Mets have champagne; Nationals have Papelbon

Sunday night was the first supermoon eclipse since 1982. It only felt like it was that long since the Mets had meaningful games in October. Finally, the Mets are back in the poststeason!

The Mets won their first World Series the year of the first moon landing. The Mets won their second World Series the last time Halley's Comet was in the vicinity of Earth. Could the stars align a third time in the year of the supermoon eclipse?

With the Mets' starting pitching, anything is possible, especially now that Matt Harvey appears to have rediscovered his willingness to put the team first, which is great news. As much as I enjoy seeing celestial events light up the evening sky, the event I really enjoyed seeing was 97 pitches of a Dark Knight. 

Of course, what I enjoyed seeing most of all was the extensive coverage of the postgame celebration on SNY. A year and a half ago, Daniel Murphy received some foolish sniping over his taking three days of paternity leave. After the game, Murphy celebrated on the field with his young son. The Mets even came back on the field to celebrate with Met fans who had made the trip to Cincinnati.

Inside the clubhouse, some Mets smoked celebratory cigars. When SNY finally cut to a commercial, it was fortunately not one of those grisly anti-smoking spots.

*

The Mets trailed the Nationals by three games at the trade deadline just two months ago. Then the Mets capped off their midseason moves by trading for Yoenis Cespedes. The Nationals had recently completed their own move, supposedly bolstering their bullpen with the acquisition of Jonathan Papelbon. 

Five years ago, Mets' star closer Francisco Rodriguez allegedly assaulted his girlfriend's father at the ballpark. Sunday, Nationals' star closer Jonathan Papelbon tried to attack teammate Bryce Harper in the Nationals' dugout. Harper is only the front-runner for NL MVP. Maybe it's just a coincidence that the Nationals' collapse began when they acquired Papelbon, but considering that the move also sent demoted closer Drew Storen into a tailspin culminating with Storen breaking his thumb in frustration. At least Storen did so while slamming a locker door, not trying to slam a teammate.

Another parallel with the Mets and Nationals is that the Nationals had their own issue with innings limits for a pitcher coming back from Tommy John surgery who was represented by Scott Boras. In 2012, the 98-win Nationals shut down Stephen Strasburg in September, only to lose in the first round the following month. When the Mets face the Dodgers in the NLDS, they will continue to have Harvey's services.

But the Nationals figure to come back strong next year, especially if they have better luck with injuries and get a new manager and closer. So congratulations to the Mets for seizing their opportunity this year and capturing the NL East crown. Ya gotta believe!