Against All Odds the 2024 Mets are still here

 The New York Mets are the most exciting team to watch right now in Major League Baseball. They aren’t the “best” team in the game but on a nightly basis you will get your money’s worth whether you’re at the game or paying your cable bill to watch from your favorite seat at home.

Major League Baseball in recent years has had a problem with starting pitchers pitching past the 5th inning. For me that’s where the story not only begins but is the reason for the turnaround that this ball club has been on since the beginning of June (the Mets have the best record in MLB since June 1st). Since the All-Star Break, the Mets have the eighth best ERA in baseball (3.56), the second most shutouts (8), the sixth fewest earned runs (245), and the second-best batting average against (.211). Yes, the Mets offense has been middle of the road during that span 17th in average, 10th in runs scored, 13th in slugging, and eighth in strike outs, but they are winning games, and winning the way they will need to be won in October. The Mets are getting timely hitting and pitching like no one else—the perfect recipe to win when it matters most. The Mets have played in 44 games this season that have been decided by one run. In those games they have a record of 28-16. The Mets have more comeback wins, 41, than blown leads, 37.

But it goes beyond the numbers. Not to get to “eye testy” on you but in order to truly understand this magical run to the playoffs, you needed to watch this team on a daily basis. This was a team left for dead at the beginning of the season after dropping their first five games all of which seemed to come in heart breaking fashion. The Mets debuted their City Connect uniforms only to lose the first seven games while wearing them. They also had a pitcher, Jorge Lopez, openly audition for his release after throwing his glove into the stands and saying he was the worst teammate in the league. This was a team that had Grimace from McDonald’s throw out the first pitch, was made fun of for doing so, and turned it into the main part of their turn around. The Mets are a team that had their starting second baseman on their playoff roster record part of his music video on the field after a comeback win like it was a made for TV Disney movie. A team that fired a border line Hall of Fame Manager, Buck Showalter, for a first-year manager, Carlos Mendoza, just two years after Showalter won the manager of the year and lead the Mets to their first 100-win season since 1988. That’s the 2024 Mets. A ball club that was not talked about all winter because the front office seemed to treat the upcoming season as a retooling year to build up for a star studded 2024 offseason. Don’t believe me, Steve Cohen sent a letter out to season ticket holders late in the 2023 season basically mapping out 2024 as a season they didn’t need to show up for. That’s the 2024 Mets.

They are also a team with an MVP candidate that was hated by majority of the fan base coming into the season. The curses of season’s past thrown Francisco Lindor’s way are now a distant memory as he delivered a moment on Monday afternoon in Atlanta that will be edged in Mets lure forever. A home run that not only led to another improbable comeback, exercised some demons, and oh yeah, clinched a playoff spot in a “down year,” but it also legitimized the trade for Lindor. The Mets shortstop is having a season that will be the closest to a Mets player has come to winning an MVP award since Tom Seaver. Yes, Francisco Lindor has now entered that level of Mets royalty with his 2024 campaign.  

Whether or not the Mets can truly do the impossible and win the World Series this year remains to be seen with the MLB Postseason starting this afternoon, but they have as good a chance as anyone given the level of adversity, self-inflicted wounds, unlikely heroes, and incredibly rememberable moments they have encountered on his 10-month journey to get here. If the baseball postseason is a crap shoot, well the Mets have the hottest hand at the table throwing the dice.  

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