On July 31, the day of the MLB Trade Deadline, the New York Mets stood at 52-50, 3 games back of the Washington Nationals in the National League East heading into a weekend series against them. The Mets then proceeded to sweep the Nationals, and after sweeping the Colorado Rockies with a 12-3 victory Thursday afternoon, have produced a 10-2 record in the month of August and gained 7 games on the Nationals. They are now 63-52 and have gained recognition as front runners for the NL East title and serious contenders for the NL pennant.
The Mets have played good baseball all season. Their 42-18 home record sits only behind the St. Louis Cardinals for the best home record in baseball, and their pitching staff has been dynamite, with Jacob deGrom, Matt Harvey and Bartolo Colon already with double-digit victories and a team ERA of 3.18, ranked 2nd in the Majors. However, Sandy Alderson and the Mets front office knew if they were to make a serious push for playoff contention, they would need to add bats to their inconsistent offense.
Surging Mets Team to Beat in NL East
They started with a trade involving the Atlanta Braves on July 24 for utility bats Kelly Johnson and Juan Uribe for two minor league pitchers not destined for their immediate future. In his 1st game with the Mets, Johnson went 2-6 with a HR, and the next game Uribe hit a walk-off single in the 10th. Then on July 29, the Mets were set to get outfielder Carlos Gomez from the Brewers for flame thrower Zach Wheeler and heart-broken Wilmer Flores, but strangely backed out of the deal at the last minute after Gomez failed his physical, although it was reported throughout baseball media that the deal was done and the players had been told the trade was happening.
After balking on the Gomez deal, the Mets waited until the last ticks of the clock at the trade deadline to take slugging outfielder Yoenis Cespedes from the Detroit Tigers for two minor league pitchers. Cespedes is only 12 for 48 (.250) with one HR in his time with the Mets, but has brought attention and excitement to the team not only from fans, but other species as well.
No one player has shined more brightly during this season for the Mets than the team’s performance as a whole. Lucas Duda and Noah Syndergaard were NL Player and Pitcher of the Week for the last week of July. Duda smacked nine HR in an eight-game span during that week, totaling 31 bases, leading the league with 10 RBI and seven R. Syndergaard became only the third pitcher in Mets history to throw consecutive starts of eight or more innings pitched with nine or more strikeouts and no walks, the other two being Pedro Martinez and Dwight Gooden. Curtis Granderson in August has hit four HR with 13 RBI, nine R and a .571 slugging percentage. Hitting and pitching have come together at the right time for the Mets and it is paying dividends for them.
The Mets franchise has been through much turmoil over the past couple of seasons, with ups-and-downs, highs and lows, resulting in manager Terry Collins being on and off the hot seat and the Mets not winning a division title since 2006. But the combination of young pitching talent mixed with acquiring just the right bats to make a consistent offense gives Mets fans hope for the next couple of months, and more importantly, into October.
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