The event that launched Zack Wheeler into cherry pinstripes. He was rehabbing from Tommy John and at the time the Mets had four dominant starters they thought were going to be in the rotation for the next decade - Matt Harvey, Jacob DeGrom, Noah Syndergaard, and Steven Matz. Wheels turned out to have a better career than three of those guys.
Alex Coffey wrote a little bit more about it at the Inky:
Wheeler doesn't tend to show much emotion, on the mound or in the clubhouse, but the opportunity to start Game 1 surely meant something to him. When the Mets made the World Series against eventual champion Kansas City in 2015, Wheeler, who was recovering from Tommy John surgery at the time, asked the team if he could attend the games in person. His request was denied. He asked if he could sit in the stands. He was told he'd have to pay for his own tickets. So, he stayed at home, in Atlanta, watching the Mets' postseason run from his living-room couch.
Wheeler was an afterthought to the Mets at that point. He was 18-16 in his career. What happened after? He headed down the turnpike and is 59-32 with a 2.94 ERA, two All-Star appearances, and two top-5 finishes in the NL Cy Young vote with another coming this season.
I love that Bernie Madoff screwed the Wilpons over so much they couldn't afford World Series tickets. Maybe that guy wasn't so bad after all. I mean without him we would've never gotten Zack Wheeler. God I miss those idiots.
The Phillies, on the other hand, paid for airfare and tickets for 400 of their employees to Games 1 & 2 of the 2022 World Series, according to Matt Gelb at The Athletic (with ads):
Reaching the World Series is an organizational triumph, and the Phillies have always treated it as such. The team will pay for every full-time employee not based in Philadelphia to fly into town for Games 3-5 at Citizens Bank Park. They'll receive two tickets to each game. Every Philadelphia-based full-time employee will be offered airfare and tickets for Games 1-2 in Houston. The club's traveling party to Texas will be more than 400 people.
Many of those employees -- whether they are from the team's Florida complex or international operations or scouting staff -- have helped in their small way.
That's an ownership group that gets it.
"I won't forget that." Zack Wheeler revenge game incoming.