Baseball is Back: Royals and Mets Pick Up Right Where They Left Off
By Kyle Koster
Major League Baseball took a page out of the NFL’s book by scripting a rematch between the Kansas City Royals and New York Mets on Opening Night. The defending World Series champions took a page out of their own postseason playbook and executed it word for word, making Game 1 of 2016 look strikingly similar to Games 1-5 of last year’s fall classic.
Baseball is back and it picked up right where it left off — with small ball trumping big arms and big sluggers.
For the Mets it had to feel like deja vu all over again. And that feeling started early as they were forced to endure a lengthy pregame ceremony celebrating the Royals’ championship. Their role was to turn green with envy as the gold-clad victors claimed the spoils.
After the first pitch, Terry Collins’ gang looked more than willing to be typecast as the foil. Yoenis Cespedes misplayed another first-inning fly. Mets hitters once again looked baffled by Edinson Volquez.
The Royals meanwhile stuck to the classics. They capitalized on poor defense. Lorenzo Cain took the extra base. Eric Hosmer dropped a perfect bunt for a base-hit. The little things became big things.
For a moment it looked like the Mets would flip the script and mount a comeback against the vaunted KC bullpen. Then Wade Davis found the extra gear and notched two straight strikeouts to end the game with the potential tying run on third base.
It was just one game. One of 162 to be exact. But all the pomp and circumstance made it feel more important — even more so than a usual Opening Day. It’s foolish to jump to conclusions after just nine innings. Both Kansas City and New York are going to be just fine once the intense glow and gloom, respectively, fade.
The biggest thing to take away from Sunday night is that Cespedes has a neon-green target for criticism on his back. If he doesn’t look more like Good Yeo than Bad Yeo, the saltiness is likely to meet Dead Sea levels.
His botched nonchalant one-handed attempt led to the game’s first run and brought out the first regular-season second-guessing of his big offseason contract. Cespedes is a player equally capable of astounding and confounding. His laid-back style stands in stark contrast to the sensibilities of many old-school New York scribes. If Harvey performs, more focus will be given to Cespedes’ perceived baggage.
Don’t expect an increase in fundamental discipline from the player. And don’t expect the scrutiny to become less pervasive.
So maybe Hannah Storm’s State of the Mets question is a bit alarmist, but let’s not pretend losing on Opening Day doesn’t hurt more than a normal loss. The critical part of Mets fans’ brains understands it’s just one defeat. The emotional part, however, took a toll seeing familiar nightmares resurface.
Instead of rinsing the foul taste from their mouths they simply rinsed and repeated.
Image via USA Today Sports