In the moment, it reflected a heartwarming scene for Mets fans, one that, they hoped, would become emblematic of the organization’s future — both short-term and long-term — and help erase the lingering sorrows of the past.
It was the bottom of the fourth inning during the season opener on March 30 in Miami. Jean Segura had just walked, the second Marlins baserunner against Max Scherzer. The Mets’ narrow 1-0 lead hinged on Scherzer, their record-setting splash entering the 2022 season and one of the foundational pieces supporting their colossal 2023 expectations, navigating the threat.
As Scherzer threw the ninth pitch of Garrett Cooper’s at-bat, a camera captured the Seven Line Army in the outfield seats, and right in the middle of those fans — wearing a blue “Queens South” shirt with pink lettering and a Mets hat — stood owner Steve Cohen.
He pumped his fist when Scherzer induced a double play that featured Jeff McNeil, Francisco Lindor and Pete Alonso. He high-fived another fan behind him. The SNY broadcast cut to the scene during a replay. Cohen, the architect of baseball’s most exciting and expensive team, found himself engulfed in the fan base’s core for their Opening Day victory.
That optimism has faded more than four months later.
Scherzer is gone.
The Marlins catapulted the Mets in the standings.
Cohen’s payroll features more dead money (approximately $200 million, according to The Post’s Jon Heyman) than the 2023 payroll for 20 teams, based on Spotrac’s numbers.
And when the Mets returned to Citi Field on Monday for their first home game since the trade deadline sell-off and the brutal six-game losing streak that followed, a two-plus-hour rain delay taunted and soaked the fans who showed up for an eventual 11-2 win over the Cubs.
Winless stretches may define the Mets the next few years, as the organization rebuilds and retools and recalibrates — “repurposing,” in GM Billy Eppler’s words — for what Cohen described as a playoff push in 2025 or ‘26.
Six losses in a row might seem tolerable by the time the prospects acquired for Scherzer, Justin Verlander, David Robertson and others reach the majors.
And until that point arrives, baseball’s juggernaut has at times faded into an unwatchable and irrelevant snapshot of what happens when those lofty expectations are replaced by, well, nothing.
That doesn’t mean the Mets’ trade deadline approach was wrong. One week later, with Aug. 1 acquisitions acclimated around MLB, the Angels have lost seven in a row, after keeping Shohei Ohtani and importing Lucas Giolito, Reynaldo Lopez, C.J. Cron and Randal Grichuk. The Reds and Diamondbacks also lost six in a row, and the Marlins — another team that moved to fortify at the deadline — have endured a four-game losing streak.
They acquired Luisangel Acuña for Scherzer, Drew Gilbert and Ryan Clifford for Verlander, Marco Vargas for Robertson and Justin Jarvis for Mark Canha. Six of their top 30 prospects, according to MLB.com, arrived through deadline deals.
Acuña already recorded a walk-off hit and has five hits in six games with Double-A Binghamton. Gilbert hit .364 in his first 11 at-bats with the Rumble Ponies. Clifford homered in his first at-bat with High-A Brooklyn.
Those transactions left the Mets with a strange concoction of underperforming stars, top prospects and no immediate roadmap to contention.
For now, at least, they still have Francisco Lindor, Jeff McNeil, Pete Alonso, Brandon Nimmo and, in total, six of the nine hitters they used in their 2022 season-ending lineup in Game 3 of the NL Wild Card series against the Padres.
But they also relented and finally demoted slumping third baseman Brett Baty on Monday, and they’ve also faced a dilemma on whether to promote blossoming utilityman Ronny Mauricio.
Earlier in the season, the blend of longevity with their stars and source of reinforcements was supposed to provide consistency. When the Mets started the 2023 season, when they took five of seven from the Marlins across the first two weeks, even their early low points — getting swept by the Brewers and Tigers, dropping two of three to the Nationals — seemed fixable.
Their talent alone, and their intimidating payroll, always led to the conclusion that at some point the Mets would go on a run and finally resemble a powerhouse.
But with the trade deadline dust settling one week later, the Mets emit the impression of a team that won’t win consistently this year or next — not without some flashy offseason spending, at least — and might be waiting awhile for something with quite as much underlying anticipation as Cohen’s bleachers high-five to materialize again.
Today’s back page
Read more:
⚾ Aaron Boone mocks umpire in wild ejection … Yankees squander chances in frustrating loss … Carlos Rodon goes back on the IL
🏈 A’Shawn Robinson bringing blue-collar mentality to Giants’ run defense
⚽ SEARS: Three names USWNT should consider as it heads for likely coaching change
Rolling out the green carpet
For as vocal as Robert Saleh and the Jets were about avoiding “Hard Knocks,” they indirectly signed up for the show when they traded for Aaron Rodgers.
Sure, they got what they think will be a quality quarterback in the deal with the Packers.
But the thing about Rodgers is that it’s never just about the 60-minute samples of his Hall of Fame talent on Sundays (or Thursdays or Mondays). It’s about everything else that follows with the polarizing figure, and when the Jets’ second appearance on “Hard Knocks” — and first since the Rex Ryan era in 2010 — begins Tuesday night, Rodgers certainly will be a central figure.
A preview of the first episode featured Zach Wilson’s pass to Malik Taylor, which Rodgers called for from his sideline headset during the Jets’ preseason opener. It depicted celebrations and fist pumps. Shouts and elation. The honeymoon between Rodgers and the Jets just seems to keep going.
That likely will be the case for the next five weeks, too. Unless “Hard Knocks” reveals a brutal, uncharming side of the 39-year-old, his priceless training camp intersections will intersect with the franchise’s hopes for the first Super Bowl since Broadway Joe in the Tuesday night spotlight on Max.
But when the Jets open the season against the Bills on “Monday Night Football” on Sept. 11, that night will mark the end of the honeymoon. Then, the reality of their season, and whether banking on an aging Rodgers entering off his worst statistical campaign in 2022, was a smart idea.
Besides Rodgers, let’s look at five other characters to watch when the first episode drops.
Nathaniel Hackett: This might have emerged as the most interesting storyline from Jets training camp when Sean Payton blasted the ex-Broncos head coach for the disaster in Denver last year. Hackett said Payton broke the coach’s “code.” Rodgers redirected some fiery comments back at Payton during an NFL+ interview. Press conferences turned into testimonials about Hackett. What else went on behind the scenes after those comments, and how much will the “Hard Knocks” cameras capture? Does his animal noises talent make the cut?
Mekhi Becton: He’s had a strange start to his NFL career between injuries and comments criticizing the Jets, and the latest twist came when he hardly played at all in the preseason opener. Where does the Becton tension fit into the series?
Robert Saleh: Considering how critical he was of “Hard Knocks” before the Jets emerged as the destination, how do the episodes showcase the third-year head coach with pressure mounting — for both him and general manager Joe Douglas — to make the playoffs, especially given their splash with Rodgers and the budding talent (Garrett Wilson, Sauce Gardner, Quinnen Williams) on the roster.
Sauce Gardner: There has already been the weed-smoking handshake and the custom No. 8 chain with Rodgers. What else will “Hard Knocks” reveal about the second-year cornerback, reigning Defensive Rookie of the Year and recent University of Cincinnati graduate?
Zach Wilson: The No. 2 overall pick in 2021 has tortured Jets fans for two seasons, and the “little bro” of Rodgers was the reason Douglas needed to trade for another quarterback in the first place. But Wilson also has the most to gain from learning under Rodgers and demonstrating he can still be a viable NFL option.
Coco Gauff’s U.S. Open momentum
Buzz has followed Coco Gauff to the U.S. Open in Queens ever since her magical run to the Wimbledon Round of 16 in 2019. Her trip to the U.S. Open quarterfinals last year added to that.
Gauff’s buzz will only increase again when the 2023 edition of the tournament begins Aug. 28 after she defeated Maria Sakkari, 6-2, 6-3, to win the Citi Open in Washington D.C. on Sunday. It marked the highest-profile of her four career singles titles.
“I think the caliber of players I have beat this week was probably the strongest out of all of the tournaments I’ve played,” Gauff said after her win against Sakkari, according to the Washington Post. Gauff also said she’s “heading in the right direction.”
Gauff, who had a stunning first-round exit at Wimbledon last month, currently sits No. 7 in the singles rankings, which improved after her 2022 season that featured a loss in the French Open finals to Iga Swiatek and a run to the quarterfinals at the U.S. Open two months later. During that tournament, Gauff didn’t drop a set in her first four matches until a one-sided loss against then-No. 17 Caroline Garcia in the quarterfinals.
“It feels insane,” Gauff said last year after advancing to the quarterfinals. “Fans chanting my name. I was trying not to smile on the changeover. Inside, I was trying so hard not to smile. This is a surreal moment for me: On Arthur Ashe Stadium, people are chanting my name.”
This year, Gauff enters with another chance to claim her first Grand Slam title. She’s already made a run in Queens. She’s now entering off a career-best trophy, too.
Stanford could be in what conference, now?
It’s becoming impossible to keep track of all this college sports realignment.
The Atlantic Coast Conference planned to have “exploratory discussions” about possibly adding Stanford and Cal, a byproduct of the Pac-12 having just four schools left after Oregon and Washington bolted to the Big Ten late last week.
It’s just the “information-gathering stage,” according to The Athletic, but it adds the latest wrinkle to a rapidly changing conference layout.
This also comes after Florida State president Richard McCullough said during a board of trustees meeting last week that the school “of course [is] not satisfied with our current situation” in the ACC. A breakup now looms amid the conference’s television deal that continues through 2036, which other major conferences such as the SEC and Big Ten have surpassed.
The thought of Big Ten teams making cross-country trips to play UCLA and USC seemed bizarre in June 2022 when those Southern California powerhouses divorced the Pac-12 and pivoted conferences for 2024.
But if Stanford and Cal end up in the ACC, it’s going to start looking like a new normal.
