The Tampa Bay Rays, regardless that they are a small (very small) market team, they have always had the ability to put together a strong showing…and they did that…embarrassing the New York Mets at Citifield where they have been virtually unbeatable in 2025.

If you stick to the old adage that you are never as good as when you are at your best and never as bad as when you are at your worst, then the three-game series against the Rays should mean little. However, if you are an “objective observer” (and that term becomes an oxymoron when you are acting and thinking as a fan) then you can evaluate the situation and see that the Rays might have actually exposed the Mets for what they really are – a streaky team with some really good players and some weaknesses that some not so great players are trying to masquerade.

The Yankees are known during their most recent dynasty for having their “Core Four” which included Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, Jorge Posada, and Andy Pettitte. (Personally, I would have included Bernie Williams rather than Pettitte but that’s just me.) The New York Mets could, potentially, have their own Core Four featuring Francisco Alvarez, Mark Vientos, Brett Baty, and Ronny Mauricio. (Luis Acuna doesn’t count because he was acquired in a trade.) But the jury is still out on that and maybe it’s way too early to tell?

The Yankees young group really made an immediate impact and helped the team regain its prominence after years of languishing with no real direction. And now the Mets seem to be emerging from a similar lack of direction and trying to build a strong organization from within. The young players whom the Mets are counting on have given glimmers of hope but just don’t seem to be able to have consistent success on the Major League level.

Let’s make one thing clear…Pete Rose was NOT the “best hitter in the game.” Not even close. I don't understand how fans can even view him as such.

The one thing that is true is that Pete Rose accumulated the most base hits (4,256) while playing in the Major Leagues.

And here are some other things that are true that will contribute to that one truth that has everyone believing something that is NOT true – Pete Rose also played in more games than any other player in Major League history (3,562), had more plate appearances than any other player in Major League history (15,890), and had more at bats than any other player in Major League history (14,053).

Pete Rose with those 4,256 base hits ONLY hit for an average of .303.

Pete Rose was always an arch nemesis in the eyes of New York Mets fans. It goes back more than 50 years. They never forgave him.

And now Major League Baseball has decided to forgive him and reinstate him, posthumously. They also reinstated members of the Chicago White Sox…rather…Black Sox as they were called…as well as some other players who gambled their careers away.

As a lover of baseball, and lover of history, I always was intrigued by the stories about those Sox players who were banned by the very first commissioner of baseball, Kenesaw Mountain Landis. Regardless that those players were never found guilty in a court of law, they were acquitted, Landis banned them. For life.

The 1962 New York Mets were for so long the team that maintained a legacy of ineptitude, yet were always thought of with fondness by adoring fans. That team, regardless of the 120 losses that set an all-time record, was loved. But slowly but surely, that legacy is being erased.

Last season, the Chicago White Sox one-upped the 1962 Mets by losing 121 games and, now, the Colorado Rockies seem destined to take a swipe at pushing the Mets even further back from that romanticized spot in their history.

The Rockies are a disaster after just 40 games and it has been difficult to watch. But they haven’t had the worst 40-game start in history.

What is one move that the New York Mets SHOULD make, and although it would undoubtedly be unpopular, it should happen nonetheless? Move Brandon Nimmo.

Yikes. Did I really just suggest that? But, in reality, it is probably the best time, and there will likely be no better time, then to bite the bullet and move on.

The New York Mets are off to a great start finishing the month of April with a record of 21-10, tied with the Los Angeles Dodgers for the best record in MLB to this point. Just as a reminder, the Mets had their best start to the season in 1972, with a record of 23-7 after 30 games. So before you start getting ahead of yourselves, the Mets finished in third place with a record of 83-73 in 1972.

With very few exceptions, you are never as good as you are when you are your very best, and never as bad as you are when you are at your worst. The Mets have rallied out to the 21-10 record without exactly being at their very best, and certainly not at their strongest.

Ya know…the fans so wanted to get Juan Soto. They were going to leave the country if the New York Mets didn’t sign Soto. Oh, wait, that was in regard to something else…if someone became President. Whatever. But fans were going to be up in arms if the Mets hierarchy failed on that acquisition. And, yet, the complaints keep rolling in.

Yankees fans could tell you what you would be getting with Juan Soto. Soto is a VERY good player. He’s is a formidable bat in the middle of the lineup. He was a young talent when he came up with the Washington Nationals at the tender age of 19 and had immediate success.

Yes…I know, I know…everyone is entitled to their opinions. That’s part of being an American. More importantly, it’s a huge part of being a New York Mets fan.

Mets fans are no different than any other fans – they have a LOT to say. I mean, I have a lot to say too. That’s why I write about a lot of observations that I have about the Mets – past, present, and future.

Some years ago, fans expressed their feelings at social gatherings, at the local pubs, or at the office water coolers. Then talk radio became big and you got to hear so-called experts spew their own brand of nonsense and give you the “privilege” (if you were so lucky) to call in and say or ask something, only to have the host belittle or berate you because THEY know so much.

But now…social media gives everyone the chance to have their motors running and a place to blow out those exhausts into the air. Well that’s the way I view a lot of what I read on the various threads.

Spring trainings were always my favorite times of the year when I was a young broadcaster. My days were spent just hanging around and watching all of the activities, sitting back and enjoying the antics of the players, and, oh yeah, getting some sound bytes here and there.

Based in Miami, I got to cover the Baltimore Orioles who were in town, the Montreal Expos who were in West Palm Beach, but I was mostly assigned as the beat reporter for coverage of the New York Yankees in Fort Lauderdale. Yankees, not Mets.

As a baseball nut, it was Utopia for me. But I was kind of disappointed that I didn’t see a lot of the Mets since they were on the west coast in St. Petersburg, way out of our coverage area. But in covering the Yankees, I did get to see the Mets the few times they bussed it down to Fort Lauderdale.