Elimination Day is a bit like Rosh Hashanah. You never know when exactly it’s going to show up on the calendar, yet it always fits the description of High Holy. This year, Elimination Day — no need to layer it with qualifiers, as there is only one elimination we as a Sheadenfreudic people celebrate perennially and heartily — appeared on Halloween Eve. Perfect timing, given all the sweets within easy reach for those who indulge. Treat yourself to a fun-size bar today. All the bars will be fun this weekend. No Yankee games will be on.
Twenty-six American Leaguers dressed as fundamentally sound baseball players. Their costumes weren’t very convincing. Working the other side of the street, the National League champions pretended they had adequate pitching depth, and here they are, flying all the candy back home.
Congratulations to the Los Angeles Dodgers, a team we might have forgotten to congratulate the last time they completed a series of baseball games. Where were our manners? Not every postseason set-to hits the same. The Dodgers hit plenty all October. We didn’t care for some of it. Personally, I relished the last waves of it.
METS FANS FOR FREDDIE FREEMAN is never going to be a prize-grabbing Banner Day entrant, but you never know who you’re going to wind up rooting for when fall baseball goes on without your direct participation. Let’s just say the New York Liberty had a wonderful ticker-tape parade recently, and I saw no reason for anybody to immediately follow in their confettied tire tracks.
As bases went uncovered, balls clanked off gloves, and fans were escorted out by security, thoughts turned to the National League Runners-Up. This was the third time the senior circuit representative’s road to ultimate reward ran through the New York Mets via the NLCS. The Dodgers in 1988. The Cardinals in 2006. The Dodgers in 2024. I ostentatiously avoided most of those first two World Series. That should be us there, not them. This time, I was less allergic from that standpoint. Maybe because the Series That Was started in Dodger Stadium and the Series That Could Have Been would have started in Yankee Stadium, I didn’t stare out at Game One introductions and mentally insert our guys on the field. We would have hosted Games Three, Four and, if we hadn’t swept, Five. Hypotheticals didn’t tempt me much. After the way we got clobbered in our four losses to L.A., I wasn’t telling myself the worthiest team didn’t win.
When the World Series was over, of course I was delighted by the outcome locally, but I also didn’t mind who was putting on the commemorative t-shirts. The Dodgers loaded up in the offseason, withstood a torrent of injuries, showed themselves to be better and better with each round, and no longer include Chase Utley in their ranks. Instead of that could have been us, I believed after the final out of 2024, that can BE us, as in 2025. I haven’t felt so enthusiastic on our behalf watching somebody else celebrate in a long time.
Maybe that’s the real treat to take away from this postseason. In the meantime, grab yourself another Snickers. Or just snicker.
I am also enjoying the fact that the Mets were a tougher opponent for LA than the Other Guys (6 game series vs 5); throw in the regular season sweep and the only honest conclusion is that we were the better NY team this year.
The 2024 NLCS was the first ever Mets playoff series where I thought, “yeah, they were just better than us.” Every other playoff loss we’ve had, I rue thinking we could’ve won it if a ball had just bounced one way instead of the other. Not that one.
I will take solace in the Yankees’ poor fundamentals FINALLY coming back to bite them at the worst possible time, and knowing that their fans will have to live with that loss forever. And reminding them that we swept them this year and knew they were frauds all along. LOLYanks, from here to eternity.
Here’s to it being US in 2025!
A weird part of looking back on the 2024 Mets is labeling them. They’re not a division winner or a league champion, having lost the NLCS. Yet the Mets beat the NL Central and NL East champions in the playoffs to finish above them. In the end, I can label the 2024 Mets only by describing them: the 3rd wildcard who beat 2 division winners in the WCS and DS and came within 2 wins of taking the pennant.
P.S. This should be an independent comment, not a reply to Wendell Cook’s comment.
The Dodgers were better than the Mets, but I can’t help thinking that had the Mets somehow managed to beat the Dodgers, they could have won a subway series. We’ll never know!
“And this year’s Jeffrey Meier Memorial Award goes to…”
Lot’s of questions to answer this off season. Will Steve sign Soto? Will the Polar Bear return? Who’s going to pitch? And will the Mets get rid of those God awful black jerseys?
Elimination Day is Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas/Hanukkah all rolled into one!
So happy that that Lurch-looking robot made the error that started the floodgates. And that other robot pitcher not covering 1B gives me chills every time I think of it.
Boone was ‘heartbroken,’ on the verge of tears, and even HE knew he could not win the Press Conference by sugarcoating all the terrible things that happened.
Soto is a 26 yo Hall of Fame-caliber hitter who hits well in the post-season, has a good reputation as a pro, and has a championship on his resume. But he doesn’t field or run well already as a youngster, and those are abilities that Stearns prioritizes in his OFers. The Soto courtship will be interesting and maybe not as committed on the Mets part as widely believed.
So nice to see the pain in all the Yankee fans, and may that feeling last another 15 years, at least.
And I hope they keep Cashman, Boone, and Gleyber.
Not THAT’S entertainment!
I was actually feeling a little sorry for Yankees fans, until I read a post ripping Aaron Judge as a disgrace to the uniform and they should trade him to the Mets. Have a nice winter Yanks!
Hey, make us an offer, Mr. Cashman. We’ll be happy to take him off your hands.
A huge shout out to Greg and Jason for chronicling yet another baseball season. Thank you.
Now…
on to The Holy Books!
And the Nikon Camera Mets Player of the Year!
Et al
PS Greg: yes, I cashed my C(Leon) Note on over Mets wins this year. May I do that forever…
Looks like we just signed a winner:
Dylan Covey is 7-32 with a 6.18 ERA in 46 starts and 54 relief appearances over five major league seasons.
…spaghetti…wall…
It’s not spaghetti, it’s linguini.
Now it’s garbage!
Hey Seth, many years ago I went to the Paris Theater (in NYC) for a double feature of The Odd Couple and The Out of Towners.
Two of the funniest movies ever, with all the New York flavor any movie can ever have.
Along with the first half hour of The Sunshine Boys. I even saw Klugman and Randall perform this one on Broadway.
I hear Aaron Judge will be in Times Square on New Year’s Eve. He’ll be overseeing the ball drop. Guffaw, chortle.
The Yankees did win their league championship plus a game in the World Series, so I can’t put the Mets peak of 2 NLCS wins on the same level. However, based on what we saw in the WS, it is fair to believe the Mets would have done well in the WS against the Yankees had the Mets pitching staff not gassed out between the NLDS and NLCS and the Mets had beat the Dodgers.
The Dodgers offense’s performance in the WS is how I believe they would have done versus a not-gassed Mets staff, i.e., 3-5 runs a game rather than 6-8 runs. More telling, the Yankees offense in the WS, with the many runners left on base, looked a lot like the Mets offense in the NLCS. That tells me the Mets offensive failure in the CS should be credited to the Dodgers pitching. Whatever they did that worked against the Mets worked on the Yankees, too.
Was just rereading your post. Have to say, kudos on “Sheadenfreude”. Definitely my favorite new word of the week, and perfectly describes how we felt after the Yanks got their lunch handed to them.
Now what to do for the next few months? Well, my New York Rangers are looking pretty good right about now…
As usual, Greg, you manage to articulate what many of us Mets fans are thinking. Great piece. Thank you.