5 reasons why this Mets team is so beloved by the fans

I’ve been a die-hard New York Mets fan for 17 years, and I’ve followed this team through the highs and lows since then, from the teams we loved to love and the groups we loved to bash. 

But make no mistake, the 2022 Mets are the best Mets team I’ve ever watched, and New York is falling in love with this team as the wins keep piling up. This is a complete team, full of world class players playing at an exceptionally high level, and I share things I love about this year’s team with many other passionate Mets fans who have waited years for a winner. 

1. Mets closer Edwin Diaz has the best walk-up song in baseball, and his dominance on the hill adds to the legend. 

Diaz is putting together one of the best seasons ever by a relief pitcher, and his intro song of “Narco”, by Timmy Trumpet and Blasterjaxx, has riled up the fanbase, with the trumpets bringing the entire Citi Field faithful to its feet. And now the Mets’ success in holding leads has a theme song which trumps any other walk-up song in sports right now. 

The craze around “Narco” has gotten so much attention, that Timmy Trumpet, an Australian disc jockey, will perform the hit later this month at Citi Field. And if you get the chance to watch their YouTube video, most of the recent and most popular comments reflect the cult following of Mets fans for mentioning Edwin Diaz. 

If you had the chance to watch the Chicago Bulls in the 1990s, you know they always were introduced to “Sirius” by The Alan Parsons Project, and that epic hit was reflective of the success that team had in winning six championships in eight years with Michael Jordan as its star, and it was the scariest sound of opponents in sports in that decade.

This Mets team has its biggest rival of a walk-up to that song, and also Mariano Rivera’s “Enter Sandman” by Metallica and Trevor Hoffman’s walk-up of AC/DC’s “Hell’s Bells.” It is one of the many reasons fans look forward to watching Mets games this year. 

2. Max Scherzer brought a winning attitude with him to Queens, and it is unlike anything Mets fans have seen from one individual player in ages. 

Max Scherzer signed the contract that features the largest annual average salary in baseball history to date, with a salary of $43.3 million before this season, and let’s just say he’s been worth every single penny of his contract.  

There is a strong argument to be made that in a career with 198 wins and 3,146 strikeouts that he is pitching the best he’s ever pitched in his Hall of Fame career. And this is even though he missed seven weeks due to injury. He has a career-low 1.93 ERA in 102.2 innings pitched this season.

Scherzer is such a competitor that was built to win in New York. He’s got a no-nonsense attitude and his fiery demeanor on the mound gets fans talking. He facilitates the conversation with his rotation mates and his catchers about how to approach the other team, and it has made the Mets a team nobody wants to face come October.  

Scherzer is emblematic of the culture that Steve Cohen is trying to build, and with this team 30 games over .500 and getting ready for the playoffs, it gives Mets fans something to look forward to every fifth day, and it feels like the Mets are expected to win. 

We despised him for seven years because he was doing the same thing for the division rival Washington Nationals for six and a half years, including him leading them to the franchise’s first World Series title three years ago. But now that he’s a Met, we couldn’t be any thankful that he decided to come. 

3. Buck Showalter was the perfect managerial hire for the Mets, and this team is so well-coached. 

When was the last time you could say the Mets had an incredible in-game leader of men? I haven’t noticed much of it from the franchise until this year. The Mets simply couldn’t afford to do another two-and-done manager hire after the disasters of Mickey Callaway and Luis Rojas. Buck Showalter was the perfect hire for this win-now team.

Showalter has endeared himself to Mets fans for a variety of reasons. They range from him standing up for his team after all the hit-by-pitches this season to his post-game wisdom, but most importantly, surrounding his team with the right coaches and personnel. The Mets have the best challenge rate in all of baseball by a colossal margin, and Showalter credits his replay guy for giving him the right buttons.  

Keeping Jeremy Hefner as their pitching coach was a huge plus, and he lured Eric Chavez away from the Yankees to be the Mets’ hitting coach. Glenn Sherlock was another strong hire to be the bench coach (he previously worked for Buck Showalter with the Yankees and the Diamondbacks). 

Showalter has gotten his team to hustle, to pay attention to proper detail, and he played a huge role in instruction on the field, and it was evident in spring training that it would translate to great play on the field. 

5. Daniel Vogelbach has elevated this Mets offense to new heights, and now has a cult following. 

Since coming over from the Pirates in a trade, Vogelbach has become a folk hero in the eyes of many Mets fans. His personality has won over those fans, while his bat has won over the rest of the fan base. The Mets desperately needed some production from the designated hitter position after the All-Star break, and he has delivered the goods in a big way. 

The Mets’ recent hot streak coincided with Vogelbach’s Mets debut on July 24. As a Met, Vogelbach has batted .333 with 2 homers, 10 RBI’s, and a 1.020 OPS in 56 plate appearances. However, he is not getting the most attention because he’s been probably the fourth best hitter on his own team since the trade! Francisco Lindor, Pete Alonso, and Jeff McNeil all have higher batting averages in the team’s hot stretch. 

Vogelbach also connects well with everybody in the clubhouse. And as a result, he has been one of the most popular players within that clubhouse. 

As for his personality, it has been through the roof. You now see signs at Citi Field in support of Vogelbach, his hustle around the bases is noteworthy. But recently, as part of the team’s Women’s Day celebration, he chose “Milkshake” by Kelis as his walk-up song, and there is a campaign to have him keep that song for the rest of the season.