Ya Gotta Believe

Well, this is the last day of the Around the Horn linkup. :( I'm pretty bummed about it. I really like having an excuse to talk about baseball. I vote for more sports linkups in the future! Make it happen, blog world!

Anyway, today's prompt is favorite team and a World Series prediction. Unfortunately, I have a very simple answer for that.

Favorite team: Mets.
World Series prediction: Mets.

Remember that time I went to a game and there was a walk-off home run to get the love of my life off the hook for a loss? [praise hands emoji]

BUT let me explain. Well, there's really no explanation for why I'm a Mets fan. That was an accident. My mom is a Mets fan and my dad is a Yankees fan, and when my brother and I were little, he decided to be a Yankees fan. So I decided to be a Mets fan just to make things fair. But really, there's nothing fair about being a Mets fan when you're a kid watching the Yankees win a fistful of World Series rings. (I do, however, have the world's biggest underdog complex, so I wouldn't know what to do with one championship. And apparently fans with low expectations are the happiest. So maybe the Mets and I are a match made in sports heaven even though I really kind of hate them a lot. Go figure.)

The Mets have been pretty terrible for the majority of my life, minus their one World Series appearance in 2000. They lost. To the Yankees. We don't talk about it. Wanna know what else we don't talk about?

It was a very, very dark time.

But an unwritten rule of Mets fandom? Blind, unrelenting, absurd optimism.

See, back in 1973, Tug McGraw screamed "ya gotta believe!" during a locker room speech that sparked a run to the division title. Tack that onto the "Amazin' Mets" of 1969, and at the beginning of every season it's all, "this year is our year!!!!" and "ya gotta believe!!!!" and "amazin' again [insert year]!!!!!" That usually lasts no more than a couple of weeks, because… well, it's the Mets. Let's be real.

But with opening day creeping closer… dare I say that I'm legitimately optimistic about this season? Their record is nothing out of this world (currently 13-10), but all of the wins have felt phenomenal and none of the losses have felt ominous. Plus they've absolutely crushed the Yankees twice in the last few days. Plus they're currently ahead of all other teams in the NL East. Plus…

Who is this team and what have they done with the Mets?

So, hey, amazin' again 2015! And here's an unrelated picture I took of R.A. Dickey back in the good ol' days, because #tbt (and because I love him).