Yes, it’s totally immature. It’s selfish and just wrong. But I can’t watch playoff baseball.
Let me start off by saying baseball is the greatest game on this planet. I live and breathe the game. I love calling myself a Mets fan, watching Mets games, writing about the Mets and being a part of this fan-base.
Though it seems that with every passing season and every missed playoff berth, October baseball gets harder and harder to watch. The continuing flashbacks to the Endy Chavez catch, to the Yadier Molina homerun off of Oliver Perez and lastly the Carlos Beltran at-bat that everyone can remember.
I was only a 12-year-old kid. Young in terms of my baseball knowledge, I was excited to watch game 7 in front of my television. Just me and my Mets. The atmosphere was fierce. It just felt like a night to be a champion. To this day, it is one of the few games I can remember vividly from my childhood. It’s ingrained in my brain, on replay each and every October.
Since that moment when my heart sank to the bottom of my stomach as I realized it was all over, it is painfully hard to watch October baseball. I continue to ask “what-if?” What if they won that game? Would the Mets be 2006 World Series Champions?
It seems selfish, as a baseball fan, to avoid October baseball. But, it’s just a nightmare that’s hard to shake. The Mets haven’t been back to the playoffs since that fateful October night. It hurts too much to watch other teams enjoy what I want my team to experience.
A simple game, a simple at-bat has ruined the idea of playoff baseball for me. The term October baseball has become something unfamiliar to Mets fans. The term World Series Champions is almost non-existent in a Mets fans dictionary.
The only knowledge I have of 1969 and 1986 are from stories from my father and grandfather, two people who lived and watched those teams celebrate championships. With the way things have gone the last couple of years, it’s time for this generation to experience those types of moments.
And all the talk is about how close the team and the franchise are to making it back to that point. Fans are tired of words. They want actions, they want results.
It’s about time for the Mets to make the playoffs again; it’s time for the Mets to matter again. I want October baseball to be fun again. I want to watch October baseball, with all the fellow Mets fans. Please Mets end this nightmare and make it happen.
Frankly,I only care about the Mets.I root against the Cardinals and the Yankees,Braves,other than that,no interest.
Wow,the RedSox had 123 stolen, bases and only 19 caught stealing as a team.
I’m so emotionally attached the Mets that I don’t really care about what happens to the other teams if it has no effect on my team.
And also… the guys on FOX are TERRIBLE. The only reason TBS is bearable is because of Darling.
Not that it would ever happen because of contracts, but it would make sense to have a national play-by-play guy, and then you choose 1 color guy from each of the team that is in the series to form the 3-man team. That way you get national insight on both teams, and you get an insider from each team and someone to call out crap that is spewed out by people who don’t follow the teams.
And just like how September plays with different rules than the regular season, I don’t understand why the postseason is also different. You play everyday in the regular season and suddenly you need 2 off-days to play a 5-game series. If you’re worried about travel, schedule the teams that need to go West to East earlier in the day and then give them the later time the next day.
Also, why should you get to reset your roster after series? You get something ridiculous in the Wild Card game where you get something ridiculous like carrying 9 OF’s on the roster.
I would set it up so that you choose your 25 men for your postseason. You place the others on a “reserve list”. You only call someone from the reserve list when one of your players get hurt, and the player that gets hurt has to stay on the reserve list for 5 days before they are eligible to come back.
Anyways, that ends my rant about the playoffs.
I forgot to add that the Mets had to play 3 cities in 3 days so for a 5-game series 3 cities in 4 days shouldn’t be that big of a deal (and that’s if you need all 5 games). For a 7-game series it would be 3 cities in 5 days (and that’s if you need 6+ games).
If you can shorten each series by 2 days, that’s 6 days you can use to have more off days in the regular season or even extend the Wild Card series.
TV is the reason for the delays between games.Just like in every other sport.
I really hate the first round playoffs or should I say playoff! A one game playoff in the first round is dumb, If they want to keep the first series short play a best of three so
at least each team would have a fair chance to win! It would also increase tv ratings!
Hey Chris,
I’m a much older Mets fan, so (if you don’t mind) let me give you some reasons for watching post-season games:
You can scout other players who might become available to the Mets.
You can watch better teams which can give you a realistic perspective on how much the Mets have to improve.
You can follow the careers of former Mets (ex: Byrd, Beltran).
You can enjoy the beauty of the game without having your rooting interest get in the way.
Of course, you have to put up with some terrible broadcasting—-The play-by-play on TBS for the Pirates-Reds game was atrocious. It’s amazing how Gary Cohen brings out the best in his co-announcers, be they Darling, Hernandez, Kiner or the late Bob Murphy.
And those are three very good reasons. Baseball is my favorite sport, I live and breathe the game. Being able to watch other players and teams, increasing my knowledge about the game is very important. But it just so hard to do so after watching the way this team has been since 2006. And I know it’s extreme naive and selfish to do so, I’m trying to change that this season. I will be watching as much as I can, upset at the fact that my team isn’t there. But soon we will be there and we will be able to enjoy it together.
Wasn’t it Aaron Heilman who gave up the home run to Molina?