Benjamin Grimm

We've certainly never seen two such similar covers in a one-on-one matchup. ARCTIC BLAST has a more colorful headline, but 53! celebrates a more significant accomplishment. Which will prevail? A slot in the Final Four is at stake!

http://leaptoad.com/mets/covers/TCD.png> Please vote for the cover that you prefer. Voting will run for seven days. 53! Newsday, September 29, 2019. Winner of http://thecranepool.net/phpBB32/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=28973Round 1.24 Winner of http://thecranepool.net/phpBB32/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=29050Round 3.02 http://leaptoad.com/mets/covers/2019/20190929_NSD_02.jpg> ARCTIC BLAST Newsday, July 9, 2019. Winner of http://thecranepool.net/phpBB32/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=28942Round 1.15 Winner of http://thecranepool.net/phpBB32/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=29001Round 2.04 Winner of http://thecranepool.net/phpBB32/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=29060Round 3.07 http://leaptoad.com/mets/covers/2019/20190709_NSD_02.jpg>

http://leaptoad.com/mets/covers/TCD.png> Please vote for the cover that you prefer. Voting will run for seven days. JAKE OF ALL TRADES Newsday, April 4, 2019. Winner of http://thecranepool.net/phpBB32/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=28913Round 1.07 Winner of http://thecranepool.net/phpBB32/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=29051Round 3.03 http://leaptoad.com/mets/covers/2019/20190404_NSD_02.jpg> STREAKERS! Newsday, August 10, 2019. Winner of http://thecranepool.net/phpBB32/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=28952Round 1.18 Winner of http://thecranepool.net/phpBB32/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=29017Round 2.07 Winner of http://thecranepool.net/phpBB32/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=29058Round 3.06 http://leaptoad.com/mets/covers/2019/20190810_NSD_02.jpg>

MANE MAN first came up for a vote way back in May: http://thecranepool.net/phpBB32/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=28301Straphanger Literature

http://leaptoad.com/mets/covers/TCD.png> Please vote for the cover that you prefer. Voting will run for seven days. MANE MAN New York Daily News, May 3, 2019. Winner of http://thecranepool.net/phpBB32/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=28922Round 1.09 Winner of http://thecranepool.net/phpBB32/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=29056Round 3.05 http://leaptoad.com/mets/covers/2019/20190503_NYDN_02.jpg> PETE & REPEAT Winner of http://thecranepool.net/phpBB32/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=28905Round 1.05 Winner of http://thecranepool.net/phpBB32/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=29055Round 3.04 New York Daily News, March 21, 2019. http://leaptoad.com/mets/covers/2019/20190321_NYDN_02.jpg>

http://leaptoad.com/mets/scorecard_graph.php?game=9222&font=5>

I was there. I remember how cold it was.

He used to be a Met!

I suspect that Brodie was the architect of the Cano trade, and if so, that's a serious mark against him, one that he hasn't yet made up for. (But who knows, maybe he has some genius moves in his future that will put him in the black, but he has some doing to do.)

And first-ever 50-home-run season! Also notable: THREE Cy Young Awards!

I'm sure we've never before had a one-on-one matchup between covers as similar as ARCTIC BLAST and 53! The Daily News cover PETE & REPEAT is one of our weaker remaining entries, so if Pete Alonso is going to be on display in Stockholm, he's probably going to have to go there on a Newsday cover. Also, there are no bad-news covers remaining, so our streak of two consecutive bad-news covers (GOD OF BLUNDER and MIDNIGHT BADNESS) will come to an end. Of the eight covers that are left, seven deliver good news and one is rather neutral. (PETE & REPEAT is spring-training speculation about who will play first base for the Mets.)

Or... somebody that Brodie will trade for an overpaid 39-year-old infielder.

Epic, thanks! Really interesting, and a lot of good quality time with my two kids who are no longer actually kids.

All third-round polls have now closed, and we are down to eight remaining covers, four from the Daily News and four from Newsday. The New York Post has been eliminated from the competition. Pete Alonso is featured on three of the surviving eight covers. Michael Conforto is featured on two of them, and we have one cover each for Noah Syndergaard, Jacob deGrom, and Robinson Cano. Purely by happenstance, the distribution of the covers falls neatly across our four divisions. Two divisions are comprised entirely of Daily News covers, and the other two are all Newsday. This means that each publication is certain to have two covers in the Final Four, and the final round is guaranteed to be a faceoff between a Daily News cover and a Newsday cover. The Daily News will be represented in the finals for the fifth time in five years, while it will be only the second time for Newsday; their Brandon Nimmo SMILE HIGH cover in 2018 was the first Newsday cover to advance to the brink of the championship. Fourth-round voting, in which we'll determine our Final Four, will begin on Monday, January 6. Number of Covers in the Elite Eight 2015: Daily News 4, New York Post 4. 2016: Daily News 5, Newsday 2, New York Post 1. 2017: Newsday 4, Daily News 3, New York Post 1. 2018: Daily News 4, Newsday 2, New York Post 2. 2019: Daily News 4, Newsday 4. Next week's polls: January 6: MANE MAN (Daily News) vs PETE & REPEAT (Daily News) January 7: JAKE OF ALL TRADES (Newsday) vs. STREAKERS! (Newsday) January 8: ARCTIC BLAST (Newsday) vs 53! (Newsday) January 9: AIN'T IT GRAND! (Daily News) vs 3 JOG NIGHT (Daily News) Here are our CPF spokesmodels with the results of Round Three, followed by our bracket as we go into the fourth round: http://leaptoad.com/mets/covers/images/2019/3_01.png> http://leaptoad.com/mets/covers/images/2019/3_02.png> http://leaptoad.com/mets/covers/images/2019/3_03.png> http://leaptoad.com/mets/covers/images/2019/3_04.png> http://leaptoad.com/mets/covers/images/2019/3_05.png> http://leaptoad.com/mets/covers/images/2019/3_06.png> http://leaptoad.com/mets/covers/images/2019/3_07.png> http://leaptoad.com/mets/covers/images/2019/3_08.png> http://leaptoad.com/mets/covers/images/2019/2019_tcd_003.png>

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http://leaptoad.com/mets/covers/images/2019/3_07.png>

Maybe he was sitting in bleachers at some location other than Shea Stadium.

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http://leaptoad.com/mets/covers/images/2019/3_05.png> The defeat of FOLLY RANCHER marks the exit of the New York Post from this year's competition. Only once before has a publication failed to survive to the point where the field had narrowed to eight covers, and that was Newsday in our inaugural year of 2015. Also, in the photo above, note how the woman in the lower right is awed at the site of the gigantic spokesmodels.

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http://leaptoad.com/mets/covers/images/2019/3_03.png>

Her name is Joyce.

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http://leaptoad.com/mets/covers/TCD.png> Please vote for the cover that you prefer. Voting will run for seven days. 3 JOG NIGHT New York Daily News, July 24, 2019. Winner of http://thecranepool.net/phpBB32/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=28946Round 1.16 http://leaptoad.com/mets/covers/2019/20190724_NYDN_02.jpg> SORRY SEEMS TO BE THE HARDEST WORD Winner of http://thecranepool.net/phpBB32/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=28940Round 1.14 Winner of http://thecranepool.net/phpBB32/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=28989Round 2.01 New York Daily News, June 25, 2019. http://leaptoad.com/mets/covers/2019/20190625_NYDN_02.jpg>