The final weekend at Shea began with doom and gloom for the home team. It began with Met fans ready to switch their allegiance to the Diamondbacks, anything but to admit they root for this group of choking, gagging losers.
Heading into Game 160, we had discovered the antithesis to Disney World. Shea Stadium was The Unhappiest Place on Earth.
Yet with the negativity and pessimism as much a part of the pre-game as batting practice, here was the key factor: The Mets still controlled their own destiny. They were still positioned to win their way right into the postseason even if that meant playing beyond regulation to do it.
“Visualize yourself sipping champagne,” Willie Randolph said.
And there was reason to still believe that. There were still reasons to dream the biggest dreams. A bad September, a struggling end to the schedule, hardly precludes you from getting a parade in the end.
If the Mets needed inspiration and/or proof, the Cardinals showed up Thursday night for a makeup game. That would be the defending champion Cardinals. That would be the Cardinals who in a stretch from Sept. 20-26 last year lost six straight games to go from leading the NL Central by seven games to leading by 1 1-2.
“Last year they were talking about it being us as the biggest choke ever,” St. Louis shortstop David Eckstein said. “And then you are in (the playoffs). It is like a fresh breath of air. It is cleansing.”
This is what the Mets must believe, that the key is to be champions of this weekend, find an avenue to enter the postseason. Because, really, everyone is 0-0 after that. Or as Eckstein said, “The only way to win it all is to get into the playoffs.”
The Cardinals, with just 83 wins, the 13th most in the majors, figured out how beyond the October velvet rope and won a title. They played the Tigers. Detroit lost its final five games, all at home, to fall from first place to the wild card. The Tigers lost their final three to the 100-loss Royals, including the final game of the year in 12 innings when a victory still would have given them an AL Central title. It meant the Tigers were forced into a seemingly terrible matchup for them against the Yankees. Well, we know how that turned out.
St. Louis went 12-17 in September and the Tigers went 12-16, yet at the end of October they were the last two clubs standing. According to research done by Sports Illustrated’s Tom Verducci, seven teams since the wild-card era began in 1995 have reached the World Series with losing records in September.
“After all of my years this is what I have truly come to believe,” said St. Louis manager Tony La Russa. “You find out when you get into the playoffs that 22 teams have been eliminated, and that you are one of the eight teams remaining. And you realize at that moment that any team capable of getting into the playoffs after 162 games is capable of winning one five-game and two seven-game series in the playoffs. If you are good enough to get into the playoffs, you are good enough to win the playoffs.”
So this weekend has become a mandate to see if the Mets are good enough to get into the playoffs, reach that exclusive group that – regardless of late-season record or collapses – is still eligible for a ring.
Thus the dream the Mets had in February when they showed up in Port St. Lucie lives still even as Flushing has become the home of The Unhappiest Place on Earth. Even as all the pessimism and negativity flows, these Mets still have a chance to go down as champions, not the biggest flop ever.
They began the weekend in control of their own destiny, still authors of their own fate. They only need to know that you can stumble in September, but the whole key is get to October.
Was it in the Cards for these Mets?