New York Mets fans react to team simulating crowd noise during spring training drills "Needed a good laugh today" "Preparing for the Braves already"
New York Mets manager Buck Showalter is a big believer in crowd noise, be it real or fake. For the second-straight spring training, the Mets are pumping in crowd noise during drills.
MLB Network's Robert Flores tweeted a clip of Mets practice on Wednesday, as engineers cranked up the artificial sound with every ball that went through the pop-up machine.
The New York Mets have done this several times during Showalter's run as manager. Last spring, several players went on record saying that the artificial noise helped them better prepare for real-game conditions.
"We want to play in front of a big crowd, and in spring training the drills are easy when (it’s so quiet) you can hear on Field 1 what they are screaming in the stadium," Francisco Lindor told the New York Post last spring. "So I think Buck had a good idea."
However, it still makes for fun viewing for baseball fans.
Many fans wondered aloud if the Mets would be practicing – or perhaps already have – a World Series celebration, given the pressure the team is under to win MLB's championship this season with the highest payroll in the league.
Atlanta Braves fans have made light of their National League East rivals' antics, noting that the Mets must be getting themselves ready for the volume they will experience when the teams play in Georgia this coming season.
Of course, if the New York Mets want to get the full game experience, they still might want to consider playing without the artificial crowd noise. After all, they will make a few trips to south Florida to play the Miami Marlins – which were second-to-last in MLB attendance last season with an average of just over 11,000 fans per game. Won't be a lot of crowd noise to deal with there.
First the Baltimore Orioles, now the New York Mets
This isn't the first time a Buck Showalter-led club has piped in artificial crowd noise. When Showalter managed the Baltimore Orioles, he did the same thing. The Mets have also piped in crowd noise at their home stadium in New York when practicing in an empty Citi Field.
"You don’t want to ever do something that is eyewash," Showalter told the Post. "It’s got to be productive for being a better club."