Mets winning streak ends but we definitely haven’t seen the last of Grimace

Is Grimace going away anytime soon? Don’t count on it. The New York Mets pulled off 7 victories in a row since his first pitch at Citi Field last Wednesday. It became a national story. You couldn’t yell at a McDonald’s worker for messing up your order without having a conversation about the Mets.

All good things do come to an end. So did the Mets winning streak. A loss to the Texas Rangers on Wednesday put an end to the winning streak. No matter. The Mets are now only three games below .500 and one behind in both the second and third Wild Card spot.

Mets haters will celebrate the end of the Grimace discussion. Unfortunately for them, an ESPN game this Sunday against the Chicago Cubs is undoubtedly revving up for lots of big purple goop to be put on display.

The Grimace winning streak is over for the Mets, but we’ll see him plenty more

Unofficial mascots like this can rate differently. Donnie Stevenson in 2021 was a bit too forced and because it came from the players wasn’t as lovingly embraced. It was funny for a very brief period.

Timmy Trumpets only fell more toward the Donnie Stevenson side of unofficial mascot power rankings because the team falters after his live rendition of Narcos at Citi Field. It’s those random and unexpected ones that gain the most favor.

This year’s Rally Pimp was a fan who didn’t expect to become a story. It was all about timing for him. If only the Mets had pulled off a winning streak when Seymour Weiner received his round of applause, his presence at Citi Field would’ve been far bigger and more memorable in the zeitgeist of this season.

It’s easy to fall in love with Grimace. Any red, white, and blue-blooded American who grew up eating McDonalds was familiar with him. To see him re-emerge to throw the first pitch at a Mets game brought back nostalgia. Many of us haven’t tasted McDonald’s fries or Coke in years. Yes, the Coke is different there. We hadn’t thought about Grimace.

An onslaught, maybe too much, might be headed our way on Sunday. We know how these national broadcasts tend to be. ESPN, in particular, seems to take the fun to an annoying level. If the Mets lose the first two games against the Cubs, we’ll probably be over and done with Grimace. We’ll thank him for his service, but the talk of him representing a turnaround for the Mets will be over with.

Not if ESPN has something to say about. And upon the return of the Mets to Citi Field on Tuesday against the New York Yankees, would anyone be shocked if Grimace somehow showed up again to help spark the ball club?

The goofiness of the Grimace experience has been an enjoyable one. Let’s hope ESPN doesn’t spoil it too much.