NEW YORK — In a meeting room just off the home clubhouse at Citi Field, a whiteboard calendar revealed the plans of the New York Mets on Friday afternoon. The dates were filled in the spaces for Friday and Saturday. Padres. In the days following, the club had already published the schedule for a possible five-game series next with them. Dodgers.
This is what you could call necessary preparation. After San Diego’s 7-1 defeat in Game 1, of the Wild Card Series, one can also see the metaphor for the dangers associated with prognosticating in the future. Openly considering how to sneak through this series without using an ace Jacob deGrom?, MetsThey were clearly looking beyond the Padres. The strategy laid out by Billy Eppler, general manager, and Buck Showalter was at best a skewed one-eye on San Diego and the other toward Los Angeles.
This was until Friday at 8 :16 p.m. Max ScherzerA fastball was thrown and San Diego designated hitter was contacted. Josh BellWith a great play over the left field fence, the Mets quickly snapped back to reality. After Scherzer had slid off the mound to an impossible, indignant chorus, the team was back to their normal defensive posture. Instead of getting ready for Dodger Stadium, they found themselves just one defeat away from ending their 101-win season.
Hubris failed to overthrow Mets on Friday.
