As we draw closer to the start of Game 1 of the NLDS, we are hearing more and more predictions from announcers, analysts, radio hosts, and anyone else who can get someone to listen. It’s sufficed to say that there are a lot of naysayers in the media right now about the Mets chances of beating the Dodgers.
Mets fans shouldn’t pay any mind to these talking heads and their grand predictions (that they state as if it was fact). After all, these are the same people that didn’t give the Mets a prayer to win the division at the beginning of this year (To be fair, most fans didn’t either). These “experts” have made false prediction after false prediction for years, and none of us should let their negativity impact our joy.
First of all, the majority of these analysts haven’t watched the Mets on a day-in, day-out basis like we have. They watch the highlights at the end of the day and now they think that they can make some kind of judgment call about players that they truly don’t know what they’re capable of. For instance, last night on MLB tonight, Dan Pleasac said that he no longer likes the Mets in the Dodgers series because Harvey wasn’t pitching games 1 and 5. While I think most Mets fans would prefer Harvey in Game 2 over Thor, Harvey doesn’t deserve to pitch Game 1; DeGrom does. Jacob has been the Mets’ best pitchers all throughout this year’s campaign (with the exception of two starts). This notion that Harvey is the Mets best option for a big game isn’t based on anything tangible, just his perceived flash in the media. Who’s to say that DeGrom and Thor aren’t the better big game pitchers? The wild card in this series is that no one knows how the young pitchers will perform; and that includes Harvey.
Not to say that these predictors don’t know anything, but truthfully they don’t. Baseball is the least predictable sport in that nobodies can come out of nowhere to dominate and vice versa. Yesterday alone, you saw the “experts” proven wrong already. Did any one of them expect Texas to go into Toronto and win handedly against David Price? Nobody I saw making predictions saw that coming.
Finally, who wants to be favored anyway? All these prognosticators are doing is putting more and more pressure on Clayton Kershaw and the Dodgers. The Mets faithful will remain un-rattled. Mets fans are used to the team being the perceived underdog. For a lot of us, it’s always drawn us closer to the team. It’s the most exciting day to be a Mets fan in nine years; don’t let anyone’s predictions bring you down! The Mets sure aren’t! Let’s Go Mets!
