For those of you who have rightly chosen not to root for the New York Mets or Jets, you may not be familiar with the saying, ‘Say Mets or Jets for clicks.’
Well, the Worldwide Leader is.
Even before Texas Rangers shortstop Corey Seager could be named 2023 World Series MVP, ESPN’s account on Twitter/X decided to dunk on the Mets to farm engagement. And it worked. Yes, the best team that money could buy, who fell flat on its face, was being mocked for their two former co-aces winning a World Series.
https://twitter.com/espn/status/1719922792630464678?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1719922792630464678%7Ctwgr%5Eeab9a5ae7953eadca18a858e438d502b21be748e%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fpublish.twitter.com%2F%3Fquery%3Dhttps3A2F2Ftwitter.com2Fespn2Fstatus2F1719922792630464678widget%3DTweet
Perhaps they deserve it, but let’s not pretend that Jacob deGrom or Max Scherzer had anything to do with the Rangers winning a World Series. If they were Texas’ dynamic 1-2 punch in the rotation, OK fine, have at it. But insinuating as such takes away from Nathan Eovaldi and Jordan Montgomery, among several others, who contributed to the first World Series victory in franchise history.
deGrom and Scherzer were the two who did nothing to contribute to the group project and still received an “A.” That’s to no fault of deGrom, who signed a five-year, $185 million contract with the Rangers this past offseason. After making six starts for Texas in 2023, posting a 2.67 ERA with 45 strikeouts in 30.1 innings pitched, he required the second Tommy John surgery of his career, after suffering a torn UCL in his right elbow.
After being traded to Texas at this year’s MLB trade deadline, Scherzer posted a 3.20 ERA with 28 strikeouts in 45 innings pitched. He made eight starts and pitched to a 4-2 record with the Rangers in the regular season. So yes, he in turn helped the Rangers reach the playoffs, but once he got there, he was rather dreadful.
Debilitated by physical ailments, including a back strain which caused him to be pulled from Game 3 of the World Series and eventually removed from the team’s postseason roster, Scherzer posted a 6.52 ERA in 9.2 innings pitched in the 2023 MLB postseason.
Just like they did with a social media post that completely misrepresented a Damian Lillard interview, ESPN was doing this with engagement in mind. At the writing of this article, only one post — which holds over 2.4 million impressions — had more impressions than the one mocking the Mets. Even ESPN’s post which stated that the Rangers won Game 4 and were one win away from winning it all had fewer impressions.
It’s pretty clear what ESPN’s doing here, and while the Mets are constantly deserving of being dunked on, this doesn’t appear to be an instance that fits that bill. Instead, guys like Seager, Marcus Semien, and Evan Carter, among several others, should be the ones highlighted, rather than two aging pitchers who did much of nothing to help Texas capture its first World Series title.
About Sam Neumann
Since the beginning of 2023, Sam has been a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. A 2021 graduate of Temple University, Sam is a Charlotte native, who currently calls Greenville, South Carolina his home. He also has a love/hate relationship with the New York Mets and Jets.