In the first round of the Mets Madness Tournament on Out of the Park Baseball 24, the 2022 Mets, lead by Pete Alonso, Jeff McNeil, and Francisco Lindor, knocked off the 1999 Mets in a 4-2 series victory.
Game 1
The two teams traded blowouts in Games 1 and 2. The 2022 team took Game 1 9-1 in a matchup between Jacob deGrom and Kenny Rogers, in large part due to an eight-run third inning, highlighted by Mark Canha‘s grand slam and two doubles in the inning from Brandon Nimmo. DeGrom went six innings and struck out just three, but was followed by Trevor Williams who recorded the three-inning save.
The offense threw up an eight-run third inning, in which the 2022 team never looked back. Canha’s grand slam, a Starling Marte sac fly, and two Nimmo doubles highlighted the massive inning. The two teams would only score one run each the rest of the way, but the third-inning ambush was more than enough to wrap up a game 1 victory for manager James Villani’s squad.
Game 2
The second game was dominated by the 1999 Mets, with the 1999 team winning 11-1. Al Leiter went tossed a complete game, allowing just one run, striking out five, and throwing a grand total of 123 pitches. Max Scherzer was treated rudely by the 1999 squad, allowing seven runs in his four frames.
The 1999 attack was led by homers from Rey Ordóñez and Mike Piazza. John Olerud knocked his second double of the series, but besides the three extra-base hits, the 1999 team paper cut the 2022 team to death: manager Jack Ramsey’s squad racked up 10 singles and four walks, helping result in the 11 runs they put up. With the series now tied at two, games could be expected to settle down, right?
Game 3
Game 3 ended in a narrow 2022 win. The 1999 team took the lead early with a three-run third inning off Chris Bassitt, who would settle in and throw seven innings of three-run ball. John Olerud would deliver the first early blow to Bassitt with a two-run homer in the third, which was proceeded by a Rickey Henderson RBI single.
Bassitt was opposed by Oral Hershiser who threw six three-run innings of his own on 117 pitches. The 2022 team would trail 3-2 for most of the middle innings before disaster struck for the 1999 team. The game was lost by reliever Pat Mahomes, whose two-run homer to Jeff McNeil in the 7th inning ended up being the decisive blow, giving the 2022 team a 4-3 lead. A Brandon Nimmo solo homer in the bottom of the 8th put this one to bed, securing a 5-3 2022 team.
Game 4
The 1999 squad evened up the series the next game with a 7-5 win. The pitching matchup for Game 4 was a heavyweight battle: Bobby Jones and Carlos Carrasco. Both pitchers fared reasonably well: Carrasco went 4 1/3 innings of two-run ball, and Jones 5 innings of three-run ball. The 1999 team opened the scoring in the top of the first with back-to-back homers from Henderson and Robin Venture to start the game, but the offense would quiet down following that.
The 2022 team put up their first run in the home half of the 4th with a Daniel Vogelbach double, and they would take the lead in the 5th thanks to back-to-back solo homers of their own by Marte and Francisco Lindor. Now 3-2, the teams began trading blows in the late innings. The 1999 team took a 4-3 lead from a two-run single by Roger Cedeño.
The wild game hit its peak in the bottom of the eighth, when a James McCann two-out, two-on infield single off Turk Wendell gave the 2022 team a 5-4 lead. Next, enter Edwin Díaz in the 9th.
However, after allowing walks to Rickey Henderson and Mike Piazza, Díaz served up a two-out, two-strike three-run homer to Robin Ventura to give the 1999 team their 7-5 lead, which wound up the final score and tied the series at two. If the 1999 team could hang on, Ventura’s heroics might be enough to net him MVP honors for the series.
The Mets Madness bracket presented by OOTP 24.
Game 5
The final two games of the series were dominated by the 2022 team. Francisco Lindor, Pete Alonso, and Jeff McNeil would all go yard in the fifth game of the series, a game the 2022 team won 10-4. Kenny Rogers was beaten up again, and Jacob deGrom went six scoreless innings. Rogers was followed by Masato Yoshii, who was not much better. The two combined to give up ten earned runs in 3 1/3 innings, while Pat Mahomes and Octavio Dotel allowed no runs in 4 1/3 scoreless relief innings.
The 1999 team scored three of their runs on a two-out homer in the bottom of the ninth by Edgardo Alfonzo, which was far too late. The team’s bats went quiet for too long, and the pitching never had a chance from the jump. For the brunt of the game, 1999 trailed by an embarrassing 10-1.
Game 6
Game 6 was won 13-3 by the 2022 team. Alonso, Lindor, and now Darin Ruf all went yard, destroying Al Leiter. Leiter, somehow, stayed in the game long enough to complete six full innings of work but allowed eight hits, seven earned runs, three walks, and three homers. The bullpen behind him would combine to allow six earned runs over three innings, which would be the final death blow to the 1999 team.
As John Franco and Billy Taylor struggled out of the pen, a shaky Max Scherzer was followed by 2 2/3 perfect innings from Taijuan Walker. Drew Smith closed out the series clincher, and the 1999 team was sent packing. The 2022 bullpen allowed just three base runners over 3 2/3 innings of work, giving the explosive 1999 offense no chance of coming back in this one.
MVP
Jeff McNeil was named series MVP after posting a .417/.500/.750 slash line with two homers. McNeil’s timely hitting propelled the 2022 team to the closer game of this series.
On the losing squad, John Olerud hit .350/.500/.600 with a homer and a pair of doubles. His work wouldn’t move the needle in the series too much, considering how horrid the 1999 pitching was.
On Deck
The 2022 team moves on, with their fearsome starting three, and the 1999 team and their brutal pitching head home in MetsMerized’s Mets Madness Bracket. The 2022 team will face the 1986 team in the second round.
