The Mets are a bad baseball team. I mean... they’re gonna be pretty damn bad this year. Yet, for some reason, I woke up today feeling like it’s Christmas morning. That warm rushed surged through me, and I felt like a kid again. That’s because baseball is back. I love baseball with all my heart, and even though I love hockey, football, and basketball too, nothing revs my engines up like baseball season does. Even though tonight is Yankees v. Red Sox, it still means that Mets baseball is just about here. A trip to Citi to watch the Mets practice today got me even more excited, and seeing the players and feeling the energy has me ready for tomorrow.
The other sports are nice, don’t get me wrong. I love my Rangers and Giants, and the Nets... well, they try their best. But nothing compares to the smell of the freshly cut grass at Citi Field on the first day of baseball season. The weather’s getting warmer, everything’s beginning to bloom, people are able to go outside in a T-shirt and shorts again. Baseball just starts at one of the best times of the year, albeit a stressful one for us college students. But once baseball arrives, you know summer’s right around the corner.
Like I said, the Mets are bad. They’ve horribly disappointed me the past three years, especially last year, which was plagued with injuries, bad play, horrendous moments from GM Omar Minaya. I couldn’t wait for baseball to end last year, and when it did I stored all my Mets stuff away and didn’t wear it all winter. I was so disgusted and utterly sickened by their play, but that doesn’t matters on Opening Day. As they say, “hope springs eternal”. Today the Mets are 0-0, just like everybody else. I think the Mets will only win 77 to 84 games, but that doesn’t mean I can’t get excited. Sure, our pitching staff is an absolute joke, our players can’t seem to stay on the field, and our front office is bound to do something stupid sooner rather than later, but why let that take away from the joy of baseball? What pissed me off so much about the 2009 Mets is that they did something I never thought was possible: They took away my love for the game. I grew to detest watching the team and almost couldn’t bear to turn on the games down the stretch. The Yankees v. Phillies WS didn’t help, either, that was a whole other brand of torture. But I don’t want that to happen again this year. I want to enjoy the game, to cherish the moments spent at Citi Field watching this team try to play baseball. We’re baseball fans because we have fun watching and taking in America’s Pasttime, and like Christmas morning, it’s a time where everything seems right.
I’ve made the comparison between the Mets and an abusive relationship many times. How you always end up hurt and disappointed but you can never end it, and how you try to make sense of why you’re still stuck in the relationship. Hell, I just wrote an entire essay on that for my creative writing class. Well, another round of abuse is coming up this year, but I will still look forward to watching my Mets. I’ll be going to many games, feeling complete bliss sometimes and complete suffering most of the time. But it’s still baseball. What makes it so much more enjoyable and painful than any other sport is the 162 games. No other sport can boast that. Hell, football teams only play 16 games. The grind just isn’t there for me as a fan in football. You start the year on a three game losing streak and your season is already almost over. You dedicate one day a week to your team, and that’s it. But in baseball, the journey is so intense. There’s a game every night, and it takes up half the year with more ups and downs than a roller coaster. You could be in and out of playoff contention 50 times by season’s end. The satisfaction or suffering you feel is that much better or worse because of how much energy you put into baseball. And all I can say to that is... I’m ready. The good, the bad, the ugly, and everything in between, bring it on baseball. Yankee fans have a lot to be proud of and have a right to feel good, and Met fans have approached the season in disgust. While I’m disgusted with the team too, I urge all Met fans to put those feelings aside and support the team through good and bad times. After all, that’s what being a fan is about. It’s time to play some ball!
I didn’t bother making official predictions this year because I was so completely off last year, though I do feel the Mets will finish in third. Off the top of my head, I think the Yankees, White Sox, Mariners, and either Twins or Rays will make the playoffs in the AL and the Phillies, Cardinals, Rockies, and Braves or Giants in the NL. Watch out for the Braves and Rays. I can see them both having big years but I think their lack of experience will hurt them during the playoffs against teams like the Yankees and Phillies. I’m praying we don’t get cursed with another Yankees v. Phillies WS, because I don’t think I’d be able to take it. But like I said, hope spring eternal, and anything can happen... except the Pirates winning it all of course. On that note...
LET’S GO METS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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