Good morning, my name is Kevin Sweeney. The Mets are good, and more importantly… are they normal?
Today at SI:AM:
⚾ Has the Mets finally crossed the road?
🙌 Mario Cristobal’s biggest test in Miami
🏈 Chief sneaks past Charger
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Is it time for the Mets?
Eric W. Lasko/Sports Illustrated
Mets fans have endured years of ugly years. all It seems more difficult than necessary. But the new regime, starting at the top under the ownership of Steve Cohen and ending with no-nonsense manager Buck Showalter, has brought a level of stability and capability to the organization that has not been seen in a long time. Money spent on major acquisitions such as Max Scherzer and Francisco Lindo, combined with a more stable hand to run the day-to-day show, will give the Mets this year the always-frustrating team of decades past. They are hardly similar.
From Stephanie Upstein’s Daily Cover Story this morning.
In fact, they are one of the best teams in the National League, poised to make the playoffs for the first time since 2016. . . a normal baseball team. No nonsense about sucking oxygen out of a room for weeks at a time. Is attitude, manpower, money and just one capable season enough to end decades of dysfunction? And what happens when the Mets are no longer the Mets?
Where the Mets Stand in the Eastern National League
The Mets have maintained control of the division for nearly the entire season despite injuries to Scherzer and Jacob deGrom. But the hard-charging Braves made life difficult recently, briefly surpassing the Mets earlier this month before New York reclaimed the No. 1 spot.As of this morning, the Mets’ lead is 1 game in the division. With only three games between the teams looming in Atlanta at the end of the month, it could finally decide the race.
The Mets’ roster composition with deGrom’s dominance makes it even more important to maintain the division. From Tom Verducci earlier this month:
If the Mets fall to the wild card spot, it will be more work than rest for deGrom and a much tougher road for New York. The division series against the Dodgers begins with the NBA unavailable. Even though he retains the second seed and accompanying byes, he tests deGrom due to his lockout-affected schedule. If deGrom starts Games 1 and 5 of his NLDS, he will only start once in his NLCS because Games 3 through 7 are scheduled on consecutive days.
It took until June 9th for the Braves to cross .500 (barring a brief 2-1 moment in early April), but they’ve been out since then. They’ve won almost two-thirds of their games since the All-Star break, and since early June they’re a ridiculous 65-28. DEFENDING CHAMPION WILL BE DIVISION CHAMPION OR WILD CARD Whether he enters as a team, the defending champion won’t easily lose a division battle and will be a factor in October.
Other Playoff Races to Watch: AL Central, Last NL Wildcard Spot
The only competitive division race at this point is the AL Central which has been defined as mediocre throughout the season. He leads the Guardians by three games in Central, and a win in the division and not automatically qualifying for the postseason would put him 3.5 games away from his wild card spot. Still, someone has to win, and Cleveland has been a fun team to watch all season, with a strong group of young players who exceed expectations and Jose Ramirez, one of baseball’s most underrated stars. The Sox entered the year as Central favorites, but failed to perform around .500 for much of the season. But they’ve won 7 of his 10, so it’s not over yet.
Also worth keeping track of is the race for the final NL Wildcard spot. The Brewers stole a postseason spot despite a mediocre second half, just 1.5 games behind the Padres and 4 games behind the Phillies. The road to the postseason is narrow, but as Tom Verducci showed this week, it’s doable.
the best sports illustrated
Today’s game of college football on Saturday is between Miami and Texas A&M, and Ross DeLanger talks about Miami coach Mario Cristobal (son of Cuban immigrants).
If anything, Mario’s move from Oregon to Miami is one of family. It is one of home and heart. The 51-year-old coach is the best fit for such a revival project. A Miami-raised bilingual, he grew up a few blocks away from his college campus, played for the Hurricanes, and started his coaching career. there.
Jon Wertheim analyzes the legacy of Roger Federer, who on Thursday announced plans to retire to end one of the greatest careers in tennis history. … After the program-defining win over Notre Dame, Pat Ford catches up with Marshall coach Charles Huff. His savant-like approach is paying off. … Additionally, Emma Bachelieri analyzes the legacy of Adam Wainwright and Yadier Molina’s record-breaking partnership.
Around the world of sports
The Sun are still far from finished in the WNBA Finals, winning their fourth elimination game of the playoffs with a 105-point blowout. .. The Chiefs scored yet another thriller against the Chargers. Uses rookie Jaylen Watson’s decisive 99-yard pick six Move to 2–0. …Jahm Najafi, Sands’ minority shareholder and vice chairman, has called for Robert Sarver’s resignation following his suspension for misconduct at work. … The WNBA named teams across all leagues, with Kelsey Plum and Aja Wilson headlining the first team.
Top five…
…that I saw yesterday.
Five. This unconventional first pitch.
4. A triple-double in the WNBA Finals.
3. Appalachian fans welcome college game day.
2. Darwin James WWE style tackle.
1. Brian Robinson Jr.’s return to practice.
SIQ
On September 16, 2012, Eli Manning threw for a career-high 510 yards in a Week 2 win over the Buccaneers. This is his 13th-best pass total in a single game in NFL history, but not a Giants franchise record. Who holds the record for 513 passing yards in a single game?
- or title
- Phil Sims
- Kelly Collins
- Kurt Warner
Check Monday’s newsletter for the answer.
Yesterday’s SIQ: On Wednesday, Yadier Molina and Adam Wainwright set MLB records for most career starts as a battery with 325. Molina is, unsurprisingly, the MLB’s active leader in games played at catchers. Defensively over 1,500 games, who is second in his tally of games?
answer: Kurt Suzuki. The 38-year-old has struggled in recent seasons with the Angels, but since 2021 he’s been a full-time catcher with all 102 starts as backstops.
The Hawaii native was drafted in 2004 from Cal State Fullerton (where he led the Titans to the 2004 College World Series title), going through the A’s minor league system. Suzuki was a mediocre catcher for most of his 20s, but in 2014 he was the only 30-year-old to appear in the All-Star Game for Minnesota in his career. He was strong in Atlanta and Washington from his 17th to his 19th, averaging 16 home runs per season during that period.
— Josh Rosenblatt
From Vault: September 16, 2013
Photo illustration: SI Premedia
After 10 months of research, SI has released the first part of George Dorman and Thayer Evans series, detailing the corruption behind the rise of the Oklahoma State football program. From 1989 until 2001, he had only one winning season for the Cowboys (1997). Then, from 2004 (his second season at Les Miles school), the program was launched. From 2002 to 2012, Stillwater had one of the fastest growing programs in the country. Oklahoma State averaged eight or more wins per season, including his six wins in his bowl games.
Dohrmann and Evans’ “investigation reveals the steps necessary to elite the program and the collateral damage that comes with it.”
The first part of the series was released on September 13, 2013 and focuses on money. The reporter spoke with his 64 former players about his time on the program, and many spoke openly about boosters and, in some cases, the flow of cash from his members of staff to the players.
Multiple players told SI that bonuses were delivered in a variety of ways. Players sometimes got extra money in daily allowance envelopes, which were usually handed out by low-level football staff members. . [Thomas Wright, a defensive back from 2002 to ’04] If a player finds new socks in their post-match locker, it’s likely that one of them has cash in it. “It was crazy,” he says of paying some of the most prominent players. “They were making money out of hand. It was as clear as day.”
Boosters and assistant coaches also poured money into players with “questionable work arrangements,” overpaying them for small jobs they did or paying them for things they didn’t do at all.
Reading this study now is particularly interesting, especially given that college athletes can now benefit from their name, image, and likeness.Boosters still play an important role in many programs. and founding the NIL collective, which “promotes the sport towards a more specialized model and blurs the lines between guarantee contracts and employment contracts.” What are the biggest changes in the last decade? Payments no longer have to be stuffed inside your socks.
— Josh Rosenblatt
— Josh Rosenblatt
See more SI’s archives and historical images can be found at vault.si.com.
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