The Mets have won 12 of their last 18 games, meaning there’s still a chance that my preseason prediction the club would play .700 ball over a 20-game stretch of the season can come true! Who says these games are meaningless? Of course, to do so the Mets will have to beat the Nationals the next two games. In case you’ve been living under a rock, the Nats have won 13 of 16 meetings with the Mets this year.
Ordinarily, we might hope for Washington’s Triple-A lineup but the Nationals have the best record in the National League and will look to cement home field advantage by playing all of their starters. And the Mets will not have Jacob deGrom go in the series, as his turn will not come up until the final series of the year against Houston, should the Mets allow him to even make that start.
It’s been a weird season in the National League East, with only one team likely to finish above .500 for the year. That hasn’t happened in a non-strike year since 1973, when the Mets took the East with an 82-79 mark and the Cardinals finished second at 81-81. Adding to the weirdness is that every team won at least 10 games against one other divisional opponent this season.
The Mets won 10 games against the Braves, 11 against the Marlins and 13 versus the Phillies. The Braves won 11 games against the Nationals. The Phillies somehow won 10 games against the Nats. The Marlins posted 10 wins against the Braves. And the Nationals won 10 games against the Marlins and 13 (and counting) against the Mets.
An optimist could point out that the Mets were 73-67 in games where they did not play the Nationals. A pessimist could point out that while Washington gave the Mets fits, they also finished under .500 against four of the other five teams in the NL with a winning record. Against the six teams above .500 in the league, the Mets have a 16-34 (.320) ledger.
One of the signs of a good team is beating the teams you’re supposed to beat. But implied in that is you more or less hold your own against the top teams in the league. And the 2014 Mets were dismal failures in that regard.
In Jerry Manuel’s last season, the Mets finished 79-83, comparable to what this year’s squad will do. And that team ended 30-37 against the seven teams in the league to finish over .500 for the year. Even Art Howe did a better job against good teams. In his final season of 2004, the Mets went 71-91. And they posted a 34-60 mark against the league’s nine best clubs, including a 4-15 mark against the Marlins. That’s a .362 winning percentage.
Even if the Mets sweep the last three games against the Nationals, their winning percentage against the top teams would be .358 — or worse than light-up-the-room Howe. If they were to lose all three, their winning percentage would drop to .302 for the season.
It’s hard to say exactly what this means. Perhaps it’s nothing but a fluke and next year the Mets will win the season series against the Nationals. However, if given the choice, no one should pick to finish worse in a category than lame duck managers Manuel and Howe.
1988 regular season: Mets 10 Dodgers 1
1988 playoffs: Dodgers 4 Mets 3 Ouch!
The Dodgers could do that because they were a talented winning team so even though they could not beat the Mets during the season they were closer talent wise to compete in a 7 game series and even win it.
In 2014 the Mets could not beat winning teams. That record is atrocious. There is apparently a talent differential between the Mets and these good teams. The Mets need to get closer in talent to these winning teams in order to compete with them.
Harvey/Parnell is a good start but the Mets need to improve at shortstop and left field in order to compete at a playoff level.
Compare the 2014 Nats starting line-up with the 2014 Mets starting line-up. Now you know why the Nats dominate. If you say “yeah, but David Wright….” then you have to consider Ryan Zimmerman and his injuries. The bottom line is that better players make the difference. Mike Rizzo has done an outstanding job as GM. Enough said!
We gotta record good enough to bring back Alderson and TC!
If the Mets can win the series against the Nationals, regardless of who they’re starting in the lineup, the level of confidence would have to go up in the clubhouse. The past couple of years, it seems that the Mets play better in the second half, but start off the first half at a snail’s pace. Hopefully they fulfill your prophecy of playing .700 ball and start off hot next season.
huh? The Mets have been nothing but second half disasters.
Seems that when clubs come to visit the Mets at Citifield there is no distinct home field advantage for the Mets. So somehow or someone there has to be a confidence builder. I remember Dwight Gooden pitching against the Pirates at Shea. First batter he faced he drilled him with a 95 mph fast ball then glared into the Pirate dugout. Needless to say the Pirates went on to lose and only had three hits. Winning clubs look forward to playing the Mets. Losing clubs come to Citifield to regain their winning ways. Time to change the atmosphere and attitude.
At 82 wins, the Mets would have the same wins as only one of three Mets’ teams to play in a World Series. And likely, that would place them in possession of second place.
I’ll just chew on that, and be happy with that outcome. Especially, especially this year given head winds.
I’d suggest folks go to April and ask yourself if you thought this team was going to be in a position to be in second place. Or for that matter, win even 80 games.
Id like to be cautious with pushing the September success too far. If you asked me would we be in second, Id say no. If you asked me might we finish 5 from last, I would have said yes. The plain fact is, this division is the worst in the NL this year. I never would have guessed that ATL would have had a full on Mets meltdown. I would not have expected that for the Reds either. We’ve racked up some wins precisely at a time when arguably better teams have fallen flat on their faces. I mean a win is a win. Period. But, neither of those teams would have been predicted to be so poor. Id also say we havent won 80 games. THe Nats usually give us a full dose of reality, and the Astros have been playing good baseball…and known to be quite an issue for or team.
Im happy that we swept the braves in ATL (or swept the Braves, period). Is this a sign that weve turned around or that TC is now firing real bullets? I tend to think not.
The Reds lost Votto and Phillips for a significant amount of playing time this year. It’s the one factor that you can’t predict. Key players getting injured and a minor league system that can replace the players is just not going to happen. Wright playing with a bad shoulder is just plain stupid. We know he’s a gamer but you need your team leader healthy enough to contribute. I would rather he miss a month and return 100% than playing at 50-60 of his capabilities. The Mets are neither a good or bad team. Yes they beat up the Braves but then they’ll wind up losing or maybe getting swept by the Astros.
Geez you’d think after 4 years they figured it out? Maybe? Just maybe Sandy finally realized that his reclamation process of veterans needed to be re-evaluated? The Mets fortunes turned when they finally figured after 4 years that maybe the kids given a chance might do better than the Fransworths, Lannans and Valverdes of the world. I know it goes against the Terry Collins philosophy of letting the kids play. Let’s hope we don’t see Bobby Abreu in a Met uniform next season.