Let me start by saying congratulations to the Mets.
Beating the Dodgers in a 5 game series when L.A.
started Kershaw & Greinke in 4 of the 5 games is no small feat.
And then to sweep the Cubs who had just beaten the St. Louis
Cardinals with the best record in all of Baseball is quite an
accomplishment.
Most impressive, is the way the Mets have won.
They have done it with dominating pitching.
Yes Daniel Murphy has re-written the meaning of ..
MURPHY’S LAW :
Anything that can go over the wall .. will go over the wall
but make no mistake the Mets success this season is based on
dominating pitching. Even when the Mets could not hit their
way out of a paper bag in June & July, the pitching kept
them in the division race against the under-achieving Nationals,
and allowed management to be buyers, not sellers at the trading deadline.
Now the Mets have punched their ticket to the World Series.
Which leads me to an interesting question.
How should a die-hard Yankee fan react to all this ?
Should he jump on the Met band wagon which is quickly filling up ?
Should he root against the Mets and point out that even if the
Mets do win a WS it will only be 3 rings vs. 27 for the Yankees ?
Should he ignore the WS all together and just turn his full attention
to his fantasy football team ?
Here is how I’m approaching it. I congratulate the Mets and acknowledge
their success, but won’t jump on the band wagon.
Growing up in Brooklyn the rivalry between the teams (and the fan bases)
always existed. Most of the die-hard Met fans I know openly root
against the Yankees, and to say they hate the Yanks would probably
not be an overstatement.
There is definitely a rivalry between ownership of the two teams,
although not as intense as when George was alive.
George hated to lose to all teams, but especially 3 in particular…
the Red Sox , Rays (his corporate offices are located in Tampa) and
the NY Mets.
Playing (or managing) poorly against those teams could get
you traded or fired, even if was only a spring-training game
(I’m not kidding).
So .. I’m not going to root for the Mets, but I’m also not going to
hate on them. In fact I find this Met team very likeable.
David Wright is a real class act and so is the entire team.
Curtis Granderson is not only an ex-Yankee but also one
of the finest human beings you will ever meet.
(They’re a good bunch of Dudas : )
If you’re a die-hard Yankee fan and you’re looking for a
reason / excuse to root for the Mets, I have an angle for you.
From all indications it sounds like this will be an off-season
where the team will not spend a lot of money on Free Agents.
However if the Mets win the World Series and the Yankees feel
threatened by their cross town rivals, they might open up the Steinbrenner
check book and go on a shopping spree.
Sound far-fetched ? Consider this… in the 2013 off season leading up
to the 2014 season, all we heard was that Yankee ownership was determined
to stick with a plan they put in place over a three year period to meet the
goal of getting under the $189M Luxury Cap.
And even though they did not re-sign Cano, they blew $189M out of the water
by signing Ellsbury, Tanaka, McCann & Beltran.
Why ? Well the Red Sox winning the 2013 WS might have had a little something
to do with the Yankees last minute change of heart.
Keep in mind, even if the Yankees do spend big on, let’s say .. Price & Upton,
that does not guarantee success.
As always,
GO NYY !!
(Let’s Go Mets ?? )
