NL East Champs

Yesterday, as I was watching the 2015 Mets celebrate winning the NL East, I started to think that maybe they were celebrating a little too much.  Maybe it was a bit overboard.  I mean it's nice to win a division and get in the playoffs, but it is all meaningless if the don't at least get past the division round.

Maybe I, like many fans in New York, have become too accustomed to the Yankee way of not really celebrating big until they at least win a pennant.  But that was Jeter's team and for about 10-15 years, they were basically a given to at least win the Wild Card.

But yesterday was indeed something to be proud of.
It is not something that happens very often.

Since the Mets became the Mets in 1962, they've only made the playoffs seven times.
They've won five division titles and won the Wild Card twice.
In their 64 years, they've won 90 or more games 10 times.
I will not list the number of years where they've had finishes in the lower level of the N.L. East.
This year was and hopefully will continue to be very special.

It was nice to see the young guys celebrate.
This ball club has a lot of rookies and younger players.  These guys have never won like this at the Major League level.  I heard Michael Cuddyer, who won 6 division titles in Minnesota with the Twins, say how some of his teammates were asking him how they should celebrate.  They didn't want to show up the home team.
They deserve to celebrate and take it all in.

Winning the division should also be meaningful for the guys who have been through the recent down years, like Daniel Murphy and Jon Niese.
And no player deserves this more than David Wright.  He got a taste of the postseason early in his career.  Now nine years later, the Captain will guide his team back to the playoffs.  It's been a rough year for him too, after missing 4 months of the season with spinal stenosis.

But no one should be more happy than Terry Collins.  The oldest manager in baseball, who has managed almost 1700 games at the Major League level, will be going into the postseason for the very first time.

So there is plenty to be happy about as a Met fan, player, coach, front office, etc.
They hung around, with the help of their young pitching, until some players got healthy and the front office added some reinforcements.  They then went on an eight week tear to win the N.L. East.

It's been a nice season.  A season worth celebrating.
But there is a lot more work to be done...and hopefully 11 more games to be won.

BNOLAN