Friends who live in New York or have visited the city complain about how much it rained in September and October, especially on the weekends. Even seven in a row is already bad luck! There are theories for all tastes about why the water seems to be concentrated on Saturdays and Sundays, as if to annoy the workers, while on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays the weather tends to be better. A study from the University of Arizona blames the phenomenon on pollution caused by traffic, which accumulates during the week.
In New York there are storms, the tail of a hurricane and even cyclones, although in theory they are a phenomenon typical of tropical regions that originates in certain areas of the Indian Ocean and the Pacific. Specifically in the Brighton Beach neighborhood of Brooklyn, where the Cyclones, an affiliate of the Mets, play. From the stands of its Maimónedes stadium (it is curious to give the name of the baseball field to a 12th century philosopher and theologian, a Sephardic Jew born in Córdoba and a great scholar of Judaism) you can almost touch the famous Ferris wheels and roller coasters of the park. Coney Island attractions.
The avatars of a Minor League baseball team, whose games usually do not have more than a couple of thousand spectators (and that some nights there are fireworks or they go dressed as characters from Star Wars or a promotion special allows you to drink all you want for fifty dollars), they do not usually reach the press, except the regional one. But this year even The New York Times has dedicated a report to the Brooklyn Cyclones. It is not for less. In a city with the Yankees and the Mets, they have been the best team of the season.
To do this, truth be told, they have not needed much. Because both those from the Bronx and Queens, despite spending hundreds of millions of dollars on their squads, have had terrible campaigns and have finished second to last in their respective divisions. While who will play in the World Series starting Friday is being decided in Texas and Philadelphia, New York fans are licking his wounds and watching him on television.
With 82 wins and 80 losses, the proud Yankees have narrowly avoided the ignominy of ending the campaign with a losing record, something that has only happened to them twenty-one times throughout their history. But they have missed out on the playoffs for the first time since 2016, and the last time they were proclaimed champions was in 2009. That’s despite having superstar Aaron Judge, who last year set a new record of 62 home runs and signed a $360 million contract for nine seasons. And to have Giancarlo Stanton, Anthony Rizzo and pitchers Carlos Rodón, Gerrit Cole and Domingo Germán in their ranks, who played a perfect game, without allowing any hits and any batter reaching first base.
A confluence of injuries, bad signings, terrible hitting form and little depth in certain positions has been the downfall of the Yankees, and has pilloried their coach since 2018, Aaron Boone, adored by the players because He always defends them and takes responsibility for failures. Although it’s not all his fault. An American saying says that one “can lead the horse to the river, but not force it to drink.” The club’s owner, Hal Steinbrenner, has ordered an “investigation” into the causes of the debacle.
The weather is very strange. While disappointments and bad results have rained in the Bronx and Queens, in Brooklyn, the Cyclones have made their fans enjoy themselves.