It’s been a while since we’ve been here, right?

Nine whole years have come and gone since the Mets last played in the postseason. For reference, the first iPhone came out the next year, Twitter was only 7 months old, and I was 9 years old playing my first year of little league. A lot has changed since then, and many fans may have thrown out their playoff cheering etiquette. After all, the last taste of postseason baseball that we have is a called strike on a 3 on a curveball from a rookie closer on a team that won 83 games. Yuck.

Now it’s 2015. The Mets won 90 games and beat out the Los Angeles Dodgers, or as I like to call them, “The Phillies of the West” (I’m looking at you, Chase Utley and Jimmy Rollins). That series may have been confusing due to the odd combination of great pitching, takeout slides, non-retaliation, lifeless offense, and, dare I say, smart Daniel Murphy baserunning.

We’re heading into a series with a more poised opponent, the Chicago Cubs, as the home team. This means that Mets fans will have to be on their “A” game cheering from the stands, the bars, and the couches. That being said, here’s how to handle the biggest series for the Mets in nearly a decade.

If the team happens to lose a game, please do not freak out. It’s a best-of-7 series, not a winner-take-all scenario, in case you forgot how deep rounds of the postseason like this worked. One game will not make or break the series, and you can be assured that the team knows that they need to win to have a chance to advance. If the Mets happen to lose and you’re at the game, this is not grounds for crying, moaning, or whining (although slight complaining is allowed) until they’ve lost 3 games and are facing elimination. Then all of the blubbering and heartbreak that your body will allow can commence.

Conversely, a Mets win, while it brings us closer, does not guarantee us a World Series berth. Elation and joy will naturally come as a part of the unseen territory that we a re currently in, but with that may come delusions of grandeur of a World Series win and a ticker-tape parade. I know this is relatively new to Mets fans, but the NLCS needs to be taken one game at a time, for our own sanity.

Every home run and run scored is big. However, jumping up and down at the sight of a sacrifice fly or RBI ground out is unsavory and a major breach of playoff watching etiquette. Larger celebrations of this nature are approved only in the 7th inning or later and the run gives the Mets the lead. Take, for example, Daniel Murphy. When he scored on Travis d’Arnaud’s sacrifice fly in the 4th inning of Game 5 against the Los Angeles Wimps- uh, I mean Dodgers- a simple applause of approval is all that was necessary. His 7th inning go-ahead homer off of Noah Syndergaard-hair-wanna be Zack Greinke elicited jumps and screams of mass hysteria from my dorm room, and rightfully so.

Of course, there will always be storylines surrounding each player from each team. Proper playoff fandom requires a fanatic to pick a single player from the opposing team to absolutely hate. When I say hate, I mean despise, I mean Chase Utley despise. It’s a fun, but maybe not the most mentally sound, way to let off some steam from some things that have angered you in the series (no, really, I hate Chase Utley). This deep into October may seem like a strange wonderland of pumpkin spice and camaraderie, but let’s not forget about the players that hurt the Mets at the plate and at second base on a takeout slide. Sorry, I mean players that can potentially swing the series in favor of the opposition.

Don’t be like Dodgers fans. That’s an important lesson that we learned from the NLDS after dispatching them in 5 games. After Murphy’s dinger put the Amazin’s up by one (only one!) the crowd was gone, sent back into the lifeless abyss of an impending first-round exit. They didn’t try to lift their team’s spirits at all; instead they deflated with each 100 MPH fastball. That is not how to cheer for your team in the biggest game of their season; the phrase “Loyal ’til the last out” should mean something.

Lastly, and most importantly, Mets fans should act like we’ve been in this situation before. Although we’re the scrawny freshman invited to his first frat party, let’s try to pretend that we can hang with the big boys in terms of cheering, booing, and watching. This requires watching every inning of every game possible to ensure that you don’t miss a second of potentially life altering baseball. Be cool about it, don’t geek out over Wilmer Flores hitting an opposite field bloop single in the bottom of the second of Game 1. Go crazy when he rips an inside fastball from Jake Arrieta over the ivy in left field in the 8th inning of a crucial Game 5. Know when to cheer and when to jeer, but deep down inside love every minute of it.