The New York Mets lived a season with more stops and starts than one of the city's subway trains. It was a rollercoaster of a 162-game ride going from 11 games under .500 to finding out their MLB Wild Card fate on the last day of the season. Pete Alonzo lifted the Mets on the field. Afterward, JD Martinez had a strong message for the skeptics who were hopping off of the Mets' bandwagon this summer.

“You know, us falling behind and stuff like that, I think what it did was take off the pressure,” Martinez explained. “I think these guys came into this year with some of the expectations of last year. We had the big series against (the Atlanta Braves) and the (Philadelphia Phillies). It did not go so well and we started reading the articles.”

“You guys (the media) write such great articles,” Martinez said sarcastically. “You've got all that positivity. It's just one of those things you've got to control and condition yourself. If they say we suck, we suck. Let's suck. Let's go suck together. Let's go have fun sucking. Let's enjoy it and that is kind of what I think we did. We did it as a team and everyone rallied around that. ”

Well, almost everyone. The Mets have one controversy stirring up a little trouble before the NLDS starts.

Mets playing with house money in NLDS

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Martinez took issue with the media contingent talking about pressure and outside noise. Fans buy a ticket so they are allowed to express their levels of satisfaction with any player on the field, civilly of course. Media personalities are paid to create that outside noise. In New York, the pressure is a self-fulfilled prophecy.

The 37-year-old veteran was having none of it while teammates celebrated in the background.

“So what pressure? You look at all of the MLB analytics. They had us getting swept in Atlanta and not even making it (to the MLB Postseason),” Martinez stated. “No one had us advancing. None of the polls had us beating the Brewers. So it's like where is the pressure? (The other teams) have the pressure to win, not us. We can just go out there and enjoy it.”

Next up is a rematch against the 95-win Philadelphia Phillies in the National League Divisional Series.