With the largest payroll in Major League Baseball (MLB), the New York Mets have looked on course to fall short of their expensive expectations this season.
After all, it was only two years ago the franchise competed in the postseason, dropping a series to the San Diego Padres in the National League wildcard game.
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This is also the same franchise that made it all the way to the World Series in 2015, but lost to the Kansas City Royals.
As for this season, the Mets, with an eye-watering payroll of $AUD462 million, were struggling and sat with a 28-37 record.
Not only that, but Mets owner Steve Cohen hinted the team could have been headed for yet another rebuild in a now-deleted post on social media in May.
In response to a fan‘s blog in which they claimed the franchise needed to tear up its roster, Cohen replied: “All in the future, not much we can do until the trade deadline.”
Cohen has since claimed those comments were “misinterpreted” and it was meant to be a direct message to the author of the blog, but the damage had already been done given fans watched the team trade away superstar veterans Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer last year.
As a postseason berth looked less likely with each passing result, morale amid a fanbase who had not enjoyed a World Series triumph in 38 years was rapidly deteoriating.
It was going to take something — or someone — drastic to turn around this luckless franchise.
Well, on June 12 — the individual in question’s supposed birthday — the Mets found their spark from the unlikeliest of sources.
Grimace, the 53-year-old purple McDonald’s mascot pear-shaped body, trotted out to the mound with a Mets cap for the ceremonial first pitch at Citi Field.
Donning an oversized baseball glove and with Vito Calise, the Mets’ Head of Podcasts at home plate, Grimace tossed the ball wide of the strike zone.
But it mattered little.
Grimace, with a positive expression permanently etched upon its face, gleefully skipped to home plate to collect the ball and lap up the moment.
A perfect ceremonial first pitch it was not, but considering how wide 50 Cent’s effort was from the same mound in May of 2014, Grimace and his collective McDonald’s family could be pleased with the effort.
Little did Grimace, or the Mets for that matter, know just how transformative the first pitch would prove to be.
That same day, the Mets beat the Miami Marlins 10-4.
Granted, there is little that can be drawn from a single game in baseball given the MLB season lasts 162 games and teams play games almost daily.
But it wasn’t just one victory.
Since Grimace’s first pitch, the Mets have won seven straight games and now hold a 35-37 record thanks to a 7-6 win over the Texas Rangers on Wednesday in which they scored the winning run in the ninth inning.
Crucially, they are only half-a-game back from the wildcard cut in the National League, with the 36-36 St. Louis Cardinals, the 36-37 Arizona Diamondbacks and the 36-38 San Francisco Giants ahead.
Mainstream sports media in America has also caught on, dubbing the Mets’ stunning turnaround as ‘The Grimace Era.’
Even McDonald’s X account now features a profile picture of Grimace in a Mets hat and a cover photo of the giant purple icon pulling a wheelbarrow with the Mets logo in it.
“They go from major disappointment to maybe the hottest teams in baseball, and all it took was Grimace,” a presenter on ESPN’s flagship show Sportscenter remarked.
Understandably, something has clicked with the Mets’ expensive roster for this remarkable run of form which just so happens to have coincided — or inspired, depending on who you ask — with Grimace’s pitch.
“I don’t know about coincidences,” Mets outfielder Brandon Nimmo told SNY.
“He (Grimace) definitely correlates with us going on this run. If that’s what you want to attribute it to, I’m all for it. Whatever it is, let’s keep it going.”
Nimmo is one star who’s enjoyed a revival in ‘The Grimace Era’.
Prior to the Mets’ series against the Padres which began June 15, team manager Carlos Mendoza described Nimmo’s batting form as “off”.
Since then, Nimmo has gone 10-for-17 at home plate prior to the 7-6 win over the Rangers, including a home run in a 14-2 thrashing over the same team on Tuesday.
The entire offence was on fire in that game too as they registered 22 hits, the Mets’ highest total in five years.
Another key element of the unbeaten streak overlooked by the Grimace narrative is the return of catcher Francisco Alvarez from injury, as he provides a sense of solidity and calmness to the pitching rotation.
Given the Mets have 97 games left in the regular season, it is far too early to say whether they make the postseason.
It’s also incredibly unlikely they sustain the remarkable hitting levels they’ve enjoyed during this unbeaten run.
Yet the purple wave generated by Ronald McDonald’s best mate, Grimace, has Mets fans dreaming of brighter days once more.
Source Agencies
