With the Mets headed to the World Series, Sandy Alderson couldn’t be more grateful for the team’s passionate fan base. They supported the team through many difficult seasons, and they have been waiting for years to finally see a winner.
“New York has been patient with us, and loyal,” he said after the game. “Our goal was to play good baseball through the entire regular season. We took some detours along the way. We had some injuries, but the pitching kept us in it through the first half of the season and we were able to add some offense, get some people back and everything came together. I’m glad that they’ve been rewarded.”
The Citi Field crowd was electrifying throughout the entire postseason, and their energy provided the team with the spark they needed to pummel the Cubs at home in the NLCS.
“It was fantastic to see the fans so engaged and enthusiastic and emotional,” Alderson told MLB.com’s Jim Duquette before the Mets clinched the National League pennant with an 8-3 win in Game 4 of the NLCS on Wednesday.
“That was something we saw during the regular season, briefly, during the Washington series just after the Trade Deadline. We had a sense of that before. Then seeing the crowd during games against the Dodgers and Cubs, it’s really been a tremendous scene and reflective of how enthusiastic Mets fans have been over the last three or four months.” (Joe Trezza, MLB.com)
Ever since Alderson was hired in 2010, Mets fans have been incredibly patient with his plan to get the team back on track. His first four seasons were losing ones, and It looked like 2015 would be another disappointment.
However, he came through with all the right moves at the trading deadline to turn the season around. He acquired Yoenis Cespedes, Kelly Johnson, Juan Uribe, Tyler Clippard and Addison Reed, who all contributed and helped push the team over the top.
While their performances have been tremendous, the Mets would not be in this position without their impressive young core. Alderson inherited a ton of talent like Matt Harvey and Jacob deGrom from the Omar Minaya days, but he also continued their development and added new ones of his own such as Michael Conforto and Noah Syndergaard.
Overall, 16 members of the projected World Series roster were homegrown, which is a number that Alderson is very proud of.
“It’s been really terrific to see them grow, literally, game to game, inning to inning. I think that’s been the most gratifying.”
It’s been a long road for Mets and their fans, but the wait has finally paid off. It’s truly been an incredible season, and it is one that will go down as one of the greatest in franchise history.
