But ...

"There was supposed to be no season and there was supposed to be no Mets future and somehow now, at least in the short run, they might have both."

I dispute the notion that there was "supposed to be" no Mets season this year. They have a $115 million (?) payroll and that should allow for some roster depth in the event of injuries.

As for the idea that there was "supposed to be" no Mets future, how far in the future are we talking about? The Mets are not "supposed" to play .500 ball for the next fifty years?

It's difficult to decipher Lupica's unusual use of English words and verb tenses.

The idea that, in the past, a future event was not supposed to happen ... that's very confusing. Because I don't know if today's present is the past's future or if the future in question is an indeterminate point in time even further in the future. Which would mean it "is" not supposed to happen instead of "was" not supposed to happen.

But, yeah, I get the gist. The Mets are 3 games over .500, which is impressive to a lot of people who had low expectations.


"Maybe you still aren't sure about the future part, because you think the Madoff trustee, Irving Picard, is going to eventually shut the Wilpons down like a bank foreclosing on one more house. But all of a sudden that story isn't being covered the way it was for a long time, which means like a slam dunk, excluding the New York Times, of course."

The Mets will have a lot of money. If not from the Wilpons, then from someone else. They rake it in every time Chris Carlin uncomfortably corners a barfly in "Beer Money."


"They come into Thursday afternoon's game with the Reds two games over .500, even though there have been all the times SINCE they became a real team where we have declared them legally dead in the National League and in the wildcard race. They come into Thursday afternoon's game 7 1/2 games behind the Braves in the wildcard race and if you are a Mets fan, you know how close they are to being closer than that after the Braves stole one game against the Pirates and got a walk-off win in another."

But ...

They are already dead in the NL East race.

But ...

They were never declared legally dead in the wildcard race.

But ...

7.5 games behind the Braves is a heckuva lot, but that's not the most daunting task. They're also behind the Diamondbacks, Cardinals, and Pirates.

But ...

The game where the Braves won on the bad call at home plate? The Braves might have won that game, anyway, even if the umpire had gotten the call right.

But ...

You're criticizing the Braves for a walkoff win? Walkoff wins don't count as wins?


"Because you can keep saying this, again and again and again: If somebody had told you that everything that has happened to the Mets would happen to them - and that means apart from all the Madoff drama - you would have been sure that they would be the Cubs right now, or the Orioles, or the San Diego Padres."

Wow. You set the bar kind of low there.

The Cubs are only 13 games behind the Mets ... and if the Mets hadn't swept the Reds ... and if the Mets didn't have that walkoff win against the Yankees ... and if the Cubs had won some of the games they almost won ... blah blah blah blah blah blah blah.

The Mets are just another Forced Underdog story because that's the only narrative that is palatable.