With the National League Championship Series back at Citi Field for the first time since 2015, the Mets called upon two legends to get the night started on Wednesday.
Doc Gooden and Darryl Strawberry returned to Flushing to throw out the ceremonial first pitch before Game 3 of the NLCS against the Dodgers. Gooden and Strawberry were members of the last team to bring a World Series championship to the Mets in 1986 and the two see similarities between their team and the one currently fighting to get to the Fall Classic.
“They do it just like we did,” Strawberry said. “You get in those situations you don’t really have to just count on one particular guy to do all the time. It’s like ok, we play today, we win today. Let somebody do it, whoever wants to do it, do it and that’s what baseball is really all about when you get into playoff baseball. Because it’s a short window, it’s a short time and it’s not guaranteed that it’s always going to be like this for you.
“And you got to take advantage of it and I think they’ve done a great job of taking advantage of those situations.”
Strawberry knows the way New Yorkers treat champions. If you win in this city, typically, you are a legend forever. And that comes with plenty of perks.
“I would say they would get a lot of free food,” Strawberry said when asked what a championship would mean to the Mets. “And a lot of free clothes. Because when you win here, the people in this city take care of you. I know that for us when we won in ’86 and we came back, we never had to pay anything.
“It’s a great place to win, it’s a great place to play, it’s a great place to have fun. Because when you win in a place like New York City, you are bigger than life.”
Both Gooden and Strawberry were also members of championship teams with the Yankees — Strawberry in 1996, 1998 and 1999 and Gooden in 2000. Gooden was on the other side of the lines as the Mets dropped the 2000 Subway Series to the Bombers, and a rematch has become very real over the past week with both New York clubs in the Championship Series.
“I think it would be great for New York, great for the city,” Gooden said. “Obviously, it’s different leagues, but it’s still a big rivalry. In 2000, I was on the other side and it was a little weird for me. Coming in from the visitors dugout, coming in on a a bus to Shea Stadium. I think it would be great for the city, great for the fans but obviously, I would be pulling for the Mets.”
The Amazin’s certainly have their work cut out for them to get to their sixth World Series in franchise history as a star-studded Dodgers team stands firmly in the way holding a 2-1 series lead.
