Well-meaning Mets are giving us flashbacks to 2000 shortcomings with pregame plans

Between the National Anthem and first pitch, there’s going to be a concert at Citi Field on Friday. The Temptations will sing ‘My Girl’ before the New York Mets potentially lose Game 5 and see their season flushed down the toilet.

If you’ve stayed tuned in for long enough or at least know your Mets history, you’ll have flashbacks to the time when the Baha Men sang ‘Who Let the Dogs Out’ before Game 4 of the 2000 World Series. There’s nothing wrong with having fun. But is anyone else getting a little sick of everything needing to be such a gimmick when the team is one loss away from fizzling out?

The Temptations didn’t deserve to become the Baha Men of 2024

We've reached the “your aunt knows about it” stage with tacky little gimmicks like these. Like when she sent you a friend request on Facebook you knew it was over. Maybe your aunt is cool. In that case, maybe it’s a weird uncle or a math teacher. Everyone has one of those in their life they want around as little as possible.

Francisco Lindor’s walk-up song has become a part of the culture around this team. A fun, unintentional tagalong to it is how the fans have joined in on singing. And for sure, the same fans who were chirping along during his fifth inning at-bat on Thursday will enjoy seeing The Temptations perform the song. For those curious, it’s only one of the original members of the band, Otis Williams. Good for him.

The concert feels like taking a good thing one step too far. Then again, is there ever a right time?

When Timmy Trumpets played Narco live upon Edwin Diaz’s entrance in 2022, it signaled the end of the Mets season. Would a live rendition of My Girl back in September have done the same in 2024?

Call me old-fashioned, but the playoffs should be more buttoned up and about the game. The rally pumpkin is fine. It stays hidden from the action. OMG isn’t going anywhere—at least not for one more night.

The Mets have reached the brink of their season and so have I with the sensational need for this ball club to go viral. Grimace threw out the first pitch and then suddenly the first pitch was a big deal whether it was Kevin James, Jared Leto’s mom disguised as Jared Leto, or the viral sensation herself, Hailey Welch.

This became the year of the gimmick quickly with veteran Seymour Weiner and the Rally Pimp, Max Weiner. Somehow they aren’t related. It’s a, please pardon the partial pun, temptation of fate to continue to have all of these gimmicks. There comes a point when the product on the field almost feels secondary. This shouldn’t happen in the playoffs. Who Let The Dogs Out became synonymous with coming up just short. Derek Jeter led off Game 4 with a home run off of Bobby Jones following the concert. Shohei Ohtani couldn’t possibly spoil the good feelings immediately yet again, could he?

Have fun with the song. But geez, way to risk indenting an American classic to represent the last breath of an amazing ball club.