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Pete Alonso hit a first inning opposite field two run homer off Jon Lester, but Rick Porcello was unable to hold onto that lead.
The big blow was a Willson Contreras three run homer in the fourth which gave the Cubs a 4-2 lead. That lead wouldn’t last long as the Mets tied it in the sixth.
The Mets had the bases loaded with no outs. Yoenis Cespedes drove in the first run with a sacrifice fly. Wilson Ramos tied the score with an RBI single putting runners at the corners with one out. Dominic Smith hit what could’ve been a go-ahead sacrifice fly, but the Cubs nailed Alonso at the plate.
Jeurys Familia wound up taking the loss with his allowing a three run homer to Jason Heyward in the seventh.
The Mets came close with Michael Conforto hitting a two run homer in the ninth off Craig Kimbrel. The Mets couldn’t push another run across, and they would lose 7-6.
The Cubs jumped all over Steven Matz scoring three runs in the first with a Kris Bryant RBI double, Willson Contreras RBI ground out, and Kyle Schwarber RBI single.
Matz wouldn’t survive the fourth, and the Mets offense couldn’t muster anything against Jose Quintana and the Cubs bullpen.
In the end, the Mets only had five hits which was fewer than the Cubs eight runs in the Mets 8-0 loss.
Marcus Stroman and reigning World Series MVP Stephen Strasburg had a pitcher’s duel which led to this being a 1-1 game heading into the 11th.
In the 11th, Dominic Smith hit yet another walk-off homer giving the Mets a 3-1 victory. His homer off Will Harris scored Amed Rosario and gave Brad Brach the win.
If you’ve been paying attention, the negotiations to return to play in 2020 has happened like this. The players make an offer, and the owners counter by making the same exact proposal each and every time. No matter what, the owners say choose however games you want, but we’re only paying you for 50 of them.
While doing this, they’ve admitted they agreed to pay a fully prorated share for however many games are played. They’ve done that while making nonsensical claims business with literally appreciate in value hundreds of millions to billions of dollars aren’t really profitable. They’re trying to tell us about all the money they’re losing while not opening their books and cashing in to the tune of roughly half a billion just one TV deal that does not include a World Series.
So, seeing that, and seeing how Manfred is set to appear on ESPN with the commissioners of the other sports less than a week getting taken to task by Karl Ravech, the MLBPA called Manfred’s bluff:
Major League Baseball Players Association Executive Director Tony Clark today released the following statement: pic.twitter.com/d1p3Oj4K70
— MLBPA Communications (@MLBPA_News) June 13, 2020
Effectively, the players are daring the owners to go ahead and use their rights under the March agreement to just set the regular season games to be played. The problem for MLB is that doesn’t give them the unilateral right to expand the postseason, which might’ve been something they just sold to TBS, or are prepared to shop to other networks.
So, now, MLB is in the position where their commissioner is less than 48 hours away having to defend himself instead of touting the sports return. That happening alongside the NHL, who is actually going to play and be in a position to steal everyone’s spotlight makes this all the worse for MLB.
If you’re a baseball fan, you could be heartened that this is the one thing which could stop this complete lack of progress. This is the one move which will get an MLB season.
Then again, you should also be angry. The owners are dragging their feet and bringing the sport down with them. They’ve yet again proven they think everyone else is stupid and that they don’t really care about the future of the game.
Essentially, Mets fans are learning there’s somehow 29 other Wilpons out there.
To that end, being able to highlight how inept the Wilpons are and how they don’t really care about winning, or at this point actually playing, may just be the one normal feeling a Mets fan gets out of this season. We’ll soon see.
Why is it pitching duels always seem to disappoint? That was the case with Jacob deGrom and Max Scherzer in today’s simulated game.
There was a combined five runs in the first inning. Fortunately, the Mets were ahead thanks to a Robinson Cano bases loaded two RBI single followed by a Wilson Ramos RBI single.
For deGrom, he was his typical great day game self striking out 12 Nationals over seven innings. He’d pick up the win even after allowing three runs.
Scherzer wasn’t Mad Max allowing six runs in just four innings. The Mets really went on the attack against him and the Nationals bullpen in this 8-3 victory.
Pete Alonso, Michael Conforto, and Jeff McNeil homered and combined to knock in four of the Mets runs.
Quick trivia question – who won the 1981 World Series? It was the 1981 Los Angeles Dodgers who beat the New York Yankees in six games.
To this day, the Dodgers are regarded as the World Series champions much in the same fashion as the 1919 Cincinnati Reds, 1986 Mets, or the 2017 Houston Astros.
Ron Cey, Pedro Guerrero, and Steve Yeager are regarded every bit as legitimate World Series MVPs as George Springer or Curt Schilling or Randy Johnson. That is the case even though the 1981 baseball season was unlike any other.
For those who have forgotten, the 1981 season was disrupted by a strike. With the strike lasting well over a month, baseball had to figure out what to do. After deliberation, the decision was to have a split season much in the same fashion we’ve become accustomed with the minor leagues. That meant whoever was in first place when the strike happened would make it to the postseason in baseball’s first ever LDS.
That meant the New York Yankees, Oakland Athletics, Philadelphia Phillies, and Los Angeles Dodgers made it to the postseason despite having played between 55 – 60 games. It also gave teams 53 games to qualify for the LDS. At the end of those 53 games, the aforementioned teams would be joined by the Milwaukee Brewers (then an AL team), Oakland Athletics, Montreal Expos, and Houston Astros.
Missing the postseason would be the St. Louis Cardinals, who had the best combined record in the NL East, and the Cincinnati Reds, who had the best record in baseball. In the American League, the Baltimore Orioles and the Texas Rangers would have the second best records overall in their respective divisions, but they would miss out on the postseason as well.
Despite the National League missing the two best overall teams, and the American League missing the second best teams in each division, there was a postseason format closely akin to what we’ve become accustomed. There was a best-of-five LDS, best-of-five LCS, and then a best-of-seven World Series.
The Dodgers, who would have missed the postseason under normal circumstances, faced off against the Houston Astros, who had the third best record in their division, in the LDS. The Dodgers beat the Astros in five games to win the NL West side of the LDS. Again, this happened while the best team in baseball missed the postseason.
The Dodgers then faced off against the Expos. The Expos beat the Phillies in five games. Like the NL West, this series featured the second and third best teams in the division while the best team in the division, the Cardinals, missed the postseason. The Dodgers then beat the Expos in five games to win the pennant.
The Dodgers faced off against the Yankees in the World Series. Notably, the Yankees had the third best record in the AL East tied with the Detroit Tigers, who did not qualify for the postseason. As noted above, the Orioles, who had the second best record in the division, also missed the playoffs.
As a result, the 1981 World Series featured two teams who would not have qualified for the postseason under rules in place at the time. Despite that, to this day, the 1981 Dodgers are seen as World Series champions much in the same fashion as literally any other team.
That includes the 1919 Reds who won when the White Sox threw the World Series, the Astros who were found to have stolen signs, or literally any other World Series winner in Major League history. That may not have been the case in 1981, but as time passes, and we forget or never knew about it, fact is people will treat that Dodgers team like any other team.
The same will be said for whomever wins the 2020 World Series. If after 50 games, there are some surprise teams in the postseason, and those teams win it, fans in 2020 and over the next decade may well look at that World Series with skepticism. The people who won’t are fans of that team, and eventually, everyone as time passes, and people no longer care to dig through the minutia to put asterisks on that title.
In the end, all anyone is going to care about is there was a season, and there was a winner. Hopefully, that will lead to the New York Mets winning the World Series trophy. If they do, that trophy will wind up counting every bit as much as the 1969 or 1986 World Series.
If you don’t believe me, just go ask the 1981 Dodgers.
Last time we actually got to see real live Mets baseball played, Dominic Smith hit an extra inning walk-off homer. Smith would virtually do the same thing tonight:
His 10th inning walk-off homer off of Daniel Hudson gave the Mets a 7-6 win.
Smith was a driving force in the win going 2-for-4 with three runs, a double, homer, and two RBI. Amed Rosario also had a big game going 3-for-5 with a run and RBI.
Seth Lugo earned the win after pitching a scoreless top of the 10th.
The Cardinals put up two first inning runs on a Paul Goldschmidt homer against Rick Porcello. That’s all Porcello and the Mets bullpen would allow on the day.
The Mets dented that Cardinals lead with Porcello helping his own cause hitting a fourth inning sacrifice fly to score Wilson Ramos.
The Mets would take a 4-2 lead with a three run sixth. The first two runs came off a Brandon Nimmo two run homer. Later in the inning, after J.D. Davis failed to deliver in an RBI opportunity, Jeff McNeil hit an RBI single scoring Amed Rosario.
Porcello picked up the win, and Miles Mikolas suffered the loss. After a scoreless ninth, Edwin Diaz earned a save.
Steven Matz allowed two runs in the fourth and one in the fifth. Each time the Cardinals scored, the Mets did as well, but they didn’t score enough.
After the Cardinals scored two in the fourth, Yoenis Cespedes homered to pull the Mets to within one. After the Cardinals scored in the fifth, the Mets loaded the bases with one out.
The Mets only run that inning was a Jeff McNeil sacrifice fly against winning pitcher Carlos Martinez. With the Mets unable to further cash-in there or put more runs on the board, they’d lose 3-2.
Robinson Cano led off the bottom of the ninth with a double after narrowly missing a game tying homer. Starting with J.D. Davis, the Mets failed to bring Cano home to tie the game. That symbolizes how the Mets fell just short in this one.
The Cardinals scored five runs off the losing pitcher Marcus Stroman through the first three innings knocking him out of the game after 2.1 innings.
The Mets were behind 6-1 entering the sixth. To that point, a Jeff McNeil homer in the fourth was the Mets only run. They’d get back into the game on a Cano grand slam. The Mets couldn’t push another run across as they lost this game 6-5.