Not that we didn’t already know it, but it bears repeating. Nothing is guaranteed in baseball.
We know how the Mets’ front office was determined to learn from the mistakes of their chief rivals in the NL East. We all know the story of the Washington Nationals shutting down Stephen Strasburg in the stretch run of 2012, and the accompanying bold assertion by Nats’ GM Mike Rizzo that it was no problem because his team would have many years of post-season baseball ahead. And we all know how the Mets tried – and ultimately succeeded despite the Boras-initiated fiasco of early September – in avoiding the same trap with Matt Harvey.
But now they should understand what can happen to a team with great expectations – the kind they will face in the season ahead. The Mets will not be sneaking up on anyone next year. They are no longer the hunters, but the hunted.
The Mets were on a roll as they approached the 2015 World Series, but it became immediately worrisome that the statements of their captain and others on the team reflected wonder and awe at simply reaching the final hurdle, rather than conquering it.
That attitude will not cut it from here on in.
It was gratifying to hear Sandy Alderson express displeasure and genuine disappointment at the outcome, but at the same time, the captain made a bookend statement to the ones he made before the series, saying essentially that while he was disappointed, it was a great season anyway.
It is fine for fans to feel that way – many or most of us do, or will once we fully process everything that happened the last three months. But we certainly don’t want the players believing it. Especially now that they will have a target on their backs.
What we want to see and hear now – and I think I speak for most of us – is the same thing we saw and heard from the Royals after they came within an eyelash of winning the 2014 World Series: this time, we are on a mission, determined to go all the way. ALL the way.
We need look no further than the Nationals to understand the pitfalls that can come with great expectations. Their 2012 run to the NL East title was as inspirational as the 2015 Mets. And their manager at the time, Davey Johnson, said it was “World Series or bust” the following year.
But we all know how things have worked out for that franchise, and they just heaped more embarrassment on themselves in a fashion it seemed only the Mets – or at least the pre-8//1/15 Mets – could do,
They selected their new manager last week – and low-balled him right out of the job. They made Bud Black a one year offer that reportedly left the long time Padres’ Manager “deeply offended,” and only begrudgingly upped the ante to two years. The deal collapsed over the weekend and they were forced to extend a still-unspecified multi-year offer to 66 year old Dusty Baker.
This comes on the heels of the disastrous tenure of Matt Williams, the Storen meltdown, the Papelbon dust up with young Bryce, and ultimately, historic underachievement by a team expected to be dominant the last three seasons. In that time, they produced one division title, zero playoff victories and an inexplicable collapse in 2015 when they were armed with what was thought to be a rotation for the ages – so good that they were the consensus choice to win the World Series. Bryce Harper asked for his ring, the experts swooned. And the Nats fell apart.
The sequel to a magical run to a divisional title. A rotation for the ages. World Series or bust. Sound familiar, or like what’s coming dead ahead? Well, get used to it. Because those are the expectations that will surround the Mets when they reconvene in Port St. Lucie in three and a half months,
We can only hope they follow the path of the Royals…and not the Nationals.
