This Is What Blue and Orange Playoff Baseball Is Like

For over half a century, the Mets' traditional colors have been blue and orange.  For the past eight seasons, the Mets have not played a postseason game.  For the past six seasons, Citi Field has looked more green (as in the color of empty seats) than it has blue and orange (as in the color of Mets fans hootin' and hollerin' at their favorite team).

For those of you who don't remember how Amazin' it sounded whenever the Mets played deep into October...

For those of you who want to know what a sea of 42,000+ screaming fans clad in blue and orange would look like...

Heck, for those of you who just aren't into empty seats...

This is what Citi Field would look like when (if?) the Mets crash the postseason party.

Kudos to the Royals, Orioles and their fans for putting on a wonderful show during the month of October, a show that has still not ended (blame those pesky Royals for not knowing how to win a game in regulation).  Both fan bases have upped their game during the postseason and have made it a joy for non-Royals and non-Orioles fans to watch each team's push to win their first pennants in approximately three decades.

If only the Mets front office had their TVs tuned to these games, they'd know how beautiful a scene like the ones depicted above could be at Citi Field.  But alas, the front office isn't fond of a blue-and-orange October in Flushing.  They like all things green, as in the money they'd rather keep than spend on quality ballplayers who could lead them on a deep October run.  So until there's a drastic change from the way things have been done in the past, don't expect a sea of blue and orange at Citi Field anytime soon.

Kansas City's payroll in 2014 was $92,185,521, which is almost 150% more than the $38,176,000 the team doled out to players in 2011.  Baltimore's 2014 contractual obligations totaled $107,466,653, the first time in the 21st century the team passed the nine-figure mark in payroll.  Both teams play in small markets.  The Mets do not.  But despite playing in a market that dwarfs that of the Royals and Orioles, New York's 2014 payroll was lower than both Baltimore and Kansas City, as Mets players earned $84,951,365 this past season.

It's a blue October in Kansas City.  It's an orange month in Baltimore.  It's neither color at Citi Field.  Green is the new blue and orange in Flushing, because that's the only color you'll see in the stands in October there.  The empty green seats are far less exciting than the colors at Kauffman Stadium and Camden Yards.