This week’s Sports Illustrated proclaims the Mets their World Series pick.

Gulp!

2004 Cubs — A year after the Steve Bartman debacle, the Cubs went 89-73 and finished third in the NL Central. (Red Sox)

2003 Athletics — Not a bad pick, but Oakland fell to the Red Sox in five games in the ALDS after having a 2-0 lead in the series. The Athletics won the AL West with 96 victories. (Marlins)

2002 Yankees — A 103-win regular season for the Yankees went by the boards when the eventual-champion Angels beat them in four games in the ALDS. (Angels)

2001 Yankees — Tough for SI not to pick the Yankees after they had won three straight World Series titles. But the Diamondbacks got the better of them in a tremendous seven-game World Series. (Diamondbacks)

2000 Red Sox — Do double curses work like double negatives? Not in this case — the Bosox went 85-77 and missed the playoffs. (Yankees)

1999 Yankees — SI ended the century on the right note, correctly predicting the Bombers as World Series champions. They even picked the Yanks’ opponent correctly, the Braves, who got swept in four games.