Ridiculous Hypothetical Question II

[G-Fafif]

Say rain plays havoc with the Interleague schedule in 2006. A game between the Mets and the Orioles at Shea is rained out, not to be made up unless it has an impact on the playoff picture.

Fast forward to the end of the season. The Mets are out of it (they're 83-78). But the Orioles (toldja it was hypothetical) have a half-game lead on the second-place team in their division so they have to make up that game at Shea the day after the season ends. Their record is less than that of the A.L. Wild Card team (LAA of Anaheim, which finished behind those incredible A's). Therefore only one team from the Orioles' division can go to the playoffs. If the Orioles beat the Mets, they clinch that berth and the second-place team in their division goes home and doesn't play in October.

If the Orioles lose, they face a one-game playoff versus the second-place team in their division...which happens to be the New York Yankees.

So the question is:

1) Do you root for the Orioles and AGAINST the Mets in what is an essentially meaningless game for the Mets to guarantee the Yankees (MFYs, I believe they're called here) and their fans are barred from the playoffs?

2) Or do you root for the Mets regardless of extrametropolitan circumstances because you always root for the Mets (and take your chances with the Orioles in a one-game playoff and/or don't care because you don't worry about the Yankees)?

[Guest ScarletKnight41]

If it keeps the MFY's out of the playoffs, I root for WWSB to start every September callup on the exended roster that day. I don't want to deal with the MFY fans if they are in the postseason and we aren't.

[Guest SI Metman]

I'd probably have Gaby Hernandez (or Yusmeiro Petit if he isn't up here by then) start the game with whatever prospects we have in the starting lineup. If we win, we win, if not then sucks to be a MFY fan.

[Guest Yancy Street Gang]

Go Orioles!

[seawolf17]

O's. Definitely O's.

[Willets Point]

The night before, I'd personally shoot up all the O's with 'roids and get the Mets drunk on vodka.

[Guest Johnny Dickshot]

I'd just pretend Ms. Dickshot is right when she contends that I don't possess the ability to affect the outcome of a game.

[Guest holychicken]

I would definitely root for the Os. . .and I like the idea of prospects playing every position (or as many as possible) becuase, if they won, that would be pretty sweet.

[Centerfield]

I would root for individual performances from the Mets I expect to be part of the team in 2007. For instance, assuming it is an all-prospect game, I would be rooting for Lastings Milledge to hit 4 HR's but the Mets lose on a late-inning error by Brian Daubach.

[Guest ABG]

I'd call into WFAN and say the Mets should forfeit.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Mets.

September Mets
To see Delgado and Garcia turn the double play
To see Jeff Innis put his sinker on display
September Mets can always make me feel this way.

[Guest Iubitul]

I'm rooting for the Mets. I rooted against the Mets once for purely selfish reasons, and vowed to never do that again.

[Guest Rotblatt]

Yeah, I'd start scrubs and root for them to win. But I wouldn't be sad if they lost.

I like these hypothetical questions . . .

[Frayed Knot]

The real "ethics" question here isn't for fans but rather for Willie and the front office. In cases such as this, managers are expected to play a competitive lineup and not "mail it in" with a roster full of rookies and nobodies.
Now I don't know that there's anything that anyone can do to them if they didn't employ something at least resembling a regular lineup: not speak to them at winter meetings?; not let the Mets join in future reindeer games?; but it would definitely be consider a low-down move.

[Guest Edgy DC]

I think the way Met fans frame their rivalry with the Yankees and their fans behooves them and the team to take the high-road here. I'd rather not give Yankee fans something like that to hang over us.

[Guest Yancy Street Gang]

There's no doubt that Willie and the Mets should play to win. (Willie would probably want to win, anyway. He likes the Yankees.) But as a fan, I'd be rooting for them to lose. Keeping the Yankees out of the playoffs is the greater good.

[Lundy]

Rooting against the Mets is just bad karma. I couldn't do it. Plus, Yankee fans would probably hold it against us if we lost, as Edgy said.

[Guest rpackrat]

I'd be rooting for the O's and WWSB would be doing nothing unethical by starting a lineup full of callups. The Mets season is over after the game, win or lose. WWSB's obligation is to do what's best for the Mets. In this case, that means taking a look at the prospects, since the game is meaningless for purposes of THIS season. If that also has the incidental effect of keeping the MFYs out of the playoffs, so much the better.

[Guest Yancy Street Gang]

The precedent, though, is when you're playing a team with playoff hopes, you manage the game as if your team is also contending.

I remember a case in the last few years (wish I remembered who and when) where a manager whose team was out of it played the young guys, and caught a lot of flak for doing so.

[seawolf17]

The question wasn't "Would Willie play to win?" He'd have to play to win, at least openly. He'd catch hell if he didn't, and I don't think anyone with any integrity at all wouldn't play to win, especially someone with lots of ties to another team that would be affected by the outcome.

The question was "Would you root for the Orioles or the Mets?"

[soupcan]

Edgy DC wrote: I think the way Met fans frame their rivalry with the Yankees and their fans behooves them and the team to take the high-road here. I'd rather not give Yankee fans something like that to hang over us.

This is exactly why I would root for the Metskies.