Heading into the regular season, the Mets were tasked with playing 26 of their first 31 games against teams in their own division.
The other five would be against the Yankees and Orioles, two difficult opponents as well.
The Mets came out of that stretch having gone 17-9 against the National League East and 3-2 against the Yankees and Orioles. They posted a run differential of +25, which is a significant indicator for this club. They did that mostly without David Wright, Travis d’Arnaud, and Jerry Blevins, and totally without Jenrry Mejia, Vic Black and Bobby Parnell, which says a lot about the quality of their depth and the character of the team.
In that time, their depth has paid off, specifically in their pitching staff. Jeurys Familia developed into a star closer virtually immediately, going 12-for-12 in save opportunities. Despite two rough appearances in a row this weekend, Alex Torres has become a very reliable reliever from the left-side, and Carlos Torres has stepped up to fill in short-relief on the right side.
But the Mets have been blessed by quality depth on the diamond as well.
The offense hasn’t been very good over the last couple of weeks, but Kevin Plawecki has stepped in nicely for d’Arnaud over the last three weeks and been asked to learn on the fly, enjoying a seven-game hitting streak in the process. He’s also done a good job handling the pitching staff this week, which is notable and significant considering his experience at this level and the lack of innings behind the plate with each leading up to his promotion.
They’ve endured slumps all over the diamond, but generally speaking have gotten the big hits when they’ve needed to, evident by their .450 average with a runner at third and less than two outs, their .444 average with the bases loaded.
But now, chapter two of their season begins tonight.
“We got off to a big start, and that was what we really needed to do to show people we’re not just talking and we can play the game right,” Terry Collins said on Sunday afternoon. “Now we’ve got to go play. Over the next 130 we’ve just got to keep playing.”
They begin a stretch of 14 consecutive games against Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Louis and Pittsburgh. They only play 12 games against the National League East between now and July 20.
And they only have two off-days between now and June 22, a span of almost six weeks.
“There’s no easy weeks, no pushovers, you’ve got to go grind it out and that’s what makes this game so good and yet so tough,” Collins said.
The collective record of the teams they’ll face over their next 37 games is 166-180 heading into play today. However, they’ll face five teams who are .500 or better heading into play today, including the Cardinals who are the best team in baseball next week.
They haven’t played to many games when their opposition has had a .500 or better record so far, but they’re 4-6 in those games, versus 16-5 against teams at .500 or below. So, as was the case this weekend against the Phillies, it’s going to be critical for the Mets to continue to take advantage of the second division teams and continue to win at home over the next month-plus, a place where they’ve been very successful over the early part of the year.
It’s going to be an exciting and interesting month for the Mets. They’ll be able to show what they’re made of against the Cardinals. There’s going to be some electricity immediately this week in Chicago, and the Mets could have some more transition – certainly in their rotation with the injection of Noah Syndergaard now and maybe Steven Matz down the line – and quite possibly on their middle infield in some capacity.
The team could look a lot different by mid-June, but could conceivably be shored up and even deeper by the end of this chapter of the season.
Go get it, Mets…
Just Mets 