Mets Are Embarrassing, but Not THIS Embarrassing

When you lose to the likes of the 100-plus-losses Washington Nationals as the Mets did last night, you know you've got to be embarrassed. The Mets have been an embarrassment, a train wreck, a complete mess, a dysfunctional organization, a leadership devoid and fundamentally flawed team all season.

But when you talk about total embarrassment, you have to hand it to some of the best teams in the league with their pathetic "celebrations" after clinching their respective post-season berths. If you watched the Yankees, Dodgers, Angels, and Cardinals "clinch", you'd have thought they all won the World Series with their on-field celebrations. Guys, you had your divisions locked up since July!!! It was just a matter of time. Jumping around, mauling players, the ridiculous "we're number one finger pointed in the air", the on field hugging - it's all embarrassing when winning isn't spontaneous or unlikely. Good thing we Met fans don't have to worry about that!

Now if the Twins beat the Tigers, or the Braves somehow overtake the Rockies, then I'm all for the celebrations, mainly because the result is truly an accomplishment. When you lead your division by 10 games, you don't need to celebrate a mere playoff appearance.

What really gets me is the lip service you get from some of these teams. The Yankees, Red Sox, Angels, Cardinals, Phillies, and Dodgers are all on record saying that anything but a World Series victory is a failure. Well if that's the case, why are you all jumping up and down after beating the Royals to reach the postseason in a meaningless game? How embarrassing!

When the 1986 Mets had a 21 game lead and "clinched" the postseason, before their "clinching game", Davey Johnson instructed his players to celebrate, shake hands, have fun, but remember that was only the first step and they had a lot more work ahead of them before the "actual" celebration. That created the mindset of the team advancing towards their goal.

Besides being totally embarrassing (like the ridiculous jumping up and down in unison at home plate after a walk-off win), excessive on-field celebrations for expected outcomes sends a very bad psychological message to the players, as if to say they've already reached their goal. In fact, you can look it up: the greater the meaningless on-field celebration, the less likely a team will go further in the post-season.

And if you haven't had your fill of embarrassments, remember the Mets still play 2 more against Washington before finishing out the season at home against Houston. There will be no celebrations.