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USA Today Sports Media Group
USA Today Sports Media Group
Sport
Mary Clarke

The Mets are so lucky this year fans wanted to believe Eduardo Escobar and Pete Alonso were holding onto lottery tickets

Everything’s coming up New York Mets, isn’t it?

After years of being the butt of many baseball fans jokes, the Mets are actually a good and fun team to root for this year! Of course, there’s still time for things to completely collapse in typical Mets fashion, but so far so good.

The hope for the Mets is at an all-time high right now, which is why many baseball fans were quick to believe their eyes during a game against the Philadelphia Phillies on Sunday. With the Mets leading 6-0 at the top of the ninth with bases loaded and two outs, manager Buck Showalter made a mound visit to swap pitchers in a key spot. Cameras then caught Eduardo Escobar and Pete Alonso handing Showalter a handful of cards that looked, at first glance, like lottery tickets.

While they do look similar to the scratch off lottery tickets you’d get from your grandparents at Christmas, those pieces of paper are actually defensive alignment cards! These cards are used to help players position themselves against specific batters rather than memorizing that information or getting it from a coach in the dugout with hand gestures.

Instead of lottery cards, it’s clear Escobar and Alonso are swapping out their alignment cards with a new pitcher coming in for the Mets. But hey, considering the Mets have been incredibly fortuitous this season, maybe they should be thinking about buying into the lottery at some point!

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