The New York Mets are champions of the world! Or at least for a few moments, that’s what they were told to simulate.
The Mets ran a standard 27-out game drill during camp on Wednesday. The purpose of the drill was to simulate getting all 27 outs without an error, but with one added pressure, to pretend they were doing it in Game 7 of the World Series.
“Fun times and it was an exciting camp day,” Luis Rojas said, adding the idea for the drill was brought around by first base coach Tony Tarasco. “It’s probably the best I’ve seen that drill done in my young coaching career.”
Michael Conforto caught the final out of the drill and the players all ran to the center of the infield and celebrated, launching their gloves in the air, whooping, cheering and jumping around as if they had indeed won the World Series, which was captured by the New York Daily News’ Deesha Thosar.
“You’ve just got to kind of practice how you play and envision,” Dominic Smith said. “I believe in putting great things and positive things in the universe. I feel like it’s more likely to happen. ... It kind of gave me chills, especially looking back at the video. It’s pretty cool.”
Winning the World Series is any team’s ultimate goal, but the Mets have some ways to go before they even reach the Fall Classic.
The last time the team was in the playoffs was in 2016, when they earned a wild-card spot, then lost to the San Francisco Giants. The last time they were in the World Series was the season prior to that, when they lost to the Kansas City Royals in five games.
The Mets have finished their last four seasons near the bottom of the National League East — the Atlanta Braves have remained virtually unchallenged at the top the last three seasons. But the Mets, now under new ownership, have added a few more pieces to their squad, including All-Star short stop Francisco Lindor, to help chase the franchise’s third World Series ring since 1986.
“We’re here because we want to win the championship,” Rojas said afterward of manifesting the team’s highest achievement. “We want to win it, we want to celebrate, we want to bring it to the fanbase, the organization ... it would be a dream come true seeing it and watching everybody celebrate like that.”
