On June 8-9 of this year, the New York Mets and Philadelphia Philles faced off in MLB’s signature London Series. With the eyes of baseball upon them, the Phillies were the toast of baseball, landing in England with an MLB-best 44-19 record and World Series expectation. Meanwhile the world was on full LOLMets watch, as New York arrived with a 27-35 record amid speculation as to when a regular season sell-off of players would commence and exactly how many years it might be before the franchise could hope to content again. The Mets would return home with a split of the series, but still seemingly little to look forward to in 2024 besides whimsical promotions such as one that would see a random fast food mascot throw out the first pitch in their second game back from London.