People have been asking us all winter what we’ve been doing to pass the time during the MLB lockout. I’ll tell you what we do here at MMO — we come up with ideas that not only help us stay busy, but will help you all stay busy, too.

Talking about the best teams and/or players in New York Mets history is always a good debate to have — especially during the cold winter months — but what if we created our own teams with players from different eras? That’d be fun, right? Well, we thought it was, and we think you’ll agree. We’ve created eight different Mets teams, all of which consist of a catcher, first baseman, second baseman, shortstop, third baseman, three outfielders, two starting pitchers, one relief pitcher, and a manager. We took the top eight at each position (as well as the top 24 for outfielders and top 16 for starting pitchers) with the goal of splitting them up across eight teams and making them as evenly matched as possible.

We used four players twice, given their multi-positionality: Edgardo Alfonzo (2B/3B), Jeff McNeil (2B/OF), John Milner (1B/OF), and Dave Magadan (1B/3B).

We already introduced each of the squads while taking a look at their perceived strengths and weaknesses. You can check them all out here: Team 1, Team 2, Team 3, Team 4, Team 5, Team 6, Team 7, and Team 8.

We also matched up all of the teams, and let the fans on Twitter vote which team they thought was stronger in each matchup. You can those out here: Team 2 vs. Team 7, Team 5 vs. Team 1, Team 8 vs. Team 4, and Team 3 vs. Team 6.

The winners were Team 7, Team 1, Team 8, and Team 3.

Team 1 emerged from the first semifinal and waited for Team __ to punch its ticket to face them here in the championship round. First, let’s review which players are on each team.

The Squad: Team 1

The Squad: Team 3

Who Will Win?

Now it’s time to vote to decide which team will achieve February glory and raise the metaphorical piece of metal while being proclaimed champions. You can vote in the Twitter poll below and be sure to share your thoughts in the comments.