Baseball Is (Almost) Back!

Posted by Nineteen Eighty-Sixed on


We finally made it to Opening Day! 

The Mets opened their 2021 season this past Thursday down in the nation’s capital. 
*RECORD SCRATCH*

Actually the Nats had a COVID outbreak, and MLB had to postpone the entire weekend series, so the Mets will start their season tomorrow in Philly.

To say this is a disappointment would be like saying Pete Alonso can hit the ball hard. A complete understatement! We began the week with the final two Spring Training games, which are among the least meaningful games as guys like deGrom are held back from game action to fine tune their stuff in B-games, and attention is already looking ahead to the first game that actually counts.

To have that anticipation build up and then have to wait an extra four days has felt excruciating. 
But it could be much worse. At least our Mets are healthy, and we’ll have real Mets baseball tomorrow. 
 

DISLOCATED RECAP 
Hey, how have the Mets been doing?

🟠 Sunday 3/28 at Marlins - L 10-2 
There’s not much good to report from this one, as Mike Montgomery got roughed up in his 2 and 2/3rds innings to start the game. Montgomery was released by the club shortly afterwards. 
Edwin Diaz had a rough outing as well. But Betances and Arodys Vizcaíno pitched well, with Vizcaíno touching 98 mph on the radar gun. 
The Mets didn’t have much going at the plate either, with Nimmo smacking a homer, and Conforto going 2 for 4.

🟠 Monday 3/29 at Cardinals - T 3-3
Taijuan Walker started his final tune-up game, and spread a couple of runs over his 5 innings of work. Castro, Gsellman, and Blevins all looked sharp in relief, and sidearmer, Trevor Hildenberger struck out another two batters in his inning. 

Pete Alonso continued to rake, knocking in a pair with a first inning double, but otherwise the offense was mostly quiet.

 

CAUGHT IN A RUNDOWN 
All the news from this past week, which you’ve probably already seen by now.

🟠 Let’s get right to it. The Opening Day game, and subsequently the entire season opening series against the Nationals was postponed because the Nats have an outbreak of COVID. It may have just been bad luck, but it seems like a colossal screw-up on the part of the Nats. They had at least 4 positive cases, and were contact tracing and quarantine several others. No other team had any similar issue as of yet. So Mets (and Nats) fans had to sit and watch the rest of the league celebrate the return of baseball, with fans in attendance and everything. What a massive bummer 😭

🟠 The other enormous news the week came late Wednesday night as Francisco Lindor agreed to a 10-year $341 million extension, which begins after his current contract runs out at the end of this year. Francisco Lindor will be a New York Met through the 2031 season! THIS IS AMAZIN’ NEWS!!! And the news was sort of broke by Taijuan Walker of all people 😱

🟠 Earlier in the week the Mets made their final roster moves to close out Spring Training.

 🟠 The Athletic reports that the Mets have hired an independent law firm to conduct a review of their workplace culture.

🟠 Pete Alonso will join Taijuan Walker in the NFT market, offering up a special piece of art created by Mets minor leaguer, Tommy Wilson, and like Walker’s, it will go to a good cause, supporting minor league players who need financial help. (MLB seriously needs to pay their minor league guys better)

🟠 In his Q&A from Twitter users, Steve Cohen confirmed that the black throwback jerseys will return this season. They’ll wear them on a few occasions, which have yet to be announced. The Mets’ Twitter account said that the new jerseys will be available for purchase by “the holidays” 🤔🎄🤷🏻‍♂️ But of course we’ve got most designs available in the black option here at 1986’d, and if you scroll down below, you’ll see we’ve got a special new design to celebrate the return of the black alternates.

🟠 The Mets & Citi Field announced some safety protocols for the upcoming season.

🟠 The Mets re-signed reliever, Tommy Hunter, after earlier releasing him.

🟠 Rejoice, Mets fans! We can finally listen to the WCBS 880 radio broadcast online 📻📱🖥

🟠 MLB threw their support behind BLM, as they pull the 2021 All-Star Game from Atlanta in response to Georgia’s increasingly strict voting laws, which many see as inherently prejudiced against minorities. The Braves released a statement expressing disappointment at the decision, saying they were planning to use the game as a platform “to enhance the discussion”. 
Many players, like our own Francisco Lindor, applauded MLB’s decision on social media.


TWEET THE METS

🟠 Jerry better put that glorious mane up in a man-bun now that he’ll start the year in Brooklyn.

🟠 Trevor & the guys left the Sunshine State on Monday evening 🏝🛫

🟠 Marcus Stroman is excited about getting his hands on a black jersey 🖤

🟠 Tai Walker is stoked to dress in black too 🖤

🟠 The Mets logo emoji is back on Twitter with the hashtag #LGM

🟠 Tai is feeling left out, don’t forget him, Mets! 🥺

🟠 Lindor’s teammates are all stoked for his huge extension deal 🎉

🟠 Players expressed disappointment and frustration at the delay to start the season 🥵 They’re just like us fans!

 

ROSTER MOVES 
New merch for every Mets Mood

🟠 With all the hype for the return of the black jerseys, we’ve got a special design for the eventual Friday night blackouts at Citi. Get it here.

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