March Badness: The Hated Eight

Typically, March is one of the best sports months of the year. The NHL and NBA seasons are reaching their conclusion with teams battling for their postseason lives, NFL free agency is beginning, MLB Opening Day is right around the corner, and March Madness is in full swing!

With the coronavirus pandemic, March has been rendered a quiet month in the sports world, as all major leagues have needed to cancel or suspend their events in order to help stop the spread of COVID-19. To help pass the time, a few of us at Amazin’ Avenue HQ have brainstormed ways to entertain our incredible audience while we wait for baseball to return.

I’d like to introduce you to March Bad-ness! In order to fill the void left by both the absence of baseball and March Madness, we’ve devised an NCAA tournament-style bracket of the worst villains in Mets history. We’ve scoured the depths of our memories, digging up names we’d long since buried deep down in an effort to forget so many painful moments, and put together 64 names that cause Mets fans feelings ranging from mild annoyance to intense loathing.

For the third straight round, Chipper Jones won by the highest percentage, this time nabbing 95% of the vote (338 to 16) to end Freddie Freeman’s Cinderalla run and further cement himself as the favorite in this competition. He will take on Pat Burrell, who dismantled Jones’ Braves teammate Greg Maddux with 64% of the vote (218 to 125), to determine the winner of the Mets Killers region.

John Rocker had no trouble pushing Jimmy Rollins to the side in the Sour 16, toppling him with 72% of the vote (250 to 98) to move on to the Hated 8. Chase Utley, after cruising in the first two rounds, faced his stiffest competition yet in bat-chucker Roger Clemens. Despite winning by the smallest percentage and passing through with 63% of the vote (221 to 130) it was still a fairly decisive victory for the Ruben Tejada-injurer.

Unsurprisingly, the Playoff Villains region will come down to two 2006 Cardinals. Yadier Molina slugged his way past 12-seed Madison Bumgarner with 82% of the vote (284 to 64), while teammate Adam Wainwright sidestepped Derek Jeter with 64% of the vote (223 to 124).

In a matchup that most have seen coming since Day One, the self-loathing region will come down to the two most vilified owners in team history. M. Donald Grant took down Jason Bay with 72% of the vote (249 to 79), while the Wilpons crushed Bobby Bonilla with 94% of the vote (335 to 22), falling just three votes shy of Jones’ total.

Voting will remain open until April 2! Remember to vote, and check back on Thursday to see who will be moving on to the Foul Four!