Here’s an interesting exercise: consider how we would have assessed Thursday’s Mets-Cubs finale if it had come in June, or even mid-August.
I probably would have led with an acknowledgment of how much Brett Baty has grown as a player, on both sides of the ball. Baty’s three-run homer off Shota Imanaga in the third made it 6-0 Mets, which seemed like a comfortable margin at the time, though oh just wait. That was significant enough, but it was also an episode of welcome lefty-on-lefty violence. And Baty chipped in a nifty defensive play as well, making a barehanded grab of a little roller and following it with a strong throw.
Baty still has ABs where he looks out of kilter, but all MLB players do and confirmation bias plays a huge role in what we notice and what we don’t; he’s grown into a reliable complementary player in a year that’s seen Mark Vientos deal with growing pains, and that’s a very positive development for the future.
Yep, I might have led with that. Or maybe I’d have dissected Nolan McLean, and waxed philosophical about young pitchers specifically and how maddening the art of pitching is in general. McLean looked electric against the Cubs in the early innings, befuddling them with his sweeper and curve — with two strikes Cub hitters knew what was coming and it didn’t matter, as the horizontal break of McLean’s breaking stuff is just too difficult to track: An apparent middle-middle pitch turns into a dart boring in on the back foot, your bat slashes through where the ball was a second ago but no longer is, and it’s too late.
Given a big lead, McLean started pitching more aggressively, another key starter’s lesson he seems to be learning early — including not to get too flustered if this kind of aggressive mound work yields a solo homer or two. He also looked like he’d ride to the rescue of the beleaguered bullpen — until with one out in the sixth it looked like the tank went from about a third full to E and blinking red all at once.
Seriously, that was a little weird: McLean started the inning by fanning Nico Hoerner on a sinker and then everything decayed, with his location off and the zip on his pitches noticeably diminished. Ten pitches later, there’d been a walk, a ground-rule double and a three-run Seiya Suzuki homer that let the Cubs back in the game and left McLean in the dugout contemplating a start that suddenly looked like a Rorschach test.
But we still have storylines left to go. Maybe I would have given thanks for Tyrone Taylor, who chipped in a two-run double and his usual crisp outfield play. I’m sure Cedric Mullins is a nice guy, but I’d be happy spending the rest of 2025 without seeing him in center again.
Or how about Francisco Lindor? A 30-30 season is something to savor, and Lindor’s career arc in New York is one we’ll talk about for generations. Those thumbs-down gestures and the rat-raccoon nonsense seems so blissfully long ago, with Lindor now a perennial MVP candidate and becoming a civic institution in blue and orange.
I’d like to think I’d have found time to offer a salute to Gary Cohen: Besides his usual sterling play by play, he knew the any-runners-move-up-a-base rule immediately when Dansby Swanson toppled into the stands to corral a first-inning pop-up from Vientos that gave the Mets an unlikely 1-0 lead and Vientos an even more unlikely RBI. Plenty of players and a good number of fine announcers don’t know the rulebook the way Cohen does; his preparation lets him instantly move past sorting out what’s happened to what it means. (I’m still awed by his call of the long ago game-ending unassisted triple play against the Phils: That’s a play no announcer expects to witness in his career, you can’t rehearse it, and it happens instantaneously. Cohen nailed it.)
Yes, all of these things would have been fun building blocks from which to build a recap in June or even mid-August. But not in Game 159, with the Reds breathing down the Mets’ necks and tapping that “We Have the Tiebreaker” sign menacingly.
No, Game 159 meant 6-0 and 8-2 leads still felt too small. It meant bemoaning the incredible defensive showcase put on by the Cubs and swearing emphatically because the Mets could easily have scored 10 or 12. It meant sweating 11 outs to get and exhorting Ryne Stanek and Brooks Raley and Tyler Rogers and Edwin Diaz to get them while feeling spikes of anxiety about how necessary outs will possibly be obtained against Miami. (For the record: All four did their jobs, with Raley looking unhittable and Rogers the best he’s been as a Met.)
It also meant that the joy of a must-win lasted about six seconds before curdling into worry about these three remaining games in Miami. The Marlins are eliminated, a lot later than most anyone thought they would be, but even a late-April game at Soilmaster Stadium feels like a bad idea, and God knows the Marlins have ruined the end of seasons before.
But hey, that’s what happens when you’re pushing through Game 159 with destiny still to be determined. Plenty of good storylines, but right now they’ll wait. Survival is the only thing.
I never fail to marvel at the quality of writing I read here.
Consistently inspiring
Grateful to you both
Fun game, fun to watch, a little tense at the end though they all seem to be these days. I’m glad to see the bullpen holding up their end of the bargain. It’s always satisfying to take a series from the Cubs, particularly at Wrigley.
When this team is playing as a unit they are formidable, and you can’t help but begin to think that they could go deep. But then you shake your head to snap out of it, because we really don’t know what team is going to show up in Miami, and we’re going to be in a fight until game 162.
And now on to the House of Horrors that is Miami. I personally think Alcantara has pitched a lot of innings coming off injury and should sit down for the season. Though the way we do things, a DSL callup would probably no-hit us.
IMO we need to clinch by game 161. Peterson will probably start Sunday and the way he’s been gong we could see a Glavine-type last game performance.
I saw the Marlins series on the calendar when I was looking ahead in mid-August when things were looking bad, and swore out loud. It had to be the Marlins, it always had to be the Marlins.
But now I’m a little more serene. Gotta face your demons head on. Win 2 of 3, hope Milwaukee takes one from Cincinnati, and sheepishly take your 84 wins to Chavez Ravine.
McLean struck out 11 in 5 and a third innings, more than any other Met starter this year, yet it was a sub-par game for him because of the 5th inning falloff. Here’s a guy who is new to the big leagues and thrust into a must-win game and for the most part gave them a hell of a performance. Now we need Sproat to follow suit, and then throw the kitchen sink on Saturday and hope to clinch.
And apparently Gary knew the rule better than Craig Counsell, who unsuccessfully challenged that call in the 1st inning. There was another rule awareness call Gary made recently, but it’s slipped my mind. The guy knows his baseball.
Listening to Gary and then the Cubs’ broadcast clip back-to-back was eye opening. The Cubs’ guy basically admitted he didn’t know what the rule was. This play literally happened in Game 1 of the World Series last year, right before Freddie Freeman’s iconic home run! And then Counsell challenged? Knowing the rules is your job, people!
On the one hand, it’s good that the Mets are still playing (here comes the dreaded phrase) meaningful games in September. On the other hand, we all thought that by this point our Amazins would be playing out the string having clinched long ago. But there you have it. As the old saying goes, man plans and God laughs.
I’m back in the fold. Let’s wrap this up, and once the playoffs start, everyone is back to 0-0 again. Let’s do this guys.
“But hey, that’s what happens when you’re pushing through Game 159 with destiny still to be determined.”
One school of thought says that since destiny has already been pre-determined, we can all relax, since there is nothing the Mets (or anyone) can do about it anyway.
On the other hand, let’s start our best defense (Taylor and Baty), except for Alvarez, and take control of this thing.
wild game. i missed thd pre-game and when i saw vientos up ridiculed mendoza for playing him over baty. i wanted baty’s glove and his bat, and indeed he was manning third, and produced that huge blast.
yea i’d hoped mclean would get through 7 (as i had with jonah) but he will have saved some pitches for (hopefully) his next start.
roped back in, i say let’s get this over with, again.
this time meaning avenge past injuries from the marlins the way the ’24 unit did the phils.
let’s clinch saturday nite.
alright?
Gary Cohen’s acumen and excellent play-calling is and has been appreciated over many seasons.
I take strong exception to his unnecessary comments re Matt Shaw’s absence while attending services for Charlie Kirk. Kirk and Shaw were close friends. Erika Kirk invited Shaw to the services. Gary took a day off from broadcasting after the passing of his dog Lily.
Both the Yankees and the Cubs memorialized Kirk on their jumbotrons and flew their American flags at half-staff. No Mets broadcaster mentioned Kirk’s passing until Cohen made his callous remarks. An unforced error on Gary’s part.
In the old days, the player would find out from the scoreboard that he had just become a father.
Good Times…
Speaking of that, hoping that we can “thread the needle” and that Pete’s kid is not due until after the WC round.