By Emmanuel Berbari
Contrary to everyone’s preseason predictions, the New York Mets are the talk of the town.
Despite all of the hype surrounding their crosstown rivals, the New York Yankees, entering the season, every positive headline is centered around Flushing midway through April.
Off to the best start in franchise history, the team labeled “little brother” currently holds the second-best record in baseball.
Under first-year manager Mickey Callaway, the Metropolitans have taken baseball by storm with an infusion of veteran leadership and exciting youth, a well-balanced lineup, a potent starting rotation and an unexpectedly lethal bullpen.
Simply put, there is a newfound identity for a team that—with nearly identical roster construction—was lost just a season ago.
However, claims pertaining to flukiness, a small sample size and a season running its course will continue to persist.
After all, given previous indications, every New York fan seems to believe that this group cannot possibly remain healthy.
Let’s hold off on the assumptions for a brief moment.
Granted, health is never a guarantee, but the current NL East leaders haven’t even come close to their ceiling.
Noah Syndergaard and Jacob deGrom – the two anchors of the starting staff – have been underwhelming in the early going. Thor has yet to go deep into games and was less than stellar prior to his most recent 10-strikeout performance. DeGrom, on the other hand, has been solid, but far from the perennial frontline starter he has molded himself into these past few years.
Yoenis Cespedes, who was labeled as one of the lineup’s few bright spots going into the season, is batting a feeble .208 and averaging almost two strikeouts per game.
Jay Bruce, the team’s top power hitter a season ago, has only left the park once.
This all overlooks the fact that the Mets accomplished the front-end winning without one of the games brightest youngest stars, Michael Conforto, who was sidelined due to injury.
As a team, they’re hitting a subpar .235 and are only sporting a less-than-promising .392 slugging percentage. So how are they winning games left and right?
Identity can only tell you so much. The same can be said about a general vibe.
Statistics tell another story.
New York is fourth in the National League in on-base percentage, is first in stolen bases, have the second-best defensive efficiency rating and lead three major pitching categories.
Getting on base frequently, stealing close to a prolific amount of bags, playing sound defense and showcasing an elite pitching staff are all traits that had nothing to do with the 2017 Mets.
This year, Callaway’s squad is playing clean, fundamentally sound baseball, and—perhaps most importantly—is fun to watch again. This will make 2018 a fun ride regardless of the ultimate outcome. The unit is taking the field every night believing it can get the job done.
The offseason signing of Todd Frazier has paid immediate dividends, as the third baseman is not only sparking life into a clubhouse that was lifeless a year ago, but also ensuring stability and production on both sides of the ball.
Shifting Robert Gsellman to the bullpen has made a tremendous difference, as the combination of his 1.08 ERA and 14 punch outs in 8.1 innings and Seth Lugo’s comparable 1.13 ERA has shortened games for a work-in-progress starting rotation. The ‘pen is deeper than it has been in some time, and has refound its hammer in Jeurys Familia, whose seven saves, 13 strikeouts and no runs allowed over 10 innings indicate that a closer-by-committee situation will not be in the cards during this campaign.
The roster is by no means star-studded, but it is deep. It is not flashy, but it possesses a winning formula. There might be no better example than Wilmer Flores’s walk-off homer on Sunday.
Obviously, this roster will not stay its current 138-win pace.
The team will not even stay on a 95-win pace.
However, the Mets are a force to be reckoned with, and it’s safe to say that they will not be leaving the playoff picture at any point this season.