Baseball Is A Collection of Sprints, Not a Marathon

Baseball statistics have come a long way.  We have a ton of information at our fingertips and are able to perform some pretty awesome analysis of baseball players.  This includes things like projections, trying to figure out which pitchers were victims of bad luck and fielding, and which hitters are having some unsustainable success.   However, baseball is an elaborate game.  You can do all this work, analyze all these players, and have a pretty good idea of what should happen over a large sample of data and still have completely no idea what’s going to happen in any given moment.  The cliche is that baseball is a marathon and not a sprint, but truthfully it’s probably like a whole bunch of sprints crammed together.  You can make some pretty good educated guesses about who’s going to win the marathon, but each individual sprint is pretty much a crap shoot.

 

Ultimately everyone wants to see their team win the marathon, but most of the enjoyment comes from watching them win some of those individual sprints.  A thrilling pitching matchup or a walk-off home run can be as exciting in 2012 as it was in 2006, or 1986.  This is sort of the baseball opposite of missing the forest for the trees.  We can get so focused on which teams are the best in a division or which individual players are the best that we miss that sometimes things happen in the individual games and matchups that are awesome and fun to watch.  It doesn’t matter that Andres Torres may not be a very good major leaguer; he can still go 3-4 in one game with two home runs.  Mike Pelfrey’s barely an above average pitcher, but he’s capable of pitching a complete game with 3 hits.  This is especially true in April and May when you’ve just gotten into the forest and trying to figure out what the whole place looks like is just silly; relax and look at the trees!

 

Even the 1962 Mets played some thrilling games.  That’s the beauty of baseball.  Maybe Santana comes back rejuvenated and strikes out every batter he faces on the way to a Mets playoff berth.  Maybe adjusting the walls make no difference and the Mets struggle to hit for power.  Either way I promise you there will be fun Mets baseball this summer.  At least 162 magical opportunities to see something you haven’t seen before.   Who knows, maybe this is the year the Mets finally pitch that illusive no-hitter.  Would you want to miss it because you have the Mets penciled in for last place and decided to spend your Saturday afternoon in June at the zoo?

 

 

Is Rex Ryan Hurting the Mets?

Currently the Mets are squandering an opportunity to climb back into the playoff race by not capitalizing on a struggling Atlanta Braves team, but whether or not they get closer it seems like some interest in the Mets could be waning as the season goes on, and I blame Rex Ryan.

The last couple of years Mets fans in their negativity have looked for any reason to give up on the team and root for next year.  Fans were doing it as early as Spring Training this year, proclaiming the season as hopeless and getting mad at people that suggested maybe they could actually be a winning team.  Now that the NFL has ended it’s lockout and is set to resume as normal, there is something else for Mets fans to focus on.  Rex Ryan’s antics become more enticing than Daniel Murphy’s defense.  Potential free agent signings for the Jets or Giants seem to become more interesting than what the Mets will or won’t do with Carlos Beltran at the deadline, or who will slip through waivers.  The health of various injured football players becomes more intriguing than Johan Santana’s rehab schedule.

I think the Mets still have plenty of interesting baseball left in them, and I suggest you don’t let preseason football, which most of you profess is pretty boring, get in the way of actual sport.  There will be things to watch on this team that will be exciting, games that will be a great deal of fun to be at, and players that are a marvel to watch play everyday.  If the Mets are out of it you can switch channels on Sundays, but don’t miss out on some fun baseball just because the Giants and Jets haven’t disappointed you yet this year.