Don't listen when someone tries to sell you the "everything short of a championship is a failure" philosophy. It sucks the fun out of being a fan.
In May, back before the New York Mets' season turned to fecal material, I started writing a piece that ended up sitting on a back burner for most of the season. I always knew that I would get back to it. I just didn't think the entirety of spring and summer would pass before I did. I never conceived of the year going quite this badly for the Metropolitans, even as I began to suspect quite early on that this team wouldn't live up to all of the preseason hype. Even that didn't prepare me for the reality of a sub-.500 team, so clearly playing out the string as we head into the final week of this disastrous campaign. But, in a way, this reality check of a season reinforced the truth I hoped to convey when I began this piece.
The inspiration for this post came at the end of April while reading an item by Joel Sherman in the New York Post. He was reacting to a comment by the Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo. The Bucks had just been ousted by the Miami Heat in the playoffs. Antetokounmpo's offense, in Sherman's eyes, was to claim, "There's no failure in sports." Joel assured all of us that there is, indeed, failure in sports and broadened the point out to include the Mets and Padres, two MLB clubs who famously spent big money this past offseason:
...what the Mets and Padres have done — hyperinflating their star power and payroll the past two years — has changed the context for them. They have entered a territory annually reserved for the Yankees and Dodgers. Essentially, championship or bust. Or, at minimum, play for the championship or bust. Getting ousted early in the playoffs or — imagine — somehow not even making a larger-than-ever postseason field would mark a season as a failure. Think about the reaction if, for example, the Mets didn't even make a six-team NL playoff group.
Yeah, just imagine that reaction. Oh wait, I don't have to.
A little background here. If you are a New York sports fan, you're unlikely to escape the mentality among those who cover the sport and many who follow it that any season that doesn't end with a parade down the canyon of heroes is an abject failure. Most of the New York sports media accepts and amplifies this thinking. And because so many in the press espouse the view, many local fans buy into it, too.
The recent roots of this belief derive from the run of success that the New York Yankees enjoyed from 1996-2000, winning four titles in five years. Even the current Yankees are victims of that success. Although they've been in the playoffs almost every year since then, they've won one solitary title during those years. None at all since 2009. This, of course, is completely unacceptable.
There isn't anything new about this thinking. As a Mets fan, I first encountered it in the 1980s. After the marvelous "Ya Gotta Believe" season of 1973, the Mets franchise had essentially collapsed as the heirs of original owner Joan Payson struggled to keep the lights on at Shea Stadium. In truth, the Mets clubs from 1977-1983 would have been better served playing in darkness. Only the sheer awfulness of the 1980 and 1981 Cubs kept the Mets from finishing in last place for all 7 seasons. The only year in this stretch where the Mets didn't lose over 90 games was 1981, when a strike limited their season to 105 games. This era nourished a broad pessimistic streak in me that can still dominate my attitude toward the Mets if I allow it.
10 comments:
I think the Padres announcement yesterday that they will be cutting payroll in 2024 to around 200mil is BIG NEWS for Mets fans that want Juan Soto roaming Citifield next season
I'm online friends with him and know of his desire to play in NYC
Would pare down the prospects in the system but could be a big game changer
I wonder how much money the Padres could save firing AJ Preller. Soto would be a big add for the Mets. I wouldn't mind the prospect cost if they were able to keep him long term
This is Tom. My brother would LOVE Soto in a Mets uniform. So would I, for that matter.
Alvarez and Baty for Soto? What do you think?
I would have no problem with this but I'm sure they would demand an outfield prospect as well
I would miss Alvarez but in the long run I think Parada would be a bigger star in this game
Mr Mack Alvarez was a top 10 prospect,has hit 25 HRs. You think Parada will be better then him.
I think he will hit in the 20 range
I think his defense will be adequate
But I especially thing he will hit for average and produce a much better OPS
Great perspective Mike!
It is true that championships are rare, and if you make a championship a black-or-white goal you will almost always be disappointed.
Mets fans dream of building dynasties like the Dodgers or the Braves have with winners every year and a strong system that churns out talent to keep them winning. But between them they have won very few championships over our lifetimes. So are they failures?
This year for the Mets was still part of the building process, and although the MLB team had a rough year for reasons we have read about for months, the lower levels have seen fabulous growth. St. Lucie won a championship last year, Binghamton is in the championship series this year, and there are loads of prospects performing well and climbing the ladder.
One team wins it all...one!
So 29 other teams are all-so-rans.
Of the 12 post-season teams in this years' postseason
11 of them will not win.
Does that make them losers? Of course not.
They each had fine winning seasons.
If you're a real baseball fan, you enjoy your team
each and every season...and root for them in each game.
Think of every game as the 7th game of the WS. 27 outs complete.
There's always next year.
Championships are rare and almost seem destined. I got to see
all 4 of the teams I root for win it all 2-4 times.
But I've also enjoyed every season in between.
If your team doesn’t make the playoffs,it was obvious they wouldn’t at trade deadline and you were expecting 90 wins,they are losers,big losers. And when everything points to a repeat next year it dampens your enthusiasm even as a diehard fan.
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