THE MetsThe ridiculously scheduled, 10-game, four-city road trip (Los Angeles to St. Louis, Colorado to Seattle) was going great through the first seven games.
New York was 4-3 and needed just one win against the Mariners to secure a .500 trip that sent them to a different time zone against each team. But they couldn’t get it right in Seattle, suffering a three-game sweep that ended things on a very sour note.
Perhaps the Mets were exhausted at the end of their exhausting odyssey. It’s no excuse, of course. You simply need to play the games in front of you and move on. Or maybe the dry spell on the base had nothing to do with the trip.
Either way, as the Mets return home to Citi Field after a day off on Monday to recharge, they are about to begin a week that could define their season.
Before we look forward, let’s look back for a minute…
After the Mets’ measured offseason, a large portion of the fan base was fixated on their belief that New York was “getting it right” for the 2024 season.
In fact, their hypothesis went something like this: Because the Mets, coming off a bad year in 2023, didn’t land any stars during the offseason (despite making a big effort to get Yoshinobu Yamamoto), the off-season was a huge failure. And there’s no reason to expect progress from any of the younger players or bounce-back seasons from guys like Luis Severino or Sean Manaeaand there is no way the Mets will be in contention at the deadline when they can add reinforcements. Furthermore, David Stearns brought its small-market tendencies to New York, Max Scherzer was right about the Mets not planning to fight until 2025 or 2026, and everything is horrible.
In reality, the “Mets are postponing the season” hysteria never made sense.
Yes, the offseason was moderate for normal Steve Cohen standards, but this was due to a combination of the lack of impact players in the market (besides Yamamoto and Shohei Ohtaniwho had no interest in coming to New York), a smart front office desire not to trade any of their top prospects and a focus on growing next offseason, when the free agent class will be led by Juan Soto.
In any case, it turned out that Stearns and Co. knew what they were doing, because what they did was form a competitive team without mortgaging the future.
And this was no accident.
Stearns maintained throughout the off-season that the expectation was that the Mets would be a serious playoff contender. And that’s exactly what they come into play on August 13th, with a 61-57 record and 1.0 games behind the Braves for the third Wild Card spot in the National League.
It should also be noted that when the Mets proved they had staying power, Stearns acted accordingly at the deadline, seriously bolstering the bullpen, rotation, and lineup.
Now, after the hellish road trip that only became this way because of those three forgettable games in Seattle, everything is right for the Mets.
And they need to start taking care of business against two very bad teams — something they’ve had more success with this season but haven’t been able to do against the Angels recently.
First? Three against the A’s.
Oakland has been playing better lately, but its 50-69 record includes a 21-39 mark on the road.
After Oakland, the Mets tied the Marlins for a three-game set.
The Marlins have always been a pest when playing the Mets, even when the teams are mismatched on paper. And Mets fans are, rightfully so, a little traumatized by Miami.
However, this is a Marlins team that is 44-75 and has scored the second-fewest runs (440) in baseball – better than only the White Sox at 29-91.
And an already bad Marlins team watched as the front office wisely dealt with a ton of players at the deadline in order to shore up the farm system.
The last time the Mets played the Marlins was when they lost two of three to them in Miami from July 19-21.
But this isn’t the same Marlins team. Were through trade Jazz Chisholm Jr., Tanner Scott, Bryan De La Cruz, Josh Bell, Trevor Rogers, AJ Puk, Bryan Hoeingand Huascar Brazoban (now with the Mets).
So the Mets need to do what they often struggle with against the Marlins: crush them.
After six games against the A’s and Marlins, the Mets welcome the Orioles for a three-game series to close out the game. This won’t be easy.
But if the Mets can simply have success against the A’s and Marlins, they will likely be ahead of the Braves next Monday. And who knows, maybe the Padres and/or Diamondbacks will decide to lose at some point, allowing New York to gain ground on them.
If someone had told Mets fans before the start of this season that they would enter the game on August 13th, just 1.0 games out of a playoff spot, I bet every fan would have been very happy.
Well, that’s where they are.
Before the season started, I said that the 2024 campaign had, in some ways, 2005 vibes – a Mets team that should be in contention for a playoff spot, would provide a lot of fun moments, and could be building to something even bigger .
The 2024 season, with Grimace, “OMG”, Glizzy Dog and all the immaculate vibes the Mets have had at times, has a chance to end better than 2005 – when the Mets ran out of gas late. But if New York wants that happy ending, the time to put the hammer down is now.
