Major League Baseball

The sad fans' survival guide to the MLB trading deadline

Published Jul. 29, 2014 5:00 p.m. ET

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Erik Malinowski

Yet another fantastic start Monday for universally beloved Mets hurler Bartolo Colon was met with more than the usual allotment of jokes and joviality that follow his outings. It all adds up: We are in the waning days of July, the Mets are still most assuredly the Mets, and it's trading deadline season. Therefore, since Colon is a functioning human being who plays on a bad team and can pitch a ball with even some consistency, he's pretty much good as gone. 

And that's a depressing thought for Mets fans — insert obvious joke here — but such dismay is certainly not limited to the Queens-based crowd. The Phillies are potentially at the fire sale to end all others, and the Red Sox, Rangers, Rockies and Diamondbacks could all become sellers. 

No matter who gets dealt, there's going to be a lot of baseball fans going through a lot of emotions. As teams try to dump talent they know is going to walk away at season's end anyway, fan favorites finding new locales is a story as old as pine tar. On the flip side, you'll have teams (usually good ones) daring to trade top prospects to land that signature player who would instantly fill a need — for example, a shortstop-shaped void.

Yes, July 31 is a hard day for millions of baseball fans, but we can get through it. I have faith. Here are a handful of things to remember along the way:

Your team stinks this year anyway — Colon is a quality pitcher, of that there is no doubt, but the Mets, in fourth place in the National League East and 7.5 games out of first, aren't doing anything this year. If the Mariners or Giants or Pirates come calling, you keep them on the phone until you have a deal — especially with Colon's $11 million on the books for next season.

The other team's fans also hate this trade — If you don't like this trade, just tell yourself that the other team's fans really don't like it, which is usually true (except for Cubs fans, who lost the ability to feel any true emotions decades ago).

The future will be here soon — Matt Harvey will be back next year! So will Miguel Sano! And Jameson Taillon! In other words, 2015 will be better than 2014 because, as of now, it doesn't exist yet and that automatically makes it better than the present. I believe Doc Brown said that.

Make like an ostrich — Complete denial is a perfectly acceptable strategy in these instances, and never let anyone tell you otherwise. If you're an A's fan who finds that trading Addison Russell is just so completely ^&%&^#% stupid that you can't even deal with this right now, check out for a bit. Take a walk, talk to your family, watch some Game Show Network. Sports is not everything, and not everything is sports.

And finally ...

Sports are fun — Sports are fun! Baseball, in particular, is supposed to be very fun, so have fun enjoying baseball. And remember that baseball is the best sport, so don't let it get you down. Other sports don't have it quite so good.

He's often sad there, too, but you can follow Erik Malinowski on Twitter at @erikmal and email him at erik.malinowski@fox.com.

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