The Miracle Mets
The New York Mets sing Jose Iglesias’ “OMG” on Citi Field – NY Post
“It just sucks getting booed.” These were Francisco Lindor’s postgame words* after his go-ahead grand slam sent the New York Mets to their first NLCS since 2015. Incredibly, the Mets came back from the depths of what looked like another lost season, triumphing over the dominant, first-place Phillies in a stunning, NLDS upset. I, for one, didn’t see it coming. After owner Steve Cohen splurged on an older generation of arms from Max Scherzer to Justin Verlander, and their nagging injuries and high price tags culminated in a sunk cost season in 2023 – trading those arms at the deadline while eating much of the salary – it looked like the Mets weren’t just out of it in the standings, they were reeling as an organization.
This year, something changed. From the big spenders of the 2023 Hot Stove to a scrappy squad enshrining its own lore with every swing of the bat, the Mets have been a real team. Pete Alonso’s home run power, Mark Vientos’ breakout, first-full season, and Jose Iglesias’ myth-making, career-changing crooning have been headlines this season. From getting booed by the harsh-but-deeply-loyal fans of Queens to receiving a cacophony of MVP chants after his go-ahead slam, Francisco Lindor’s season turnaround in 2024 has been pivotal. The career renaissances of both Luis Severino and Sean Manaea have made them veritable postseason aces – workhorse competitors you look forward to passing the ball to in a tough series. Everyone is getting in on the action, and when you watch them, much like the Christmas Day surprise joy of the young, how-is-this-even-happening Detroit Tigers squad, there’s this radiant energy about the Mets you can sense as inevitable. So, with the teams remaining, what’s their path to victory? Can they pull off a miracle?
Phillies Recap
The big bad Phils have been defeated. Division rivals that boasted one of the most dynamic offenses in baseball and three pitchers that were at least 1A, 1B, and 2-type arms in a rotation, the Phillies were set to get to the NLCS in my book. It seemed like this group’s playoff expertise and dominant year of putting it all together was set for a matchup with the Dodgers. The Phillies got 2 runs on 8 hits in game 1, and then a formidable 7 runs on 10 hits to lock up a series tie going into game 3. It looked like the Phillies were about to get hot after Nick Castellanos’ resounding walk-off on a hanging, Edwin Díaz slider shook Citizens’ Bank Ballpark into a blaze. Yet, Sean Manaea went 7 innings 1 earned in game 3, and the Jose Quintana / David Peterson tag-team gave up no earned runs to help the Mets close out the Phils. 3 total runs, 1 earned, were given up by Mets pitching in the last two games. How does this dominant staff match up against the remaining NL teams?
Padres or Dodgers?
The Mets went 2-6 and 5-2 against the Dodgers and Padres, respectively, during the regular season. But, this doesn’t account for a team “turning around.” After all, part of why I love baseball is that there’s this mythos of miracle to it – where the projected statistics of a particular player or team don’t decide success, and the intangible, sometimes even mystical elements in a game – everything from a pitch going someone’s way to a well-timed dugout hug – can shift a team to a World Series. To start the regular season, the Mets went 19-34. From May 29th onward, they went 65-42, including three, 4-game win streaks, one 5-game win streak, one 7-game win streak, and one 9-game win streak in that span. It wasn’t just that the Mets were playing better – they’d get sizzling and on a roll, frequently. That’s what you want to see out of a playoff team.
With all of that for context, the Mets played all of their games against the Dodgers prior to May 29th, and all of their games against the Padres when they were putting things together. So far in these playoffs, then, how do they match up?
Padres’ Pitching: edge Mets
Yu Darvish, Dylan Cease and Michael King are a great rotation on paper. Cease’s playoff experience has been limited during his tenure on the White Sox. King is following the Padres’ playbook of a relief-to-starter conversion (see: Seth Lugo) and has been fitting in nicely. In the playoffs, however, Cease gave up 5 earned in 3.1 innings of work in the first game against LA, and then 3 earned in just 1.2 innings in his second appearance – dismal numbers for your ace. Darvish rocked his first start of the NLDS, going 7 innings with 1 earned, while Michael King at least ate up 5 innings and let the bats and bullpen bail him out of his 5 ER outing. Overall, that’s 1 dominant arm based on playoff performances for the Padres. Unsurprisingly, Darvish is getting the ball in the final game of the series on Friday night in Los Angeles.
Dodgers’ Pitching: edge Mets
The Dodgers slated Yoshinobu Yamamoto at the last minute to take the bump for the NLDS opener against San Diego, and he lasted only 3 innings giving up 5 ER. Jack Flaherty came in for game 2 and lasted a solid 5.1 innings while giving up 4 ER. Buehler got bruised up for 6 ER in 5 innings of work, getting ambushed in the second inning before settling in for the remaining 3 frames. Walker Buehler returning to his ace-like form is going to be a huge thing to look out for in his next appearance. The Dodgers went for a bullpen game to tie up the series 2-2, shutting out the Padres, 8-0. It’s hard to say who’ll get the ball for the finale this Friday.
Bullpens: edge Mets
Tanner Scott – the Padres’ big deadline acquisition from Miami – has been nails so far this postseason for San Diego, and Los Angeles has a solid triumvirate of Blake Treinen, Evan Phillips, and Michael Kopech. But the Mets have had a fierce shutdown pen of Ryne Stanek, Phil Maton, Edwin Díaz, Reed Garrett, and their long-relief stopper in David Peterson. Peterson’s been a big blessing for the Mets, shutting down middle innings to get them to their closers. Ostensibly, it’s a wash. However, the fact that the Mets haven’t had to throw get-me-over bullpen games like the Dodgers and Tigers have (and the Padres when bailing out King or Cease performances), gives them a bit of an edge here. Edwin Diaz, despite some rockiness against the Brew crew and Philly, has been edging closer to his 2022 form. Phil Maton, former long-time Astros off-speed secret weapon, has been a big help for the Mets despite some bumps in the Wild Card series. Overall, a strong rotation that can pass the ball to the pen in mid to later innings with a competitive scoreboard – plus having a David Peterson option if the emphasis is on “mid” innings – this is the hallmark of a deep run ballclub. I like the Mets again, here.
The Miracle
But here’s the thing: Yeah, postseason runs take good pitching, timely hitting, and bullpens with grit when it counts. But more than statistics, more than even some “X” factor, – the memorable ones – the ones you look back upon and smile even if it’s not your team – they have an almost spiritual element to them. Each October brings with it a chance for something more than baseball. Sometimes, it can be a near-religious experience of joy and unity that transcends the Draft King odds and fills the stadium with faith in the inevitable – that what is happening in the hearts of the fanbase is pouring out into the hearts of the beloved players on the ball field. No team captures this better in recent memory than perhaps the “Cowboy Up” camaraderie of the 2004 Boston Red Sox. Kevin Millar’s personality brought this unifying joy to the whole city of Boston where, after David Roberts stole second base, their faith felt inevitable — no surprise that one of the more popular post-World Series win documentaries was titled, “Faith, Rewarded.”**
That same level of near-spiritual experience pervades the New York Mets. You can see it in Lindor’s smile, you can almost feel yourself jumping out of your seat at the impeccable punctuation of a Pete Alonso “chef’s kiss” as he rounds first from yet-another opposite field home run. But for me, the Kevin Millar of this ball club is Jose Iglesias. A long-time big leaguer that started this year in the minors, Iglesias came up at the end of May (right around when the Mets were turning their season around). From then to the All Star break, Iglesias smoked a .380 batting average and .999 OPS. What’s more? He is an accomplished and professional recording artist. His song “OMG” (Oh, My God) went viral. It became the team’s anthem. Unlike the somewhat trite and boorish, regionally-related props that other teams sport for post-home run poses, the Mets held up a sign that said “OMG” all together. It wasn’t a crown or a prop that some player put on to then dutifully (and arguably, performatively) accept their obligatory high fives for the local broadcast. It was a team-unifying joy moment that gave all credit to above, or at least, to something greater than the individual. Clearly, there was something bigger binding this team together.
Jose Iglesias – the artist Candelita – achieves first number 1 hit on a Billboard chart – Billboard
I watched the music video for “OMG” myself (linked above), and I urge you to do the same. In fact, put it on and then re-read from this paragraph onward. Iglesias even performed it on-field during a home game. Try to watch it and tell me you don’t feel something stir in you. It’s hard not to be moved. One can sense not only joy in Iglesias, but a reverence and a letting go. There seems to be a relief about him– not so much a, I made it, phew, that’s over, but a resonant, awareness that this too shall pass, that the burden of having to perform and do this all myself is off my back. Iglesias is largely inspired by his Christian faith. The official music video is one big thank you. The music video’s portrayal of working class people relying on their gratitude to something greater than themselves is where the song’s power really enters into the heart. When you watch his live performance of the song in Queens, you can see he’s passed on that gratitude to his teammates. They stand by with a giddy shock and joy that takes you out of the moment, and suddenly you’re sitting in on a happy, team bus ride home from a highschool football game victory. It’s clear that the relief present in his palpable “letting go” exudes into his teammates. Good baseball comes from people that are relaxed.
The Padres certainly have their share of energy with the powerful personalities of Manny Machado and Fernando Tatis Jr., and the Ohtani, Freeman, Betts trident of the stacked Dodgers poses a mighty thrust at a World Series. But what the Mets lack in big names, they make up for as a team. They truly are greater than the sum of their parts. Infused with the spirit of joy, unity, and a deep gratitude for simply being there, one has a hard time not cheering for them. Who knows what the outcome will be, but at the very least, and perhaps the ultimate most, the Mets show that baseball is just a game, and, with that relaxing, grateful energy, it becomes a conduit for us to smile and be thankful for the quiet moments that baseball’s rhythm provides — for our own lives. In a way, the Mets are a miracle, and they’re their own – completely different from the “dirt dog idiots” of the Red Sox lore. Echoed in the swelling major chords of Jose Iglesias’ song, “OMG”, there is a realization that all credit – for winning, for being an All Star, for getting a once-in-a-lifetime chance to get paid to play the most difficult job in the world – all of that glory goes to something above us all – a feeling even the non-religious tap into each October. That realization seems to have entered Iglesias’ heart, and spilled over into the dugout. That’s a miracle: baseball played for joy itself becomes a portal into the divine. Go Mets, and go baseball. Like in 2004, even if you’re not a Mets fan, it’s a pleasure to watch a team play with their hearts as one.
*YouTube - Francisco Lindor on his grand slam, not being an All-Star | Mets Post Game | SNY
**IMDB – Faith Rewarded: The Historic Season of the 2004 Boston Red Sox
Stats are as of 10/10/24
