Mets Fans Are a Funny Bunch

We Mets fans are on odd breed — somehow, we are pessimistic optimists. We get down on the team at the slightest provocation, yet we are still hopeful that somehow they will deliver us into October. That strange mix is currently on display.

Back on August 12, I wrote that the Mets had to sweep the Padres at home in order to continue to contend for the postseason. They won two out of three. Did I make good on my threat to pronounce the Mets dead? I did not. Instead, I opined that the Mets had to sweep the recently concluded series with the Cardinals or they would be DOA. So I should be affixing that toe tag now, right?

But I just can’t do it. The Mets stand just three and a half games behind the Cardinals for the second Wild Card spot (also trailing the Marlins and Pirates). The Mets can theoretically make almost all of that up over this weekend (you know, if the Mets sweep the Phillies and those other three teams get swept). So how can I possibly say the Mets have no chance?

There’s that optimism again. After all the pain this team has caused us over the decades, somehow we still have it. It’s actually quite extraordinary. Although maybe it’s just a matter of refusing to accept reality. Either way, it gives us another month of watching baseball, wishing and hoping…