Monday Morning Notes: New York Doomers
Good morning!
I wanted to take a look into the horrible scourge that has been running through the New York baseball landscape. Namely, the New York Mets and Yankees are playing like donkey turd right now. However, I don’t want to discuss what has led the Mets and Yankees to their current predicaments. In the Mets’ case, look no further than the awful hitting from the top of the lineup (Since the start of July, Francisco Lindor and Pete Alonso have a WRC+ of 86 and 83, respectively) and the starting pitching cooling down (Kodai Senga and Frankie Montas both have an ERA over five since July). And for the Yankees, the pitching just generally has been struggling, with Devin Williams being the most notable example (ex., this meatball he gave to the Astros’ Taylor Trammell in an extra-innings loss).
But I don’t really want to harp on the issues of the teams. Plenty of other smarter writers can do that. Instead, I want to focus on the fan reactions that I’ve been cursed of seeing on X, the everything app. I’m mainly talking about the Doomers, who I would like to describe as the fans who always believe that the sky is falling and that there is no hope for success. It’s basically an eternal form of pessimism about your baseball team. Doomerism can be quite insufferable and I know that because in football, I certainly am a doomer. I and many other fans of the Pittsburgh Steelers get into a really dark place once our team loses in an embarrassing fashion against an inferior opponent (a Mike Tomlin classic).
I believe doomerism about a sports team comes from a sense of entitlement; it is a sense of knowing that your team has been so much better and the feeling is so far away. Therefore, when things aren’t going right like they have before means only doom can follow. Sound dramatic? You would be correct. Not to justify my own habits, but football doomerism can feel a little more justifiable because there’s so little of the season. There are only 17 games in an NFL regular season for a team. The knee-jerk reactions make a little more sense because time isn’t really on our side.
For baseball, there are 162 games. That’s a lot of time! There’s so much time to turn it around and I genuinely do not understand the feeling like the whole season is over. “But Henry,” I hear you say in my head because I’m talking to myself, “I can feel that the team is in a funk and I don’t see a way out.” Well, voice in my head, there’s a reason that you or I are not on a baseball diamond or in a front office. Look, losing seven games in a row can be tough for Mets fans. I understand that. It sucks when your team has superstars and they’re not living up to their potential. But we’re still in August and there’s still plenty of baseball to be played. I know the clock is dwindling, but baseball can be fickle.
And I’ll end by acknowledging the fact that this whole column comes from seeing how Yankees and Mets fans act all negative when I “know” they couldn’t live a day in the shoes of a Pirates fan. With both the Mets and the Yankees being owned by people that may as well have the word “rich” in their names (Steve Cohen in particular), they couldn’t imagine the payrolls that the Pirates have had in the cursed reign of Bob Nutting. What’s more insulting is when the Yankees fans wear fucking brown paper bags to a game when they are STILL IN THE WILD CARD POSITION. THEY ARE IN SIXTH PLACE. Do you know how much it would have to take to get the Pirates fans to do that? You obviously wouldn’t because the Yankees haven’t had a losing season since 1992. Alright, now the Mets’ turn.
Yes, I know the Mets were owned by the frugal Wilpon family but you still had your stars like David Wright that would come. But also, that excuse is gone now with Cohen getting guys like Juan Soto or Lindor to come to Queens. But Mets fans also can’t use the excuse of how rough they had it when the Wilpons owned them and the season was full of incompetence and embarrassing moments. Even though these guys had bad times, the Mets in the 21st century have made the postseason six times and have been to the Fall Classic twice! I know the Mets missed the playoffs a lot in those intervening years but these Doomers couldn’t understand the extended pain of 21 straight losing seasons (a North American sports record!).
Apologies for making this post one long “check your privilege” post, but I’ve just had it.
Standings Update
National League
American League
Quiz Time
On Aug. 6, Andrew Kittredge became the sixth Chicago Cubs pitcher to throw an immaculate inning. Who is the only Cub among the six to be in the Hall of Fame?
Some Great Baseball Stories To Read
The Athletic’s Jayson Stark on the marvel that is Paul Skenes: “Paul Skenes’ scintillating start is like nothing we’ve seen — and more history awaits”
Michael Baumann of Fangraphs on the resurgence of Blue Jays shortstop Bo Bichette: “Bo Bichette Breaks Baseballs, and Soon, the Bank”
The Athletic’s Brittany Ghiroli’s column on Jen Pawol — who became the first female umpire in Major League Baseball’s history this past Saturday: “Ghiroli: Major League Baseball needed this. Jen Pawol deserved it”
