All over Florida and in Arizona we have what is known as spring training, that time of year where the Cactus and Grapefruit Leagues are brimming with hope and young prospects. Here in the frigid north, I get glimpses of palm trees and the Mets players stretching or running across the field in the sunshine. If nothing else, every year spring training starts and it makes me think that summer can’t be too far away.
Of course, all the boys of summer need to get through spring training. In all those camps the players are thinking about having a big year. Prospects start catching the manager’s eye, and sometime veterans are pushing themselves and hoping to get one more year of playing in. It’s an exciting time in early March because, despite the meaningless Cactus and Grapefruit standings (my Mets are 1-2 with one tie), every team’s real record is 0-0 and hope springs eternal.
Unless you are a Mets fan! I don’t know of any other team (except perhaps for the Chicago Cubs) for which there are such low expectations each year. Even when we had the best players in our history (1986 and 2000), the baseball writers never picked the Mets to finish higher than third or second place. The Mets have surely earned that reputation – they’re lovable losers and all that – but the fact is it is hard on the fans.
Still, if you look at the other team in the city (the hated New York Yankees), they have a different cross to bear. Each year the writers target them to be number one. Every year it is the same thing. What a burden for the team and its fans when that does not prove to be so. If you are a Yankees fan or player, anything less than first place is grounds for divorce. I’ve seen friends of mine literally ripping the hair out of their heads when the team comes in second or loses in the playoffs.
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