#360USA: NY Mets' fairytale run in MLB proves captivating

Steve Brenner 08:33 26/10/2015
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  • Six of the best: Daniel Murphy got six homers in consecutive matches.

    They were the laughing stock of baseball. The perennial whipping boys with celebrity comedian fans like Jerry Seinfeld who found the action on the field funnier than their own TV shows.

    No-one, however, is smirking at the New York Mets now following a quite astounding week for them in just one of the postseason pennant battles which has captivated fans all over the United States.

    The grueling MLB campaign of 162 games certainly drags like no other, yet the last two weeks have seen some astonishing sporting drama, the like of which enhances America’s favourite pastime to no end.

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    Storylines have been oozing from everywhere. Daniel Murphy created history when slamming six home runs in six games for the Mets who have reached their first World Series in 15 years, giving manager Terry Collins, the grand old stager himself, a chance to land the greatest prize on planet baseball.

    It’s a remarkable and unlikely glory push.

    For the record, they’ve conquered the world twice (1969 and 1986) and finished runners-up twice more (1973 and 2000).

    But the Mets have won 90 games-plus just 11 times in 54 seasons. That’s a wretched record. This was their first playoff run since 2006. Add everything together and it equals mind-numbing inconsistency and failure.

    The Yankees’ less glamorous cross-city brethren suddenly have a pitching pack to die for.

    Their thrashing of the Chicago Cubs was dominant and ruthless. You had to feel for the fans who packed the wonderful Wrigley Field. The World Series was last lifted in those parts way back in 1908.

    Over in Toronto, the drama rollercoaster was relentless and went to the very end in Kansas on Friday night. To see Royals star Lorenzo Cain score the winning run after scorching the dirt from first base following a hit to right field was quite something.

    For Kansas, reaching the holy grail for a second season on the spin provides an opportunity to avenge last year’s Game 7 defeat to Madison Bumgarner and the San Francisco Giants.

    They’ve endured 30 years of hurt since their last World Series title. With more money than ever being splashed, teams are more competitive, ensuring staying at the very top is fiendishly tough. Credit for the Royals for bouncing back in spectacular style and they go into Tuesday’s opener as the favourites.

    Spend the week in New York though and the support for the men in orange and blue is already at fever pitch.

    Opportunists aiming to cash in on Mets mania are loading up on commemorative t-shirts and heading for the heaving streets of midtown Manhattan. The New York

    Post meanwhile have been producing daily pullout and keep posters to slap on your walls come gametime. Is there a challenge for Big Apple supremacy all of a sudden? 

    Murphy’s hitting has been out of this world, veteran David Wright has held the team together while the pitching triumvirate of Jacob deGrom, Matt Harvey and Noah Syndergaard have all produced at critical junctures.

    Yoenis Cespedes, a midseason acquisition, has proved equally inspired, though it has been devout Christian

    Murphy who’s ignited the fireworks with his record-breaking hitting.

    Dantastic… Danamite… Murphy mania. Murph-tober. The tabloid headline writers have been enjoying themselves.

    Yet the adulation is warranted. Murphy, who is set to become a free agent,  is certainly no flash in the pan – he was an All-Star in 2014 and an MLB mainstay for the past seven years. Of course, a fully functioning, all conquering baseball team needs more than just an in-form slugger.

    To place his feats into context, before this magic run, Murphy had homered in consecutive games just once! His dominance of some of the best pitchers around in the shape of Clayton Kershaw, Zack Greinke, Jake Arrieta and Jon Lester has, though, undoubtedly proved key.

    So too has the leadership of Collins who deserved his moment in the sun more than most.

    The oldest manager in the game at 66 lost his beloved father Bud during spring training, the man who helped him fall in love with the game which has made him a New York star.

    Thursday’s decisive Game 4 took place on what would have been his parents’ 73rd wedding anniversary.

    “My mom wrote me a sick note in 1960 so I could get out of school and watch the Pirates and Yankees play in the World Series,” he said. “Holy crap, now I’m in it.”

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