The New York Mets had very high hopes going into the 2024 season after a very disappointing 2023 season. In 2023 the Mets had the highest payroll in history, totaling $420 million only to finish the season 75-87 and fourth in the National League East. At the 2023 trade deadline, they traded star pitchers Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander, who had each signed multiyear deals with the Mets that paid them each upward of $40 million a year.
In the 2023 off-season the Mets signed pitchers Luis Severino and Sean Manaea as well as position players J.D. Martinez and Harrison Bader. The question now was is this enough to get this team back to the playoffs? The Mets ended up beginning the 2024 season at a disappointing 27-37 but everything changed on Wednesday, June 12th.
The Mets were going into their second game of the series against the Miami Marlins and to throw out the first pitch was the friendly purple McDonald’s Mascot Grimace. Little did the team know, he would become a focal point to their success. The Mets won that game on June 12th 10-4 and ended up winning the final 2 games of the series against the Marlins.
The team then went on to face the San Diego Padres at home in the next series. They swept the Padres in 3 games and the legend of Grimace was born. Fans began using Grimace as a rally cry, stating after every win they were now “5-0 post Grimace throwing out the first pitch”, and countless videos and memes started flowing in on Twitter and Instagram.
On Monday, the Mets began a series against the Texas Rangers in Arlington to see if they could continue the magic. In game 1, they had a commanding 14-2 victory to bring their record to 6-0 in the Grimace era. Last night was the first true test of the Grimace era. They jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the second inning thanks to a solo home run by Mark Vientos. They then fell down 6-2 in the fifth inning. Things weren’t looking too hot, but with Grimace on their side, it was far from over.
In the top of the eighth inning, the Mets tied the game at 6-6 on a two run double by Francisco Alvarez. Then in the top of the ninth, a Pete Alonso double brought in the eventual game winning run to extend the post Grimace first pitch streak to 7-0.
The Mets now hold the longest current win streak in the MLB and are sitting at 35-37 and 0.5 GB from the third wild card position, thanks to this strange rally behind that purple McDonald mascot. This now begs the question, will the Mets ever lose again?
Miles this is awesome, great job.
I hate to bring up a ticklish problem, but I worry about how Grimace’s triumph is affecting Mr. Met?