Bedrock baseball wisdom is that you don't look ahead. Not to the next series, not to the next game, not to the next inning, not even to the next batter. You keep the focus on this play, this pitch, and the good lord willing, things will work out. (Thanks, Crash.)
That said, have you seen our June schedule?
3 against Arizona — A team on the rise with loads of young talent, and this is the softest part of the month.
3 against Philadelphia — Lousy start, but they've crawled almost back to .500 and are unlikely to go away.
3 at Detroit — Won 95 games and the wild card last year, reigning American League champs.
3 at Los Angeles — Our old friends from the '06 playoffs, now much improved. Best team in the NL that isn't us.
3 at New York — After a West Coast trip! Won the AL East last year. 97 wins tied us for the best record in baseball.
3 against Minnesota — 96 wins last year, won the AL Central.
3 against Oakland — 93 wins last year, won the AL West.
4 against St. Louis — Beat us in the NLCS. (I know, I know. I hadn't forgotten either.)
3 at Philadelphia — And the first two are a double-header!
Oh, and after that we're off to Colorado and Houston before the All-Star break. That's technically July, so we won't talk about it.
There's no need for poor-mouthing or woe-is-us — not one of those teams will be relaxing and licking its collective lips because the Mets (97 wins, won NL East, ungodly hitting) are on the schedule. But still — our June opponents were 121 games over .500 last year. We face six playoff teams in a row, including the entire postseason slate from the American League. (I'm sure baseball will rectify the Padres' absence by subbing them for the D-Backs.) There's a West Coast swing. And, at the end, a double-header following seven straight days of baseball.
I'm neither a math jock nor have access to an Elias supercomputer, but has any baseball team ever faced a month like that? If the Phillies edge us at the wire, will it come down to Jimmy Rollins & Co. drawing three against the Royals while we're playing the Tigers? When did “strength of schedule” become a baseball term?
A little birdie told me next year baseball will trade our three pesky June off-days for games against steroid-fed clones of the '27 Yankees, the Wehrmacht, and the Megabats. So mark your calendars.
 
Faith and Fear in Flushing made its debut on Feb. 16, 2005, the brainchild of two longtime friends and lifelong Met fans. Greg Prince discovered the Mets when he was 6, during the magical summer of 1969. He is a Long Island-based writer, editor and communications consultant. Contact him here. Jason Fry is a Brooklyn writer whose first memories include his mom leaping up and down cheering for Rusty Staub. Check out his other writing here. Got something to say? Leave a comment, or email us at faithandfear@gmail.com. (Sorry, but we have no interest in ads, sponsored content or guest posts.) Need our RSS feed? It's here. Visit our Facebook page, or drop by the personal pages for Greg and Jason. Or follow us on Twitter: Here's Greg, and here's Jason. |
Lying Out There Like a Killer in the Sun14 comments to Lying Out There Like a Killer in the Sun |
Piazza: Catcher, Slugger, Icon, Star by Greg Prince is available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble and other online booksellers. 
Amazin' Again: How the 2015 New York Mets Brought the Magic Back to Queens by Greg Prince is available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble and other online booksellers. 
Volume I of The Happiest Recap: 50+ Years of the New York Mets As Told in 500+ Amazin' Wins by Greg Prince is available in print and for Kindle on Amazon. 
Faith and Fear in Flushing: An Intense Personal History by Greg Prince (foreword by Jason Fry), is available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble and other online booksellers. |
|
Copyright © 2024 Faith and Fear in Flushing - All Rights Reserved |
||
I look forward to playing three consecutive series against playoff teams in October. May as well get used to it.
Yikes. That June schedule will likely produce teardrops on the city.
that is a BRUTAL sked.
they'd better feed up on the may games. except those include a west coast swing, a trip to atlanta and the marlins, and home games against the skanks.
sheesh.
I've been howling about the interleague thing since the schedules were announced in December.
Has any other team in MLB history had to face every playoff team from the previous year?
I know they're waiting, but we can make it if we run.
My questions are if the NL East is playing the AL Central this season:
Why are the Mets playing Oakland???
Why don't the Mets get to beat up KC and play against the White Sox???
I used to be a fan of Interleague play but the unbalance (Mets play Yanks 6X while Marlins play D-Rays 6X and now the new inequities of this season's schedule. Have really soured me on the concept.
Only 3 of the 8 2006 playoff clubs made the '05 post-season (and only 1 of 4 AL clubs) . . . if that repeats then we could wind up with a fair or even soft schedule.
Stength of opposition has been a factor ever since an unbalanced schedule was introduced. Sometimes you catch bad clubs on a hot streak, other times good clubs on a cold streak. The Mets will know when they're facing a “must win” game, if they up they'll be fine if they wilt they won't. Responding to pressure seems to me (as it should) to trump any whims of the schedule maker.
FYI in 2005 6 of the 8 playoff clubs had gone the year before but in 2004 only 4 of 8 had gone the year before. So over three years it's a little better than 50-50 (13 of 24) that the “playoff clubs” we face will make the 2007 post-season.
Tough sked no doubt,June would be a great month for Delgado and Wright to carry the team.
Thank God the Yankees are so shitty.
Otherwise, I'd be concerned.
I left out that the Mets missing KC & White Sox while having to play Oakland makes even less sense when you consider that both the NL East & AL Central have 5 teams so all teams should be available to play each other at the same time.
I know in the past when divisions playing each other in an interleague matchup have mismatched number of teams, all the teams usully don't end up playing each other.
The bottom line is, every one of those teams is looking at their schedule for June, July etc and when they see the letters NYM, they are not happy. Does everyone see where I'm going with this?
I read some half-baked explanation a few weeks ago of why the schedule is as it is and it left me more confused than I was before. We play the Dodgers that extra series because we and they are in two-team markets. We play the A's because of a conception that we'd never played them in Interleague.
But of course we did play them in Interleague in 2005. Perhaps Katy Feeney meant the A's hadn't visited Shea during this era, which is true, but neither have the White Sox or Rangers, so where are they? And how is it the Mets have have played every American League team in their park to date but those three have yet to come here?
Nevertheless, bring on all comers. I've seen too many seasons crashed on the rocks of allegedly easy marks like the shredded Marlins and wayward Expos. Let's play who they put in front of us and stay sharp.
Bring it on! I'd make the point that the Mets are one of the best teams in the league, and having to play such stiff competition will spark the competitive urge. Look for them to tell the rest of the competitors that “We are the team to beat” As each other team hopes the others give the Mets a beating so they don't have to play them in the playoffs. I think when the smoke clears and we've again got a handful of players standing in San Francisco for the All-Star game, It'll be the Mets cleanly on top of the NL East.
Look for them to tell the rest of the competitors that “We are the team to beat”
Figuratively, of course. Explicity in these matters can come back and haunt you 56,000 ways to Opening Day.