The New York Mets are a first place team on August 8, 2 1/2 games ahead of their division rival.
After covering this club for four years, and seeing the trials and tribulations they’ve gone through during that span, it’s almost impossible to believe.
But, it’s true. The Mets are in first place. They actually have a magic number, although its still 52 with with 53 games remaining. But none the less it’s a magic number.
That’s something that seemed impossible in the offseason. It’s something maybe fans dreamt of in their head, but did not want to say out loud for fear of sounding like a nut.
But, yes it’s true. Finally. It’s actually a fact.
Saying this team has faced a bit of adversity to get to this point would be the understatement of the season. Yes, every club experiences injuries, unusual and unforeseen circumstances, but the Mets always tend to re-write the book in awkwardness and strange phenomenons.
Take the latest setback to Jerry Blevins. He broke the same bone in the same arm falling off a curbside in Port St. Lucie while rehabbing from the first broken arm. Their key left-handed reliever is now out for the season.
Of course, there were the injuries to David Wright, Travis d’Arnaud which have resulted in the two of them missing more than a full season’s worth of games to date in 2015. There are also the losses in the rotation to Zack Wheeler and now Steven Matz, the revolving door in the bullpen thanks to injuries, under-performances, and suspension(s) to Blevins, Jenrry Mejia, Vic Black, Josh Edgin, Buddy Carlyle, Erik Goeddel, and more.
Yet, this is a team which has treaded water, remained in contention despite all of the adversity and roster challenges, and are now in first place.
Again, it’s unbelievable.
Sandy Alderson, for the countless number of times he gets grief, has retro-fitted the 2015 club into a contender in a blink of an eye. Since acquiring Juan Uribe and Kelly Johnson on July 24th, the Mets are 10-3 and are currently riding a seven-game win streak. Tyler Clippard has provided a sense of relief (no pun intended) for anyone who had their doubts about relievers not named Jeurys Familia.
Then there’s Yoenis Cespedes, who has single-handedly transformed the Mets like nobody has since David Wright and Jose Reyes made their debuts more than ten years ago.
He doesn’t just bring his reputation as someone who can hit a baseball a very, very long way but the electrifying Cuban slugger has a certain confidence and swagger that has seemed to rub off on the other 24 players in the clubhouse.
Injecting him into that lineup has once again given the Mets validation in this league, and industry as a whole.
And that industry has begun to take notice.
As the iconic baseball mind of Yankee great and former Met manager Yogi Berra once said, “90 percent of the game is half mental,” and the Mets, for the first time since before the back-to-back collapses in 2007 and 2008, seem to believe in what they can do themselves.
They have the pieces. They have the faith. They have their captain riding a white steed back to the club on the horizon. The Mets are ready to relive 2006 and perhaps get back to their glory days of 1986.
They have 53 games left to prove they’re back for good, that they’re no longer the punchline.
They’re here to throw the punches.
The future truly is now, and it’s both refreshing and fun to cover.
Just Mets 