National League Town (a Mets podcast)

National League Town looks back at three baseball legends who’ve recently passed: the most prolific hitter of all time; the pitcher who generated a mania all his own; and a cat we couldn’t hear enough about. Join Greg and Jeff as they remember Pete Rose, Fernando Valenzuela and, yes, Hadji.

Click and refresh all you like. Juan Soto is not yet a Met. Whether or not he will be is the steamiest Remains To Be Seen component of this Hot Stove season, but there are other matters to preoccupy Mets fans everywhere, including the ones at National League Town. Will Pete Alonso stay? Will most of our rotation go? Who will move to new positions? What heretofore total stranger will play his way into our hearts next year? Greg and Jeff have no conclusive answers, but that won’t stop them from thinking out loud. Also, they remain very high on the value of Francisco Lindor.

How great was 2024 to be a Mets fan? That’s one of the questions Greg and Jeff ponder as they conclude their reflections on a year they didn’t see coming, yet are grateful to have lived through.

Greg and Jeff always believed in the 2024 Mets, especially once they gave up on giving up on them. National League Town retroactively pieces together its realization that — despite some stubborn cynicism that beset each of our co-hosts — the Mets were slowly but surely forging an unforgettable season.

Congratulations to whoever won the World Series, specifically for ensuring who didn’t win the World Series. Mostly, in the wake of a fifteenth consecutive joyous Elimination Day, we look forward to what could be a year from now. You never know, but it’s enough at this point to think of the Metsian possibilities.

With the NLCS over, we’re wearing black, but like the Mets on Fridays, only for a day. Mostly we’re celebrating the 2024 club taking us through the postseason as far as they could. We’re sorry to leave it all behind, but we’re oh so glad to have been as immersed in it as we were.

Did we give up after falling down three games to one in the National League Championship Series? Don’t feel compelled to answer that. The important thing is the Mets won Game Five, the NCLS extends to a sixth game, and Greg and Jeff are filled with hope. Mets fans couldn’t ask to be filled with much more.

The bases were loaded. Mark Vientos was up. Then the bases were unloaded and the Mets were soon on their way to tying the National League Championship Series at one game apiece. Sound familiar? A Mets fan could get used to clutch postseason grand slams when not squirming uncomfortably while crossing fingers, toes and everything else that a sizable lead doesn’t shrink, let alone vanish. The emotional whirlwind is all part of the rich tapestry of October baseball that continues to make for a month like few others in Mets history. Greg and Jeff come up for air long enough to savor it before going back to alternately high-fiving and worrying their heads off.

The bases were loaded. Francisco Lindor was up. Then the bases were unloaded and the Mets were soon on their way to the National League Championship Series. Greg and Jeff relive the latest Greatest Moment in New York Mets History; discern among excitement, anxiety and this strange thing that must be confidence; and say goodbye to a team of rivals by pointing them to the ever-expanding couch of vanquished postseason opponents.

Atlanta to Milwaukee to Atlanta to Milwaukee to Philadelphia to, at last, Citi Field. The New York Mets are coming home to play Games Three and Four of the National League Division Series with one win in their pockets and two on the table for the taking. The NLDS in progress, featuring two intensely familiar rivals, has represented gripping baseball, and sure enough, Greg and Jeff are holding on for a helluva ride the rest of the way.