tough to avoid falling into the trap.

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