As a Mets fan, it’s rare we confidently come into a new season with legitimate hope. With less than a week away from pitchers and catchers reporting to Port St. Lucie, I ventured back and rewatched a cinema classic - Major League.
The perfect parallel for the Mets’ pitching staff in 2023.
For the past couple of seasons, the Mets’ arms have felt like two - Jacob deGrom and whoever most recently failed from the bullpen…and was served up for Tri-State talk shows. In Major League, we only get to know two pitchers, one of whom is the clear favorite.
Chelcie Ross has a long list of film credits, but he’s among a small group of actors eligible for the Sports Movie Hall of Fame. Omar Epps makes the list for taking over the role of Willie Mays Hayes in the unwatchable sequel.
But Epps was also boxing Against The Ropes with Meg Ryan, romancing Saana Latham in Love and Basketball and a running back in The Program; a realistic portrayal of 20th-century college football that I saw opening weekend 30 years ago - Starting Defense!
I’m not saying any of these films are good, but I will say Ross has an amazing three-film sports run, starting with Hoosiers in 1986, Major League in 1989 and ending with The Last Boy Scout in 1991.
A murder mystery solved by a down-and-out ex-quarterback involving a pro football team, an owner making millions on the side and a shady politician is Hollywood’s modern realization that sports films don’t have to include actual sports. See Sandra Bullock’s Oscar from The Blind Side.
While seemingly a side character, Eddie Harris is a big part of the Indians’ 91-win season, finishing 16-10 according to Harry Doyle and clearly a top starter since manager Lou Brown picks him to start the one-game playoff. Harris also starts the main clubhouse conflict/comedy in spring training when he overhears Pedro Cerrano explaining why he provides cigars and rum to Jobu.
"You trying to say Jesus Christ can’t hit a curveball?"
José Quintana leaned on his off-speed pitches in 2022 with the Pittsburgh Pirates. His lower fastball usage turned the left-hander’s four-seamer into one of the most effective pitches thrown by any hurler according to Statcast.
According to Mets fans’ comments after any article, Carlos Carrasco has been the worst starting pitcher since Oliver Perez or Steve Traschel. Never mind he went 15-7 with a 3.97 ERA, his 152 innings pitched is the most for any returning Met from last year and 29 starts, despite IL stints in June and August.
Carrasco pitched for Venezuela in the 2017 edition of the World Baseball Classic (WBC) but isn’t listed on the roster this time around. Similar to the newest Far East import to Queens - Kodai Senga. He helped Japan win Gold at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, so his absence from Samurai Japan in the WBC is excused.
His success in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball was prolific but is meaningless to this fan base and for good reason. Some of us remember counting on Masato Yoshii in the postseason. Or hearing that Kaz Matsui will make shortstop José Reyes a second baseman.
In a few days, we’ll see if Senga hits 96-97 MPH on the gun and how much movement he gets on his splitter/forkball with the nickname ‘Ghost Fork’. Will Senga indoctrinate his new teammates with a modern version of the famous speech or will Justin Verlander or Max Scherzer cite it for Syracuse-bound starters Tylor Megill and David Peterson - a quick session on how to earn extra income with your offspeed stuff.
"Crisco. Bardol. Vagisil.
"Any one of them will give you another two to three inches drop on your curveball. Of course, if the umps are watching me real close, I'll rub a little Jalapeno up my nose, get it runnin', and if I need to load the ball up, I just...wipe my nose."
Nine Mets will be participating in the WBC, including Quintana, a starter for Columbia. The rest of the starting rotation will remain in Port St. Lucie. I don’t know if the channeled fury that Scherzer pitches with can be explained, but video cameras show a smiling teammate that reportedly helped Taijuan Walker with his offspeed last spring.
Maybe Verlander will share some of the fairy dust he uses on his arm. 40 years old on Opening Day, the reigning AL Cy Young Award winner…Sorry, but after missing essentially two years thanks to Tommy John surgery, you’re not supposed to return and make 28 starts, throwing 175 innings with a 3.00 ERA.
But that’s who is now wearing a Mets uniform. Along with Mad Max, Quintana and Carrasco, Senga is easily the youngest projected starter who just celebrated his 30th birthday. They’re all going against an undefeated foe - Father Time. One that Harris provides sage-like wisdom about to the young flamethrower before him.
"I haven't got an arm like you, kid. I have to put anything on it I can find. Someday you will too."
Harris bestowed this wisdom to Ricky Vaughn, a starting pitcher from California Penal who finds his groove once manager Lou Brown realizes his rookie can’t see. Harris compliments his first set of glasses, setting up Wesley Snipes for a walkaway zinger, but my point is Vaughn is a starting pitcher.
Just because the film seemingly introduced how modern-day relievers enter games doesn’t change the fact that it would have been completely unexpected to the fictional fan base. The Wild Thing is coming to save the day and the ovation makes sense. Similar to the ovation when Mr. and Mrs. Met picked up the trumpets in 2022 to introduce Edwin Diaz.
The parallels between the two pitchers are painfully obvious. Most pictures show Diaz with shaved sides, but not the buzz cut worn by Charlie Sheen. Both pitchers have rocky pasts; fans would point to a 2019 season to forget and attempt to lump 2021 as well. Yes, the losses were loud, but he’s saved 32 games the past two seasons and given up just three home runs in each of the past two seasons.
Is it too much to expect a repeat performance of nearly double the strikeouts (118) to innings pitched (62.0) and down-ballot Cy Young Award votes? Apparently and appropriately, the team spent to keep Adam Ottavino, paid more to snag David Robertson and finally got the left-handed specialist (for the moment) in Brooks Raley.
Will it be enough? I don’t know, but it’s starting to come together, Pepper. Starting to come together.
- Edwin Diaz, CLS
- David Robertson, RHP
- Adam Ottavino, RHP
- Brooks Raley, LHP
- Drew Smith, RHP
- John Curtiss RHP
- Bryce Montes de Oca, RHP
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