Ya Gotta Believe? Not Only Are The Mets Lava Hot But Kodai Senga Has The Best New Closer Entrance In Baseball And The Raccoons That Live In Citi Field Are Eating Good!

Uh ohhhhhh. Did the Baseball Gods just sprinkle in a little bit of magic into Queens to bring that moribund franchise back to life like they do every so often? It's one thing for the wins to start piling up as the young studs start establishing themselves while the veterans in their first year with the Mets start producing as they get used to playing for a cursed franchise. But taking an absolute net negative in Kodai Senga and making him a potential legit closer by mixing his stuff with a legendary Michael Jackson song (and his best imho) is the type of next level baseball moves that David Stearns' spreadsheets could never pump out. I also love the thought of Senga having no clue the Mets chose this song or made an entrance video and instead just jogging into the game without a care in the world about it.

Then we have the Citi Field raccoon making an appearance nibbling on some peanut shells. That right there is the kind of dark arts the Mets and their fans have embraced for years. It's not quite the black cat spooking the Cubs to fall behind the Miracle Mets in 1969, the canary landing at Citi Field to inspire Yo's yellow sleeve that he wore while putting up NUMBERS on his way to leading the Mets to the pennant, or Grimace's big purple ass throwing out a first pitch to spur the 2024 run. But a peanut eating raccoon is the exact type of mascot you can believe in as your team goes on an 11-4 streak, even if they don't make up any ground in the Wild Card race because there are a thousand teams above them in the standings. Hell, you can even make a case that Jeff McNeil and Francisco Lindor actually did see a giant ratcoon in the bowels of Citi Field instead of fighting each other like a couple of assholes.

In the end, I guess I'm just happy the Mets are making me feel something again. Usually trading your entire bullpen for prospects leaves you with unwatchable baseball. But the Mets are, dare I say, fun to watch again. Yes, a part of me is extremely annoyed that the end of this lost season will raise my hopes way too high when it comes to expectations for the 2027 Mets (There is no fucking chance I'm gonna give them an ounce of belief that they can make the playoffs because I'm not that much of a sick fuck). However, in the end, baseball is just about entertainment and if the Mets can fill in the blanks until football season is actually underway, I'll consider the end of this season a moral victory, which is damn near a miracle considering how much everything absolutely sucked for the first half of the season.