Mets Create Good Vibes and Then Destroy Them in Los Angeles

Posted on June 5, 2025 by Aaron Yorke

You have to give me a lot of credit for continuing to pay attention to the Mets on the day that the Nintendo Switch 2 launches. We got the first new Nintendo console in eight years and the first new Mario Kart game in 11 years, and they were both released on the same day! It is a pretty exciting time to be a Nintendo fan, but the Mets are pretty exciting as well, especially when Pete Alonso is smashing the ball out of the park like he was on Wednesday night. His two-run home run in the first inning put the Mets ahead 3-0, and after Griffin Canning finished up one of his best starts of the season, Polar Bear put the game away with a three-run blast in the eighth. The Mets ended up with a dominant 6-1 win over the defending World Series champs thanks to Alonso’s powerful offense and Canning’s masterful six innings.

The victory clinched the season series for the Mets over the Dodgers, and that could come into play down the line since these teams are two of the National League’s top World Series contenders. The Mets could have done one better by winning on Thursday to take three of four in Los Angeles, but they decided to kill the good vibes instead. New York jumped out to a 4-0 lead thanks to solo shots off of Landon Knack by Alonso, Brandon Nimmo, and Starling Marte, but the Dodgers answered back with three runs in the bottom of the third. Right there it felt like the Mets would lose this game, but as usual they hooked us back in to believing in a possible victory. David Peterson settled down and ended up lasting seven innings without giving up another run. The former first-round draft pick is finally pitching a lot of innings this season and appears to be on his way to a career year. The amount of pleasant surprises on this New York pitching staff is really something.

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Mets Tease Their Fans with a Good Time, but Let Them Down Late at Night in Los Angeles

Posted on June 4, 2025 by Aaron Yorke

The Mets love to tease and Wednesday night was no exception. They could have just gone down quietly after Tylor Megill allowed four runs in the bottom of the first inning, with the last two coming home on a Max Muncy monster bomb to right field. Instead, Megill not only saved the bullpen from disaster by lasting six innings, but he kept the Mets alive for the win by keeping Los Angeles off the scoreboard for the remainder of his time on the mound.

The Mets rallied while Megill settled in. Juan Soto took Clayton Kershaw deep in the third with a two-run shot that drew the Mets to within a run. In the fifth, Pete Alonso tied the game by lacing a two-out RBI double to center field and Brandon Nimmo followed up by beating Kershaw to first base for an RBI infield single that gave New York the lead.

Now that we had our hopes up that the Mets had a chance to take two straight from the Dodgers, it was time for the offense to go to bed while the bullpen imploded. However, the bullpen took its time with the implosion part. Brandon Waddell followed up Megill’s effort with a scoreless seventh before Reed Garrett took us on a ride in the eighth. The Dodgers were poised to take the lead when Shohei Ohtani led off with a walk, Mookie Betts followed up with a single, and both runners advanced on a passed ball by Francisco Alvarez. But as he has to often this season, Garrett came through with some GREAT NEWS and struck out Freddie Freeman before Teoscar Hernandez hit a ground ball to third that Ronnie Mauricio used to cut down Ohtani at the plate. All it took after that was a strikeout of Will Smith to complete Garrett’s escape.

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Mets Grind Out a Win in Los Angeles Opener

Posted on June 3, 2025 by Aaron Yorke

The Mets picked up one of their biggest wins of the season on Monday night when they beat the Dodgers 4-3 in the opener of a four-game series at Chavez Ravine. Francisco Lindor set the pace with his sixth leadoff home run of the year and later came up big with a game-winning RBI single in the 10th, but the real star of the night was Paul Blackburn. In his first start for the Mets since last August, the 2024 Trade Deadline acquisition shut down the Dodgers for five innings while striking out Shohei Ohtani twice and allowing just one runner to reach scoring position. Blackburn certainly could have gone deeper into the game since he only threw 77 pitches compared to more than 80 in his last minor league rehab start, but Carlos Mendoza once again decided to treat his players like babies, and it almost cost the Mets.

We knew the bullpen was thin because Chris Devenski was sent to the minors to make room for Blackburn while both Garrett Reed and Edwin Diaz had worked in two of the three games against Colorado. That made Mendoza’s decision to pull Blackburn early all the more puzzling. It looked like the Mets were headed for a meltdown when Huascar Brazoban walked both Max Muncy and Michael Conforto to load the bases in the sixth, but he came up with a huge strikeout of Tommy Edman to escape the jam. Max Kranick allowed a monster home run to Ohtani an inning later, but fortunately it came with two outs and the bases empty, allowing the Mets to enter the ninth with a 2-1 edge.

The lead could have been bigger, but the Mets’ rally in the fifth inning yielded only one run despite Brandon Nimmo hitting a two-out double with both Jeff McNeil and Francisco Alvarez on base. Nimmo’s blast to the gap bounced over the wall for a ground-rule double, allowing just one run to score when a garden-variety double would have surely scored both runners. Not only that, but one batter earlier Lindor appeared to have an extra-base hit to the opposite field, only to have Conforto run it down in left field.

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The Mets’ Stars Finally Align and There’s a Lot on the Line in College Baseball

Posted on June 2, 2025 by Aaron Yorke

Before the 2025 MLB season started and Mets fans were blessed by the surprising success of their pitching staff, the strength of the team was supposed to be the top of the order. Juan Soto was billed as a top-three hitter in the game, Francisco Lindor was coming off his best campaign as a Met, and Pete Alonso had just rejoined New York following his iconic season-saving home run in Milwaukee. Overall, the three stars have combined for great production, but they haven’t all clicked at the same time very often. Soto went through a super slump in the middle of May and Alonso’s production slipped with a big home run drought after he started the season on fire.

On Sunday, though, all three guys hits home runs in the same game for the first time in 2025. It was a good thing, too, because no one else on offense did much of anything. Colorado starter Carson Palmquist appeared on pace for a stellar performance before walking Starling Marte to lead off the fourth inning. He then hit Soto with a pitch and Alonso took advantage to a massive oppo taco to give New York a 3-1 lead. You have to give the horrible Rockies some credit, though. They might be on pace for a historically inept season, but they showed some fight in the fifth after Alonso ruined Palmquist’s day. Tyler Freeman hasn’t hit for much of anything in his big league career, but he took advantage of Clay Holmes hitting Keston Hiura with a pitch and slammed a breaking ball over the right-center field wall for a game-tying home run.

Suddenly it seemed like the Mets might blow a crucial game to Colorado at home, but Lindor clutch gene returned at the right time and he answered Freeman’s blast with a solo shot in the bottom of the frame. Holmes then settled down with six straight outs before Reed Garrett and Edwin Diaz locked down the win for the Mets while Juan Soto added his own solo shot to create some separation. The Mets won 5-3 to complete the sweep and head into Los Angeles with some momentum. However, momentum is only as good as the next day’s starting pitcher, and that one is a big unknown for the Mets since Paul Blackburn will be making his 2025 debut. He has missed the first two months of the season with right knee inflammation, but he pitched decently last year between being acquired at the trade deadline and hitting the injured list with a right hand contusion.

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We Need College Baseball Brackets and We Need Them Now

Posted on June 1, 2025 by Aaron Yorke

Imagine if there was another sport for which we could recreate the magic of March Madness. That sport is already out there, but it is played in the spring and uses a ball that is not as bouncy. It’s college baseball, baby! And the only thing holding it back from captivating America is millions of fans filling out brackets while acting like they know more ball than they actually do. Why don’t we have college baseball brackets? ESPN has the right for the whole tournament including the College World Series, but it won’t offer a bracket on its website that we can print out and gamble on. This is a company that offers women’s fantasy basketball for crying out loud!

Maybe in years past you could say that the NCAA Baseball Tournament was too predictable to be an entertaining gambling product, but that is not the case this year. While upsets were hard to come by during March Madness, baseball has been a different story with Vanderbilt failing to advance to the super regionals as the overall number one seed. The Commodores didn’t even reach their regional final played on their home field because they lost to Louisville 3-2 on Saturday and then to Wright State of the Horizon League 5-4 on Sunday. Wright State’s Cinderella run might be ending before the super regionals as the Raiders trail Louisville right now, but they are not the only plucky underdog that is making this tournament very exciting.

Just look at UTSA beating Texas for the second time in two days on Sunday to send the overall number two seed home early. After clobbering Kansas State 10-2 in its opening game, UTSA rallied from a 6-1 deficit to stun the Longhorns on Saturday and clinch a spot in the regional final. Texas bounced back by eliminating Kansas State on Sunday and earned a rematch with the Roadrunners, but this time UTSA jumped out to a 7-0 lead and held on for a 7-4 victory.

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Will 2025 Make the Mets Great?

Posted on March 6, 2025 by Aaron Yorke

The Mets won another offseason title in 2024 when they signed Juan Soto to the largest contract in the history of professional sports. That is an awesome move and the Mets may become World Series contenders for years to come, but it won’t be only because of Soto. We’ve seen megastars struggle to qualify for the Postseason in baseball (most notably with Abe Miranda’s Anaheim Angels) and we’ve seen hyped Mets signings like Justin Verlander fail to convert offseason banners into real ones. What makes Soto different? Well, he might be a more talented slugger than the Mets have ever signed before with an on-base percentage above .400 in each one of his seven big league seasons. Most importantly, though, is the fact that Soto is joining a team that won a couple of Postseason series in 2024. He doesn’t have to be a savior, but I also can’t help but think that the Mets needed to do more over the winter to secure a bid in October.

If the Mets fall short this season, it will probably be because of the starting rotation. Two years ago, Kodai Senga and his Ghost Fork emerged as a star, but in 2024 he got hurt and missed 99 percent of the season. Fortunately, Sean Manaea put together a career year at age 32 and provided stability to the rotation alongside Luis Severino and Jose Quintana. Over the winter, the Mets brought back Manaea on a three-year deal, but they let Severino and Quintana walk while adding Frankie Montas, Griffin Canning, and Clay Holmes to replace them. Holmes was the Yankees’ closer last year, but he was demoted in October and hasn’t made a major league start since 2018.

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Gerrit Cole Fails to Cover First Base on a Play that Changed History

Posted on October 31, 2024 by Aaron Yorke

As much fun as it would have been to watch the Yankees fans who took the ball away from Mookie Betts become more and more famous, I have to say that I am happy about the New York Yankees being eliminated last night. With Steve Cohen at the helm, the Mets have a chance to battle for New York baseball supremacy, and that battle would be going downhill if it started with a Yankees World Series championship. Now we’ll see if Cohen will bid against the Yankees for one of their superstars. He was absent when it was Aaron Judge in free agency, but now is another great opportunity to get Juan Soto to Queens with the Mets coming off a successful season and searching for sustainability. No matter what the optimistic Mets fans tell you, there’s no guarantee that the future is bright or that the Mets return to the Postseason in 2025. Too much has to go right, especially with the makeshift pitching rotation. Bringing in Soto to pair with Lindor at the top of the order would solidify the Mets’ foundation, at least on offense.

Soto has only raised his free agency stock with a dominant October. He hit .327/.469/.633 after coming off an incredible regular season in which he set a career high in home runs and WAR. On Wednesday night, he walked three times to set the table for Aaron Judge, who finally came through with a home run in the first inning and made it look like the Yankees were on their way back to Los Angeles. Heading into the fifth inning, Gerrit Cole was rolling, Judge was back, and Yankees fans were thinking that a shocking comeback was close to reality.

Then the Yankees got sloppy with Judge inexplicably dropping a soft liner hit right to him and Anthony Volpe bouncing a throw to third base on a ball hit to his right. The back-to-back (and belly-to-belly) errors loaded the bases for Los Angeles, but Cole appeared to right the ship with strikeouts of Gavin Lux and Shohei Ohtani. Yankee Stadium was ready to erupt when Mookie Betts followed with a routine ground ball to first base, but Cole for no reason at all refused to cover the base, allowing Betts to reach on a “single” by beating Anthony Rizzo in a foot race.

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Yankees Try to Continue Comeback While Knicks Must Beat Heat

Posted on October 30, 2024 by Aaron Yorke

It has been a rough week for New York sports. At least Yankees fans got to see their team bounce back and show some life in an 11-4 spanking of the Dodgers. Now those Yankees fans get to pretend that they had their team’s back the whole way when in reality they were all saying that the World Series was over after Game 3. Don’t they know what happens to the Dodgers in a bullpen game? Dave Roberts should know, but he keeps using the dumb strategy anyway.

I was rooting for the Yankees to get embarrassed, so I am stuck with trying to get joy out of the Knicks and Rangers. That shouldn’t be too hard given that the Rangers are a wagon and the Knicks are expected to compete for the top spot in the Eastern Conference, but the Knicks are off to a 1-2 start and the Rangers just lost to the Capitals in a game that saw seven goals scored in the first 25 minutes of play. I turned the game on midway through the second period with the Caps leading 4-3.  I figured that the Blueshirts were due for a comeback since they score around five goals per game, but instead neither team put the puck in the net until Washington got an empty-net goal in the final minute.

https://twitter.com/Capitals/status/1851427062604849464

Many fans don’t even want the Rangers to win during the regular season because of the “curse” on the Presidents’ Trophy, but I am greedy and want the Rangers to be the team to break the curse. Gotta beat the Caps to do that, and you can’t beat the Caps when you’re beating outshot 46-19. Rangers need to rebound against Ottawa at home on Friday.

As for the Knicks, they looked like they were in control for much of the night against Cleveland, but then Darius Garland decided to stop missing field goals. He scored 15 of the his 34 points in the fourth quarter, and Cleveland outscored New York by 10 in the period to win 110-104.

https://twitter.com/NBA/status/1851079661788574109

The Knicks seem to have all the tools to make a run at the NBA Finals following the trade for Karl-Anthony Towns. Him and Jalen Brunson should form an inside-outside combo that is impossible to guard while Mikal Bridges and OG Anunoby lock down the perimeter on defense. That is the theory, but it is not playing out on the court so far because KAT is so passive and loves settling for 25-foot jumpers. He scored just 13 points in 32 minutes in Monday night’s loss while Brunson shot 8-for-24. The Knicks need more from those guys when Garland is shooting lights out. New York hits the road tonight with a game in Miami, and it is as must-win as it gets in October.

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Mets break my heart plus WrestleMania and Final Four preview

Posted on April 1, 2023 by Aaron Yorke

I am so pissed that I have to go to a friends Passover dinner tonight. It isn’t even Passover for real yet. Ha Shem would not put Passover on WrestleMania weekend. That is a stone cold fact. This is the best sports weekend of the year and I will probably have to watch most of it on tape. We have WrestleMania on both Saturday and Sunday night, the Final Four on Saturday night, and yes, the women’s basketball title game on Sunday afternoon. Caitlin Clark and Iowa getting 11 points against the South Carolina juggernaut was the easiest bet I made in my life, and now Clark goes against LSU for all the marbles. This is the most excited I’ve ever been to watch girls play basketball.

And all of it will serve as a distraction from the Mets starting their 2023 campaign, which so far has been torture as usual. It has only been two games and they are just getting the April slate underway, but the Mets have already broken my heart with a 2-1 defeat on Friday night. David Peterson, who has no business starting the second game of anyone’s season, somehow pitched around trouble and only allowed one run in five innings. This despite him giving up eight hits and the Mets playing awful defense behind him.

Still, the Mets could not do much on offense against Miami starter Jesus Luzardo, but in the sixth inning they chased him from the game and loaded the bases for Pete Alonso. The Polar Bear hit a line drive to center field that looked like it was ticketed for the gap, but it landed in the glove of Jazz Chisholm. Two innings later, Starling Marte smoked a line drive to right field that would have tied the game with Tim Locastro running from second base, but Jorge Soler made a great diving catch to end the inning.

Of course, by the time the Mets finally got on the board with an Alonso home run in the ninth, the Marlins had already increased their lead thanks to a Jazz Chisolm solo shot off of John Curtiss. The entire game was a tease, and now the Mets are already looking up at the Braves, who open in Washington against the hapless Nationals and will for sure start the year 3-0.

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Why the Monday night Barstool baseball stream cannot be missed

Posted on October 17, 2022 by Aaron Yorke

Tonight is going to be a great sports night. Not only do we get to win money on the Broncos while watching them fail in spectacular fashion again, but the Yankees are playing in ALDS Game 5 against the Guardians and every Yankees fan in the world is on edge.

Let me explain that first part. The world knows that the Broncos are frauds and that Nathaniel Hackett is in way over his head. I believe the world will be riding with the favored Chargers even though the Broncos, because of their brilliant defense, always find a way to hang around games and make them ugly. Getting four points with Denver when we know they will hang around and lose by a field goal in the end feels like a very good bet.

Anyway, back to the Yankees. They looked like they were returning to glory all season, led by a legendary campaign by Aaron Judge. Everything was going according to plan in the ALDS until they blew a two-run lead in the bottom of the ninth of Game 3. Within minutes, a likely 2-1 series lead turned into 2-1 deficit and the Bronx Bombers were pushed to the brink of elimination by the dink and dunk Guardians.

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