hardball Joel Sherman David Stearns’ low-key comfort zone is right Mets road after history of big-money flops By Joel Sherman Published Aug. 22, 2026, 12:40 p.m. ET I do not believe in hexes, jinxes and curses.
Yet, I am not at peace with why seasons like the current one keep stacking up on the Mets; why great expectations dovetail into large despair.
If I did believe in hexes, etc., I would wonder if they are the “Damn Mets.”
That their soul was sold in 1986 to honor then manager Davey Johnson’s spring proclamation — “Not only will we win this year, we will dominate.” Were all the baseball miracles used up in two fortune-heavy Game 6s: the three-run ninth and 15th-inning NLCS Game 6 win in Houston that enabled the Mets to avoid Mike Scott in Game 7, and the Russian novel World Series Game 6 triumph over the Red Sox?
