Behold! A gateway to your own past if you wish. All that you knew has been altered.
December 2012: despite Sandy Alderson’s desire to rebuild by trading R.A. Dickey to Toronto while the former journeyman is at his highest value, Jeff Wilpon vetoes the trade and keeps the fan favorite in Queens much to the delight of every WFAN caller and Mets Twitter.
2013: Dickey is OK, but not a Cy Young, and hands in a 14-13 season. The Daily News quotes “Mets insiders” as saying Dickey is grumbling about a contract as he is making only $5 million coming off a Cy Young. Matt Harvey is the new media darling, although winds up needing Tommy John surgery and missing all of 2014.
December 2013: Dickey signs a one year deal with the Mets for $9 million. Free Agent Bartolo Colon gets $10 million from Atlanta.
2014: Without Harvey, the Mets rotation of Dickey, Niese, Wheeler, deGrom and Dillon Gee is part of another lackluster year in Queens as the Mets go 78-84. Dickey is once again 14-13, good enough for another one year contract worth $9 million in 2015. Many fans do not want him back as the Mets are loaded with young pitching. Some in the media suggest his “look at me” persona is distracting to the team.
2015: The media and bloggers might not like Dickey’s social media strategy, but in the eyes of Ron Darling it provides good cover for the returning Matt Harvey to quietly go about his business. However, the Mets struggle through most of the year…. until a trade for Yoenis Cespedes sparks the club to an incredible run.
The rotation of Dickey, deGrom, Harvey, Niese and Dillon Gee is just good enough to edge the Nationals in the NL East by one game. With an 11-11 record, Dickey is sent to the bullpen for the playoffs. Led by Daniel Murphy’s incredible Murphtober, the Mets cruise into the World Series.
In the 9th inning of Game 5 of the World Series, an elimination game, Terry Collins decides to leave Matt Harvey in to finish it off. The Royals get two runs and send the game to extras. In the 12th, Terry turns to Dickey who pitches an incredible 4 innings of shutout ball before Daniel Murphy homers to win it in the bottom of the 15th in one of the franchise’s signature games.
The Mets easily take Game 6, and Dillon Gee is on the mound to start Game 7. Gee has nothing, and Terry turns to Dickey in the 3rd inning. Dickey guts it out for 2 and 2/3, and the Mets win the World Series thanks to a Daniel Murphy sac fly in the 8th. David Wright openly cries tears of happiness as he has finally won a ring in Queens.
December 2015: World Series MVP Daniel Murphy signs with Washington and Dillon Gee signs with the Royals. Dickey signs another one year deal for another $9 million.
2016: The Mets rotation of Dickey, deGrom, Harvey, Matz and Niese struggles at times, but the club makes a surprising late run at the wild card. deGrom and Harvey miss significant time due to injuries allowing Seth Lugo and Robert Gsellman to make major contributions. Despite being only 10 and 15, the rotation is running on fumes as the calendar turns to October and Dickey is given the ball in the Wild Card game. The Giants can’t solve the knuckleball and the Mets advance to the NLCS.
Dickey gets the ball in Game 3 of the NLDS with the Mets down two games to none, but much like the Giants, the Cubs seem confounded by the knuckleball. The Cubs’ bats are never the same and are unable to do damage against Gsellman and Niese as the Mets advance to the NLCS. The curse of the billy goat lives on. The Mets quickly dispatch of the Dodgers and head to the World Series.
In the World Series, the Mets’ luck runs out. The Jays are led by great pitching including twenty game winner J.A. Happ, but the superstar is their home grown phenom Noah Syndergaard, aka Thor, whose 21-5 season has made him a media darling.
Thor is absolutely untouchable in October and wins games 1, 4 and 7 in an epic World Series. Gsellman keeps the Mets in a classic game 7, but down 2-1 to Thor in the 9th, second baseman Dilson Herrera pops out to Jays SS Jose Reyes to end the series and the Mets’ dynasty has quickly ended. Some wonder if the Mets could have used one more slugger.
December 2016: The Mets do not make the 42 year old Dickey an offer, and R.A. signs a one year deal with the Atlanta Braves. Alderson says “I recognize that this is an entertainment business and it was great to have R.A. here. And yet we felt in the best interest of the organization and the long-term popularity of the team that this was the right thing to do.” The Mets head into 2017 with a rotation of deGrom, Harvey, Lugo, Gsellman and Niese.
Time has resumed its shape. All is as it was before. Many such journeys are possible….let me be your guide.
