We’re at precisely one of my least favorite times of the year.
Yes, there’s the clean slate of a new year (which, honestly, has never been more exciting), but the holidays are over, any sign of baseball is at least a month away, and the Hot Stove is moving at a snail’s pace when looking at the top of the market. Without a ton going on just yet, I’m constantly trying to keep myself occupied. It appears the apple doesn’t fall to far from the tree with my four-year-old son.
Periodically, he asks to watch “baseball highlights”. Lots of times, it feels like a ploy to sneak more screen time in, but he knows I’m always down to oblige for that specific request. This past week, the request to watch baseball highlights has been more frequent than usual, and it’s almost as if he’s feeling the same boredom I’m battling. We usually start by watching some actual highlights, which typically includes a handful of great defensive plays and home runs. The end of our watch session always has to be the same, though.
First, we watch this:
And while he’s well aware that he’s living in a Mets household, his absolute favorite is the Washington Nationals’ 2019 World Series locker room celebration, and you know what? I don’t blame him one bit:
After manager Dave Martinez declares they’re world champs and the locker room lets loose, it’s just awesome, and my son smiles and giggles at it every time.
Watching the Mets’ 2015 NL East clinch celebration gives me a special kind of goosebumps for all the obvious reasons, but it’s impossible for me to watch the Nats’ celebration and not think, “Man, that’s incredible.” I partly think that because 15-year-old me (OK, 33-year-old me, too) wishes I was in the middle of such a celebration as a player. But it’s also because you think about how much of a grind a typical baseball season is, and watching these dudes deservedly let loose after achieving an incredible dream is fun.
Only one team gets this kind of celebratory release after a long season, and even if that particular squad is set up for more success moving forward, there’s no guarantee it’ll ever happen again for the nucleus of that group.
That sounds familiar, doesn’t it? I mean, let’s be honest, with every celebration we watched the Mets partake in during 2006, it was extra sweet because many of us likely thought it was just the beginning. David Wright and Jose Reyes were going to be the rock-solid foundation of an incredibly successful stretch in Mets history. How giddy did this simple picture make you thinking about the immediate future at the time?
Ugh, what could’ve been.
To a lower degree, the same could be said about New York’s 2015 celebrations. We endured nine long, arduous years of falling short of expectations and a rebuild to taste sweet success again. We had the joy of watching the Mets return to October in 2016 (even if it was only for one game), too — just the second time ever they accomplished such a feat in consecutive years.
I’m sure many will say that’s why it’s so incredibly sweet when the Mets do get to celebrate — it doesn’t happen often, so we savor every moment. This is true, but the next Mets celebration may be the sweetest of all. Well, for me, at least.
Why? Because for the first time in my baseball-watching lifetime, I know that New York’s owner and front office are aligned with what the fans are also thinking and wanting. Even if the celebrations aren’t as consistent as we’d like, there won’t be tons of dysfunction in between them that’s always been synonymous with the Mets. We can enjoy the next celebration, while also being excited in knowing that those in power will do what’s necessary to make sure it’s not a once-in-a-blue-moon feeling.
What a time to be alive — my four-year-old has no idea how bright the Mets’ future really looks yet, but that’s OK. I’ll have to find other ways to build his character since being a Mets fan won’t feel like the punchline to a bad joke anymore, but that’s a task I’m happy to tackle.
Yes, New York must make significant roster moves before we start seriously talking about celebrations. They will at some point, though. Sooner or later, someone is going to take Steve Cohen’s money — he said it himself. Until then, my son and I will pass the time by watching baseball highlights, and I’ll be dreaming of the day him and I can not only watch the Mets celebrate a World Series on repeat, but also have a laundry list of locker room celebrations to choose from when the mood strikes.
