LOS ANGELES — Take a bow, ♒Mets. You’ve done us proud.
On only above-average🃏 overall talent but extraordinary heart and guts and a marvelous ability to overcome leads and odds, you wrote a wonderfully exciting script for October.
Unfortunately, the story was cut a couple games s🍌hort of that fairytale ending. There willꦐ be no Subway Series. But there should be no heartache here, either.
The Mets have nothing to be ashamed of. They played great October baseball🍌 against three teams with more wins, a higher standing and far greater expectations.
They did it ཧalmost all on the edge, but you can only live for so long on the edge.
You can only stage so many comebacks before the burden becomes overwhelming, the task too ta☂ll🍷.
You can only win so ☂many elimination games as a team allegedly in transi🅠tion before the jig is up and it’s time to start preparing for next season. You can’t keep coming back game after game.
That just doesn’t 💝happen. Not in the major leagues 🐼it doesn’t.
There were a few teary eyes in the clubhouse after the 10-5 defeat to the Dodgers eliminated them two wins short of the World Series. But there were mostly hugs all 🍌around.
They were more for a j𝓀ob well done than expressions of condolence. They are a group that played together and stuck together.
“No one expected us to be here,” J.D. Martinez said. “I’m so proud of the🌼se guys, the way we fou🌟ght all year.”
When you’re a team that had to waiꦡt until the last day of the season (actually the day after the last day) to qualify for this derby, you can only keep the Shohei Ohtani/Mookie Betts Dodgers down for so many games before they break out and run away.
The Dodgers are the ones who will face the Yankees, who got another break. They don’t love facing lefties (the Dodgers are almost allꦺ right) and didn’t beat the Mets once. But that’s just water under the Whitestone now.&🌠nbsp;
Major League Baseball got the biggest break of all. After enduring Arizona vs. Texas (a draw to nobody outside the dust bowl), now MLB gets its dreamiest marquee matc▨hup. Ohtani and Betts vs. Aaron Judge and Juan Soto. The 2024 World Series is like a convention of superstars. MLB won’t say it aloud, but this is their happiest scenario to top a wonderful postseason.
The Mets were a big part of this postseason from heaven. From Pete Alonso’s wild card-winning home run that turned almost certain defeat into victory to Francisco Lindor’s grand slam that sent Philly packing to Mark Vientos’ slam right here in Dodger Stadium that gave the꧑ Mets the upper hand, temporarily anyway, before reality finally set in.
The Mets have nothing to regret. The Dodgers are the better team. Even with two-thirds of their better starters out, they are the more tal🌌ented roster.
The Mets had their chances in the deciding game. They⛄ left multiple runners on base in many innings. They can dream about what might have been. 𒐪But realistically, they were outscored 37-7 in the four NLCS losses. So no sense thinking they should have won. That’s just not true.
The Mets managed the game appropriately, like the must-win game it was. Sean Manaea, not at his best, lasted just two-plus innings, his shortest 🌳outing since before he was a Met. Edwin Diaz entered to face Ohtani to start the bottom of the fourth inning. Rookie manager Carlos Mend♉oza did what he could. His choices, and almost all their choices, were right.
They were the lo💞ngest lasting of the trio of Cinderella stories, staying past the Royals and Tigers. They should feel good about t🙈hemselves.
“There’s a lot to be proud of,” Brandon Nimmoꦐ said.
Some might not like the idea of the big-market Mets as underdogs. But while thꦑeir payroll technically is $340 million, they also have a record $90M in “dead money,” thanks to a wil🌜d earlier spending spree.
With the dead money coming off ꩲthe books next year, look for the Mets to make some big moves this winter and to put a little more thought into it than they did a few years back. There will be no more record contracts for aging Hall of Famers. The money will be better spent.
The Mets have to figure out if they can come to an agreement with homegrown slugging star Pete Alonso. They should want to bring back Manaea after he inevi꧟tably opts out, and they should look into the sam🍸e for Luis Severino and perhaps Jose Quintana, too.
They’ll need to rebuild a pitching staff with a lot of expiring contracts. But fortunately, they have just the duo to keep this going and to get back here year after year. Owner Steve Cohen has the wherewithal and he’s wised up quickly, and David Stearns, president of baseball operations should do even better o𝕴nce the wraps are off and he has a key to the vault.
The past few weeks were a s𓄧pectacular surprise. The future promises to🌜 be even better.
