I was raised in a Mets household. My father likes to say he would’ve still loved us if we chose to be Yankees fans, though we knew that was a lie. Being a Mets fan over the years has been painful, to say the least. Being a fan definitely wasn’t a matter of pride, but after years of not playing so hot, we are finally doing pretty alright. 

Last time we got excited as Mets fans was in 2015. It was a pretty big year: we made it to the World Series and the team chemistry was so funny (throwback to the @wefollowlucasduda account on Instagram). But, in typical Mets fashion, we blew it. And then everyone got traded. Suddenly there was no Lucas Duda, no Curtis Granderson, no Wilmer Flores. And my will to watch the team slowly diminished because I didn’t know the players and we were once again not playing too hot— we were consistent at best. 

But then we got a manager, like a good manager (from my limited understanding of sports that require eye-hand coordination). Buck Showalter became manager of the Mets in 2022 and suddenly people started saying that the Mets might have a chance this season—that’s not something people typically say about the Mets.

Now we’re in the middle of the season and we’re doing pretty alright. We’re leading the NL East, which we were last in in 2020. At the time I’m writing this, the Mets have 75 wins and 40 losses; these numbers mean absolutely nothing to me except that in comparison to the other teams it’s pretty good.

The real challenge for the Mets is—for a lack of better words—to not f up in the latter half of the season. Another typical Mets franchise move—messing up the second half of the season. If the franchise keeps up this momentum, October will be interesting. 

We are not a second half team. We always start out really strong and promising and suddenly the whole starting line up is injured and won’t be playing for the next five years. This is an exaggeration but also not. 

I must say though, it is nice to be a Mets fan now. No one laughs when you’re wearing a hat or shirt in support of the team. At my job we had a Subway Series day and there were no jabs made at us Mets fans. I like to think this is our time to enjoy being fans after being made fun of for the past six years. 

And even as the injuries are starting to appear on the team we have some good players coming up. Eduardo Escobar got injured, with a strained left oblique, putting him out of commission in the middle of the series between the Mets and Braves. Brett Baty came up to fill Escobar’s spot and on his first at bat, he hit a two run homer helping the Mets win their first game in the series. 

I am by no means a sports critic; I am actually laughing as I write this because I have no idea what I am doing.