Start Spreading the News, Mad Max is Leaving Today
During the off season the Mets went shopping for stronger pitching. Along with their already strong hitting, it was crucial that they needed to add additional pitching to make it to October and to go deep into October. Well, that is exactly what they did going out and signing Max Scherzer. After signing Mad Max some experts believed that the Mets were a shoe in to win the National League East. Most counted out the Marlins and the Nationals, leaving the Braves, Phillies and Mets to duke it out to win the division. All of this was poised to work well as long as Jacob deGrom and Max Scherzer stayed healthy. As we know Jacob deGrom is now on the IL and Mad Max, after coming out of Wednesdays game, is now also listed on the IL for 6-8 weeks.
This leaves us to ask the question, “Are the Mets now strong enough to win their division?” Can Chris Bassitt lead that pitching staff going forward? The problem that any team has is that you can score a bunch of runs but if you can’t hold the lead down it makes it very difficult to win. So then the next question we have to ask are Pete Alonso, Francisco Lindor, Mark Canha, or Starling Marte’s bats strong enough to lead them through into October minus Scherzer and deGrom? The next month the Mets play several teams that will either be fighting for a spot in October, like the Giants, Angels, and Phillies. Or they are also going to be playing division leaders like the Brewers and Dodgers leading up to the All Star break. So Mets fans, how are we feeling?
Baseball is a very unique game. We live in an era now where it’s all about analytics, pitch counts, player positioning, and important things get left out like natural baseball IQ, little ball, and simply thinking through it. At the beginning of the season, I predicted the Phillies would win the National League East because I was concerned that the Mets would lose these two big arms. But as baseball goes, and as we know, lots of things happen that we can’t predict. If you would have told me at the beginning of the season, forty games in the Mets would have a 650 winning percentage and a positive 44 run differential with a 26-14 record, I may not have believed you. Of course, that comes on the heels of the Phillies being currently in second place, two games under 500, and the World Champion Atlanta Braves four games under 500 in fourth place.
Personally, I think the loss of these two big arms and playing in such a strong division, not to mention the Marlins playing a lot better than some would have thought, leads me to believe that the Mets are going to be fighting for their lives in the dog days of summer. Over the next eight weeks as they wait for Scherzer to come back, if they can play 500 to 600 ball then they can stay in the lead and walk it through. The key for them is going to be how they handle teams like the Dodgers, Padres, Brewers and Phillies. As we have mentioned before offense sells tickets and defense wins games.
Finally, do I believe that the Mets can hold onto the division and make it into October? YES. They have proven it to me in the first forty games but they are going to have to play no mental mistake baseball and they will have to stay very focused on the field, executing the things that we were taught how to do in little league with very few physical mistakes. Top Fans, what do you think? Can the Mets hold on?
Bill Perkins, Top Fan Rivalry