It doesn’t matter who you ask… the Mets’ first-half performance during the 2023 season has been incredibly disappointing. So disappointing, in fact, that many are probably already considering this season a failure. Don’t tell that to Pete Alonso, though.
Outside of slugging lots of dingers, the Mets’ first baseman has a reputation for being relentlessly positive (even when he probably shouldn’t be). When asked about the positives for New York heading into the second half, Pete Alonso had this to say (via SNY):
We’re going to have home-field advantage in the second half. It’s going to be nice to play in front of our home fans and not log as much travel hours. Not to make an excuse, but traveling a ton, especially crossing time zones, can be pretty hurtful over the course of time. It’s going to give us a chance to be more rested and ready to go.
Clearly not the first half we were looking for but we had a great week before the All-Star break, going 4-2 against high-quality teams. We needed to have a good week before the break and I feel it’s going to springboard us into the second half … Every day, whether you’re doing well or not, there’s always a sense of urgency, it’s the big leagues. Everyone’s a professional, everyone takes pride in what they do. We have a really talented bunch. For us, having everyone healthy is great. It’s a long season. We still have half the season left to play. We’re extremely talented and we’re going to do everything we can to make the playoffs. And then do some damage to make it further than we did last year.
First of all, this is the only acceptable answer. If big-league players are publicly giving up on a season at the halfway mark in an era with expanded playoffs, they shouldn’t be in the big leagues. All it takes is one hot streak to get right back in the thick of things. We saw that with New York right before the All-Star break. They were 10 games back of the final NL Wild Card spot and slimmed it down to 6.5 within the span of a week thanks to six straight wins.
So, lots can happen over a short period of time. It doesn’t mean the road will be easy, though. Of the Mets’ 72 remaining games, 42 of them will happen at Citi Field. The furthest west they’ll travel is to the Central Time Zone to play the Kansas City Royals, St. Louis Cardinals, and Minnesota Twins.
While the Mets have struggled to a 22-29 record on the road, they’re just 20-19 at home so far in 2023. That’s a stark contrast to last year (like most things) when New York went 54-27 at Citi Field. Playing in Queens more often and not traveling across multiple time zones is great, but it’s not like the competition is going to get any easier.
According to Tankathon, Pete Alonso and the Mets have the third-hardest second-half schedule in baseball based on winning percentage. Only the Colorado Rockies (.520) and Washington Nationals (.518) have a higher number than New York (.517). The Mets have performed better against teams with a winning record this year, but it’s not like their current pace will do the trick (they’re 28-28 in those games).
They need to go on a tear like the Atlanta Braves just did to make people believers again. I’m talking something like this:
The Braves’ last 20 games:
W
W
W
W
W
W
W
W
L*
W
W
W
W
W
W
W
W
W
L***
W* The Elly De La Cruz cycle game. Led 5-0 in first
*** Lost in extra innings after tying game in 9th. Led by 2 early.
Amazing how close they’ve come to winning 20 in a row.
— Jayson Stark (@jaysonst) July 6, 2023
It’s not going to be an easy thing to do. But, if the Mets think they’re as good as they say they are, this is what has to happen. Especially since they’ve dug such a large hole for themselves to climb out of.
Upon reading Alonso’s comments about having a second-half advantage, one of my first thoughts was about Noah Syndergaard. On the heels of a World Series appearance, the Mets entered the 2016 All-Star break with a 47-41 record. That’s a lot better than the current situation, but after a 15-7 mark in April, New York went 26-30 between May and June.
This is what Thor said as the Mets were coming out of the break:
We are a 2nd half team
— Noah Syndergaard (@Noahsyndergaard) July 10, 2016
And you know what? They were. Well, more like a last-six-weeks-of-the-year kinda team. New York looked dead in the water on August 19th with a 60-62 record. But as the team got healthy, they went on an insane stretch that nobody expected to finish 87-75 and clinch the top NL Wild Card spot.
Let’s hope Pete Alonso is right about his optimistic assessment heading into the regular season’s final half of play. Because if the Mets never get it going, the dog days of summer are going to feel a lot longer than we initially thought they’d be.
You can reach Matt Musico at matt.musico@xlmedia.com. You can follow him on Twitter: @mmusico8.
