MLC x GTB: Vol. 1, Episode 7

We were in the habit of closing each season at Misery Loves Company with this lovely bit of baseball poetry from the late A. Bartlett Giamatti, former commissioner of Major League Baseball:

It breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in the spring, when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the fall alone. You count on it, rely on it to buffer the passage of time, to keep the memory of sunshine and high skies alive, and then just when the days are all twilight, when you need it most, it stops.

For at least one of us, the only outcome that temporarily disguises the game's essence happened in 2004 (and again in 2007) and brightened one half of the MLC clubhouse. After the Sox swept the Rockies to win the 2007 World Series, I amended Giamatti's impeccable verse thusly:

It breaks your heart and it lifts your soul. It is designed to do both at intervals. The game begins in the spring, when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains stand ready to wash away another season, time stops for one glorious week. The Indian summer sun bathes you in its comforting glow before fading and leaving you to face the fall alone but for the long-lingering warmth of your memories. You count on it, rely on it to buffer the passage of time, to keep the memory of sunshine and high skies alive, and then just when the days are all twilight, when you need it most, it delivers again. And begins once more in the spring.

The Sox gave us the usual ending this year. Their 3-1 win over similarly mediocre Tampa Bay gave them an 81-81 record, good for third in the AL East, five games from a postseason slot. I note with some chagrin that the Sox went 16-24 over the season's final quarter, starting with the first episode of this pop-up blog special. 

And yet, there's hope. It does begin once more in the spring, and there's a good bit of young, exciting talent on the Boston roster. The Sox - the Boston Red Sox(!) - were third in the American League in stolen bases. Runs, too. They were also second in the majors in errors, and the pitching faded badly down the stretch. There's work to do.

Now, though, we turn our attention to Queens and we root for the Blue and Orange. May their fans get the second version of the baseball poem.

* * * * *

As The Cult's Ian Astbury crooned to open the last great album they ever made...

This is where it all ends...

Yep, this is it. When we spawned this Misery Loves Company redux reboot whatever, the Sox and Mets were just on the outside looking in, and with a quarter of the season left, there was plenty of optimistic reason to believe that each of our squads could make a run. Based on the 2003-2009 lifespan of MLC, rob had much more reason to believe. But we both had Paul Giamatti's dad's wide-eyed springtime-in-August belief.

The New York Mets, bolstered by Grimace, OMG, and 1/2 of MLC, went 23-10 after we launched this resurrection. Everything was clicking. Players like Lindor and Alonso -- fan faves who languished early in the season -- were just mashing. The Mets were winning every which way but lose -- sometimes ugly as hell, sometimes lucky ducks, sometimes just good. It was blissful.

With a handful of games remaining, the Mets were a click or two away. And then... pffft. Bats went silent, pitchers started surrendering grand slams... as Donna would acronymize, OMDL. They dropped 3 in a row in very poor form before salvaging it with a win Sunday. 

Please, no. Come on.

Due to Hurricane Helene, who, as you may have read, decimated Asheville to its core (among other spots), it comes to this: the day after the date formerly known as the last day of the regular season, the New York Mets will visit the Atlanta Braves for a daytime doubleheader. That's today.

I'd say it's for all the marbles, because both teams are vying for a wild card spot, but there's a wrinkle. The Arizona Diamondbacks are in the mix as well. Their regular season is done. It looks like this:

Atlanta..............88-72

New York..........88-72

Arizona.............89-73

The Dbags lose out in case of a 3-way tie. So the Mets, as well as their longtime rival the Braves, need just one win tomorrow to get in.

Just. One. Win.

Game 1 - 1:10 PM

Game 2 - 4:40 PM

Anxiety is high, very high, as we look at the long slog of the 2024 season coming down to a pair of games against a very good team. It comes to one of two conclusions:

1. I encouraged rob to resuscitate our old blogging content in order to capture a dramatic, rather unlikely trip to the playoffs for my favorite ballclub.

2. I encouraged rob to resuscitate our old blogging content in order to kick myself in the groin with an 11th hour collapse.

Here's my ask. Misery Loves Company was a super-rewarding, wonderful escapade with my best buddy. But it was also a one-sided affair featuring one season of pure heartbreak for rob (2003) followed by unbridled bliss. For me, I laughed, cringed, and cursed the ineptitude of my team for a few years, then saw them (in person) be denied the World Series in gut-wrenching fashion. Then a historic late-season collapse. And then more suck. It was rough.

None of us deserve a damn thing, but please... give me this. One win. 

I love this team like Coach Dale loved the Hickory Huskers. Let's do this.

LFGM.