I’ve been on both sides of it… the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat. Although it was only the first round of the playoffs, that Game 3 between the Brewers and Mets had it all. This is one of the reasons I love baseball.
In case you haven’t seen it… the Brewers were up 2-0 heading into the top of the 9th; the Mets were doing absolutely nothing. Top of the 9th… here they come, against a very good closer in Devin Williams. 1st and 3rd, 1 out, 2 strikes to Alonso, and BAM! 3 run home run. When I watched the highlights from Citi Field where the Mets had a watch party, and from a bar in New York I’m assuming where fans were going crazy, I realized how much I really miss those days with the Cubs. One of the moments that came into my head was the Grand Slam against the Dodgers in Game 1 of the 2016 NLCS… whew! Talk about insanity. But yeah, what a moment… in what, because of his impending free agency, could have been his last AB in a Mets uniform, the Polar Bear comes through in a BIG way… with the Chef’s Kiss rounding first base, and fist pumps around second, as the team emptied out of the dugout to greet him at home plate. Sure, the game wasn’t over yet, but… what a moment. The Mets added another run, before Lindor made a high IQ play to end the game, short hopping a liner instead of catching it, running to tag 2nd base, and throwing to 1st base to make it official; the kid from the Brewers was standing on deck. Huge. What a win by the Mets. Their mojo is only matched by the Tigers at this point; I’d sign up for that World Series.
And then there was the flip side of the coin… one of the videos I saw… man, you could absolutely hear a pin drop in that stadium when the ball cleared the fence, no joke. Part of me was like “good”… screw the Brewers, and their fans who are probably mostly Packer fans, but… that faded… because I’ve been there, and I know how painful it is. I think of the Bartman game of course; that took me months to recover from. Remember, we hadn’t won a World Series yet; 2016 ended up curing all. But the Brewers… yeah, STILL no World Series titles. I guess I feel the worst for 90 year old Bob Uecker; to hear his call of that HR… crushing. I think of Ron Santo, and how big of a Cubs fan he was, and he never got to see it. If one reason I would want Milwaukee to win it, it would be because of Bob… and all the other lifetime, true/die hard Brewers fans. Just sick.
This is baseball as they say; it just feels MORE. It feels more because of the 162 game season that takes us from spring to fall; all the games, the hours playing this game, hoping to be the last team standing at the end of the season. It’s not for the faint of heart. In a blink, your season could be over, and for Milwaukee, that’s exactly what happened. And for the Mets… they’re moving on, to take on their division rival, the Philadelphia Phillies. 8 teams remain… 7 more thrills and 7 more agonies. Get your popcorn ready. Love baseball.
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