With the new year comes new expectations, and in 2023, these predictions for each New York professional sports team are so crazy, they may just come true.
New York Mets manager Buck Showalter, despite not winning a World Series, has had a pretty good year. First, after being spurned by a canceled spring training appearance, Showalter gets to meet pop-star Shakira. (Who would have thought that would be a big deal for the the Mets skipper but it was.) Then, Buck's team rattles off 101 regular season wins, leading to Showalter being named National League Manager of the Year for the fourth time in his career. But the biggest and maybe most surprising honor of all came out this week. Buck appears to be the best looking manager in Major League Baseball. No, I'm not kidding.
Major League Baseball fans are growing impatient with the cat and mouse game going on between super-agent Scott Boras and New York Mets owner Steve Cohen, involving the contract of Carlos Correa. The issue at hand? Correa's lower leg injury, that appears significant enough that the San Francisco Giants pulled away a $350 million deal and now the Mets are keeping the All Star infielder at a little less than arms-length for the same reason. Rumors came out on Thursday night that Correa's agent has reached out to other clubs. That may be true but Correa will end up a Met and this is why.
In a hilarious stand-up comedy bit, Jim Breuer compared the plights of New York Yankees and Mets fans, and managed to get in a few Judge jokes along the way.
Sports records are made to be broken, but in these cases, New York athletes have set records that are so impressive, they won't be broken anytime soon.
Back on May 3rd of 2015, Danny Mendick was playing shortstop for UMass-Lowell over at University Field, on the campus of UAlbany. The Rochester, New York native went 1-3 with 2 walks and a run scored in the America East match-up. The former Riverhawk played a flawless shortstop that day. A few weeks later, Mendick was selected by the Chicago White Sox in the 22nd round of the MLB draft. Fast forward 7-years and a few months and that former foe of the Great Danes, Danny Mendick, just signed a $1 million contract to play for Steve Cohen's star-studded, super-team in Queens.
Steve Cohen, in an overnight move in the early hours of Wednesday morning, appears to have snatched the highest priced free agent left on the market from the San Francisco Giants. Even weirder, it appears this may have all begun as the Giants were getting ready to introduce Carlos Correa as their new shortstop.
Finding "holiday week" activities that the entire family will enjoy can be a drag sometimes. Outdoor fun is often curtailed by tough-to-plan-for weather conditions, while other options are either too far away or too expensive. Capital Region baseball fans have a gem in their own backyard and the week between Christmas and New Year's is the perfect time to take advantage.
It is an age-old story in New York. When the iconic Yankees are good, they rule the region. In fact, it was 65 years years ago that the Bronx Bombers' National League neighbors, the New York Giants and Brooklyn Dodgers abandoned their fanbases and moved across the country. Many believed the move was primarily done to get away from the powerful lure of the team in pinstripes. Many decades later and billions of dollars ready to spend, Mets owner Steve Cohen is at least trying to put up a fight for his Queens franchise.
In pro sports, athletes come-and-go every time they need a new contract, but when these New York athletes put on a different jersey, it just didn't look right.
2022 was anything but ordinary for New York's sports teams, and these ten stories left fans shocked, amazing, and even a bit disappointed during the year.