As we discovered, Rick Porcello turned down more money from the Toronto Blue Jays and Chicago White Sox (a recurring theme) to sign with the New York Mets. Apparently, part of the reason was his growing up a Mets fan. Really, Porcello is one of us:

Rick Porcello said he "cried his eyes out" when the Mets lost the Subway Series to the Yankees in 2000.

— Adam Rubin (@AdamRubinMedia) March 8, 2015

His being drawn to tears after Mike Piazza flew out to Bernie Williams is going to resonate with this fanbase because those of us who experience it felt the same way even if we did not have a Wilmer Flores moment.

Porcello is one of us which means he gets it. That makes him one of another player on this team who lived and died with this team.

When he signed with the team, Brad Brach talked about how he bought a Mets jersey and went to the 2015 World Series.

Marcus Stroman wore a Darryl Strawberry jersey to the ballpark before his Citi Field debut. He has also spoken about how he wants the team to bring back the black jerseys tweeting out a picture of Pedro Martinez wearing one.

That’s a refrain we’ve heard from Pete Alonso, who while he did not particularly grow up a Mets fan, was a big Piazza fan.

Finally, there is Steven Matz who was a Long Islander who grew up a Mets fan. He’d have his whole family at his debut leading to everyone falling in love with his grandfather.

Mostly, we all love this Mets team, and really, we love these players. It’s a very likable team who just gets it. Porcello seems to be more of the same which is great. Hopefully, Porcello will have us crying “tears of joy” after the season.

No matter what, we know how much this team means to him, and we know he’s going to give it everything he has. If for no other reason, this is going to make it even easier for us all to root for him.