Mets Sweep Cubs, Advance to World Series
by Jack Ross 10/22/15
New York Mets fans have never had it easy. From miserable midnight trades to 20-year contracts to the infamous September collapses, it’s always felt like the game of baseball just had it out for the good people of Flushing.
Not anymore.
As of 11:39 EST on October 21st, 2015 – the Mets are champions of the National League. Read that last sentence again. The New York Mets – who were supposed to be outshined by their division rival Nationals and their historic pitching rotation – are going to play in a World Series for the first time since 2000 and boy, are they doing it in style.
After a decisive game 5 victory over the Dodgers in Los Angeles, the Amazin’s stormed into their series against the 97-win Cubs ready to battle but no one could have predicted just how one-sided this battle would be.
4 games. 4 wins. 4 outstanding starting pitching performances. 4 Daniel Murphy home runs and not an inning of baseball where the Mets weren’t leading or tied.
It wasn’t a battle; it was a massacre – explained only by the possibility that someone in the Mets clubhouse turned on the cheat codes for this video game-esque dismantling of an excellent Cubs baseball team.
The Mets outscored the Cubs 21-8 and never trailed for a single inning. All 4 of the Mets’ young starters posted sub-2.6 ERAs and the bullpen allowed just 2 runs in 11 innings of work. The Cubs struck out 37 times.
“That was a pretty impressive four games they played against us,” Cubs Manager Joe Maddon said following the game. “They did not let us up for air at any point. … They were just that good for four days, man. I’ve got to give them credit.”
Sorry Joe, but impressive doesn’t even begin to describe it. This was downright amazing. If you had told anyone in the baseball universe that the Mets would sweep the cubs in 4 games to clinch a World Series berth back in April; they would have laughed at you. Heck, they even laughed at the Mets for thinking it was possible.
“We knew we had a good team,” captain David Wright said, “I hate playing that underdog role. And I never will. I guess I kind of will right now. But people kind of giggled at us and laughed at us when we proclaimed we were going to be a playoff team.”
That laughter has turned into sheer amazement. The Mets. The World Series. It doesn’t even seem possible, but at Tug McGraw would say, “Ya gotta believe!”