They’re flowing into Mets camp, player after player after player, like they’re trying to get a good spot in line for the opening of “Star Wars: The Force Awakens.” Shoot, at this rate, you figure Tim Byrdak and John Mayberry Jr. will show up at Tradition Field any minute now.
You want to use this plethora of super-early arrivals as fuel for your fire? To get all the more excited as the Mets launch the next phase (pitchers and catchers report on Wednesday, meaning they must be in Port St. Lucie) of their One Last Step mission? Go right ahead.
But those who paid attention during the dark years know this extra-punctual congregation doesn’t constitute a reaction to the franchise’s revival. Rather, this habit arguably helped get them here in the first place.
“We played late into the year, and for everybody to be out here this early, ready to go, is pretty impressive,” Jacob deGrom told reporters at camp on Tuesday. “It just shows you that everybody is ready to get this season started and looking forward to getting out there and playing.”
Their National League title defense can be traced in part, I believe, to these early days of informal workouts before the bell even rings for real. There’s a laid-back camaraderie among this group, most of whom grew up in the organization, and that served them well during their exciting voyage through 2015.
Yes, it helped them as they survived a thrilling NL Division Series Game 5 against the Dodgers in the enemy territory of Dodger Stadium. More meaningful, there wouldn’t have been an NLDS at all if the Mets hadn’t treaded water in the first half of last year when so many critical guys went down with injuries and the internal replacements dramatically underwhelmed. They hung in there, during a season when the expectations surged, partly because there was a minimum of finger pointing and back stabbing.
David Wright helped institute this culture as a young player, when he flew to Florida well before position players had to report. As he gained stature, more of his less experienced teammates followed his lead.
Terry Collins heightened it through good fortune as well as his own interest in intensifying the ethos. It turned out that Collins, after having spent so many springs at Dodgertown in Vero Beach, Fla., lived within driving distance of Tradition Field when the Mets hired him to manage. So it proved convenient for Collins to drop in whenever he felt like it, check with the trainers and bond with whatever players were on site.
“There is something special about this clubhouse,” returning reliever Jerry Blevins said. “It’s very welcoming and a fun environment to be around.’’
It won’t be easy to retain that environment. The Mets surely will notice a higher volume of media, compared to recent years, stopping by Tradition Field. At road games in Grapefruit League actions, they’ll probably hear more frequent boos. And they’ll be preparing for their highest-profile opening series in, well … probably ever. When the Mets start their season against the Royals at Kauffman Stadium on April 3, it’ll be the first time we’ll see a World Series rematch to kick off the subsequent season.
The Royals, you’ll remember, defeated the Mets last year after falling just short to the Giants in the 2014 Fall Classic, and that allowed Kansas City to win its first championship since 1985. Now the Mets look to follow their World Series loss by winning it all for the first time since … 1986.
Sense a pattern? Mets optimists will. A more tangible pattern, however, already has been established by the players. It guarantees nothing. Yet a crowded camp, at a time when you’re just supposed to let the bosses know you’re in town, should turn up the volume on the drums already being pounded quite enthusiastically.