For better or worse, being booed by your own fans is something that comes with the territory of playing in New York. The expectations are that much higher and so is the pressure. So when results don’t meet expectations, you are going to hear it from the fans. Now, some may consider it a thing of the past, as times have certainly changed and fans have more accessibility to athletes than ever. At the same time, those who pay for a ticket, feel that the price of admission puts them well within their right to boo.
So, it shouldn’t exactly come as a surprise that a chorus of boos has been raining down at Citi Field this weekend. Needing to start hot out of the gate in the second half in order to turn their season around, the Mets have looked lifeless against the Los Angeles Dodgers. And the fans can sense it. Now, whether you agree with the prospect of booing or not, it was only a matter of time before frustration hit a tipping point for a fanbase of a team that hasn’t performed to the expectations placed on them.
The 42-50 Mets have the highest payroll in baseball, but they’re closer to the cellar of the National League East than they are first place. Even if it’s not outwardly shown, the players share the same frustration with the fans, and so does everyone in the organization. People’s jobs are on the line here.
Ahead of the team’s series finale against the Dodgers on Sunday, manager Buck Showalter shared how an uptick of boos has landed with both himself and his team.
“It lands, of course. We share that frustration,” Showalter said. “We control it and there’s a way to make them stop. They want us to win and they want us to do well, no more than we do.”
Buck Showalter shares how the uptick of boos land with both himself and his team:
"It lands, of course. We share that frustration. We control it and there's a way to make them stop. They want us to win and they want us to do well no more than we do." pic.twitter.com/A9uaE1aOI7
— SNY (@SNYtv) July 16, 2023
It’s a good answer by Showalter, who certainly understands what it’s like to play in New York. He knows it’s up to his ballclub to change the narrative, but time is running out on the Mets being able to turn things around.
[SNY]
