A Theoretical Scenario

[Willets Point]

Including tonight's game the Mets have 22 games left this season. I'd like you to imagine for a moment the unlikely situation that through a combination of skill, effort and a whole lot of luck the Mets win every single game for the rest of the season. The Mets finish the season with 84 wins, and in this theoretical scenario finish just one game out of the Wild Card, falling short of the postseason once again.

In this unprecedented scenario where the Mets crush the team record for consecutive wins yet still miss the playoffs, I'd like to know what you would think of the Mets and perhaps post here on the last day of the season. Specifically I'd wonder about what you'd think of the Mets' character as a team and as individuals and what you think of their effort in the win streak.

[Benjamin Grimm]

I'd feel quite a bit more optimistic about next season, and, if this streak was accomplished with contributions from Reyes and Beltran and Maine and Delgado, I'd be wistful about what could have been.

[Guest Kong76]

Good to see you.

I imagined your scenario and getting swept by St Louis in
April cost us the season. Three seasons in a row of choking.
Just reversed.

Too metscerebral to go on, I have to go rest now.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

I root for a 22-game winning streak to start everyday.

I'd be thrilled to see it and say so, and probably more heartbroken than the previous seasons when their missing out was a result of playing badly late in the year.

[seawolf17]

Probably a mix of everyone above. I'd be thrilled at the run -- how can you not enjoy a 22-game winning streak? -- but furious at both the Mets for giving up on the season over the last few weeks and at myself for... well, giving up on the season over the last few weeks.

[Guest Rockin' Doc]

I'd be worried that the success of the 22 game win streak would convince Omar Minaya that the team didn't need much improvement in order to compete for the division next season, prompting him to essentially stand pat over the off season.*


*Okay, I admit this season has made me somewhat cynical.

[Guest cooby]

Willets!

[Frayed Knot]

I'd be more interested in the individual particulars that caused the win streak then I would spending my time wondering what it meant. Were the returning vets back in form?; certain young'uns stepping up?; etc.
Other than that I tend to be from the church that believes terms like "heart" and "soul" and "clutch" are most often retroactively-assigned to good teams. IOW, winning causes the labels more often than the traits cause the winning. So if the team gets that hot I'll take it to mean that they're simply hitting, pitching & playing better rather than think they suddenly had some kind of blood transfusion or change in attitude.

[Guest Kong76]

FK: winning causes the labels more often than the traits cause the winning <<<

Amen.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Wins make me happy. Twenty-two wins makes me very happy.

Anything that makes wins bad is poison --- including the all-this-winning-is-terrible movement of 2001 --- and I wouldn't let it into the house. If Omar can't read the tea leaves, he's a bad GM whether the Mets win 70 or 90. Root for wins.

[MFS62]

I'm with Doc. I wouldn't want the streak to encourage Omar to stand pat.
I'd also be curious about who was contributing to the wins, identify who might be used in deals to improve the club and who should stay.

Later

[Fman99]

I'd probably poop in my hat. Or the hat of someone nearby.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Are people really saying they are rooting against Met wins.

Because if you're afraid of Omar standing pat if they win, you certainly shouldn't trust him to make changes if they lose.

[Guest Kong76]

Yeah, I don't get that one bit but what do I know?

[dgwphotography]

Are people really saying they are rooting against Met wins.

Because if you're afraid of Omar standing pat if they win, you certainly shouldn't trust him to make changes if they lose.

[Guest Rockin' Doc]

I think it's two separate things. I root for them to win every day, and I would be ecstatic over a 22 game winning streak.

However, this is a flawed team, and the Mets, as the saying goes, would not be as good as they would look during such a streak. [/quote:3kky9d97]

I think this is a fair representation of how I feel. I never have nor ever will root against the Mets or wish for them to lose. I just worry that a prolonged winning streak to close out the season could cloud Omar's judgement as to the quality of the Mets team heading into the offseason. Even with the return of a healthy Reyes, Beltran, Maine, and Perez, the Mets have some major holes to address this fall.

[Guest Edgy DC]

We went through almost this exact scenario in 2001.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

And we'll agree to disagree.

I'd expound, but I'd mostly be echoing points DGW and the good Doc have already made.

[Guest Edgy DC]

I'm not sure what we disagree about. I say that, if Minaya is incapable of reading his team, he should be removed regardless of how they do down the stretch. DGW seems to say that, indeed he isn't, and he should be removed regardless of how they do down the stretch.

So, why not root for wins? We got one today. Twenty-one more to go.