New York Mets Team Profile
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Website:https://www.mlb.com/mets |
MAJOR HONORS |
| Official Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Mets (1.5 million likes) | World Series titles: 2 |
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Official Twitter: https://twitter.com/Mets (1.06 million followers) |
NL Pennants: 5 |
| Official Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mets (821,000 followers) | NL East Division Titles: 6 |
| Date Founded: 1962 | Hall Of Famers: 2 |
As usual, the Mets came into this season with a healthy sense of optimism. But this time it was real optimism, we swear! With new agent-turned-GM Brodie Van Wagenen at the helm, the Mets off-season was chock full of big time moves that Mets fans hoped would mesh into a contender. The oddsmakers sort of bought it as well, and they entered the season with a respectable +300 to win a packed NL East. But then the season started and they reverted to being the Mets, and now, more than a third of the way through the schedule, they sit at +900 to win the East, and +2200 to win the NL pennant.
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This year’s Mets team was supposed to be the classic mix of a bunch of talented young guys and a bunch of proven veterans, in different sides of their careers, united to be the team to beat. The trade for All Stars Robinson Cano and Edwin Diaz, and the signings of former All-Stars Wilson Ramos and Jed Lowrie seemed to signal the start of an “all-in” approach that every Mets fan dreamed of. But the “all-in” stopped mid-flurry (with no Machado or Harper, no Dallas Keuchel, no J.T. Realmuto) , and, instead of looking as formidable as they hoped, Mets fans were left wondering what could have been, and hoping for the best. But as the song says, “I did my best, but I guess my best wasn’t good enough.”
Cano has struggled so far, hitting .238 with only 3 HR and 14 RBIs. Lowrie got hurt in spring training and hasn’t seen the field yet this season. Ramos got off to an awful start, but has been better in the past month. Diaz has been as good as advertised, with the usual closer hiccups, but he hasn’t had many save situations.
Of the Mets returning players, the dynamic duo of Jacob deGrom and Noah Syndergaard have been underwhelming, going a combined 7-10 with ERAs of 3.45 and 4.45 respectively. The young guys have held up their end of the bargain, with Jeff McNeil third in the NL in batting at .335, Pete Alonso second in the NL in HRs with 21, and Michael Conforto is sixth in the NL in OBP. For as inconsistent as they’ve been, the Mets are only 5 games back in the NL East, and 4 in the Wild Card. As long as the young guys stay consistent, and the vets get back to their usual selves, the Mets NL East, and maybe more, is there for the taking.
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Much to Mets fans dismay, the team’s majority owner is Fred Wilpon, with his son Jeff Wilpon acting as the team’s COO. Previous owner Nelson Doubleday was loved for his hands-off, wallet-open approach, which brought the Mets success during the 80’s and early 90’s. Since the Wilpon family have arrived, however, there hasn’t been much to cheer for, as their habit of treating the Mets like a small-market team in the middle of the country’s biggest city has left the team without a World Series since 1986.
Speaking of teams in the country’s biggest market… The Yankees loom over the Mets as more than a rival. In fact, the relationship feels more like siblings, with the Yankees playing the part of the successful older brother who’s achievements the younger, less talented sibling will never be able to match. The Yankees continuously outspend, outmaneuver, and outperform their NY neighbors, winning 27 World Series to the Mets 2, including the 2000 Subway Series where the Yankees beat the Mets, 4-1.
Within the NL East, the Mets fiercest rivals are the Phillies and the Braves. The Braves gained their enemy status during the teams’ late 90’s battles, when the Chipper Jones-led Atlanta teams and Mike Piazza-led Mets continually fought for NL domination. The Phillies-Mets rivalry took bloom in the mid 2000’s when the Phillies dynasty continually outplayed the Mets, the most crushing of these seasons being 2007, when the Mets lost a 7 game lead to the Phillies with 17 games remaining.
According to Forbes, the Mets are currently the 6thmost valuable sports franchise in the MLB, with a value of $2.3 billion. For a Mets fan, that number is a double whammy. First, the crosstown Yankees valuation is twice that number at $4.6 billion. But the fact that they are worth $2.3 billion and still seem to take a small-market approach to free agents is even more maddening. The best example of the Mets bungling of their finances can be experienced every July 1st on Bobby Bonilla Day. Bonilla was a typical Mets signing, a former Met who they hoped would be able to recapture some of his old glory. That never worked out, so they released him, and instead of paying him the $5.9 million he was still owed, they opted to defer his payments at a big interest rate. So, even though he last played for the Mets in 2000, Bonilla gets $1.19 million every July 1stuntil the year 2035.
On the current Mets roster, Robinson Cano is the highest paid, earning $24 million/year, with 4 more years guaranteed at $24 million per year. Jacob deGrom just signed a 5 year $135 million extension at the beginning of this season.
Speaking of deferring money, it should also be noted that the Mets owner, Fred Wilpon, was one of the victims of the Bernie Madoff scandal, and it was initially reported that he lost over $700 million in the scheme, although later reports minimized that number. The end result was a bunch of litigation that had Mets fans hoping that the Wilpons would sell, but alas, they only found some new minority investors to help cover some costs, and are still fully in charge.
The Mets have been through a long series of boom and bust cycles since they entered the league in 1962. But the good times have been, as they say, amazin’. Here are a few:
As you can see in the team’s colors, the Mets themselves are a mix of pre-existing New York teams. The blue represents the Brooklyn Dodgers, who moved to Los Angeles in 1957, and orange for the New York Giants, who moved to San Francisco, also in 1957. So it seems fitting that Mets fans are a little complex in their psyche.
The Urban Dictionary may have the perfect description of a Mets Fan: “A mental illness frequently suffered by baseball fans from Brooklyn and Queens, NY. Symptoms include draping oneself in blue and orange, having delusions of winning the World Series, and the most frequent and dangerous symptom, choking in the month of September.”
Despite the stigma associated with being a Mets fan, plenty of celebrities support the Mets. Maybe it’s because of the sense of humor one must have to face the disappointment the Mets induce that most of their most vocal supporters are comedians, including Jerry Seinfeld, Jon Stewart, Chris Rock, and Jimmy Kimmel.
Most Mets fans will admit that the old Shea Stadium was a bit of a dump. Originally built in 1964 in Flushing Meadows, Queens, on the site of the 1962 World's Fair as a multi-use stadium and shared with the NFL’s New York Jets until 1983, Shea was never great for baseball, with the seats placed much further away from the field than in other stadiums. As more and more teams started building baseball-only stadiums (and taking advantage of local governments willing to help finance them), the Mets announced plans to build a new park in 2001.
After a series of stops and starts, Citi Field was finally completed in 2009, when the Mets opened the new baseball-only stadium. Some of the fan favorites from the old stadium still remain, including the Home Run Apple, a giant apple that rises up every time a Mets player hits a home run, and of course, the most famous Met of all time, Mr. Met, the very first live MLB mascot.
From genuine superstars to fan favorites, the Mets have had their fair share of personalities. Some of the most memorable Mets of all time include:
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