The New York Mets are riding high after taking two of three from the defending champion Los Angeles Dodgers over the weekend, but their real test comes this week.
The Mets, currently two games behind the Phillies in the NL East, are home all week with six games that are practically gimmes: Three versus the White Sox, three versus the Rockies. Both teams are a combined 26-80 on the year. Their combined run differential is a dreck -221.
Granted, there’s no real concern that the Mets will blow these games. The White Sox, even with a competent first-year manager in Will Venable, are still almost comically bad. The Rockies, as we discussed in our MLB preview, are practically a Quadruple-A team. The one good thing they’ve done recently is finally fire former skipper Bud Black and free him from Colorado’s perpetual baseball purgatory.
Again, the New York Mets should win these games. They’ve got the wind at their backs after a shocking series win over the Dodgers. Even the slumping Juan Soto turned in a big hit with a go-ahead two-run double on Saturday. If you’re on New York sports betting apps, rolling Mets all week should rake in some winnings.
Therein lies any minimal concern over the Mets this week. Bad as the White Sox and Rockies are, even the worst teams can steal wins. Colorado just lost their season series with the Yankees, but won the opener in an uncharacteristic 3-2 squeaker.
Chicago, similarly, won two out of three against the Astros earlier in May, and again against the Rangers over the weekend. Two arguably better teams from a better division, both defeated by the bottom of MLB’s barrel.
And make no mistake, the New York Mets are not immune to this. Forget who’s pitching for the team. The greater problem is, as we discussed Saturday, the lineup is too top heavy. You can’t have a slumping Soto stuck between Francisco Lindor and Pete Alonso passing the baton back and forth.
So, what does this mean for the Mets this week? Simple: show up and play the game.
No disrespect to the orange and blue, but the Mets’ early success largely had to do with strong pitching. Their team wRC+ is an above average 108, but they rank 15th in home runs.
The pitching staff’s collective ERA, meanwhile, ranks as the best in baseball at 2.81. And that’s with both Sean Manaea and Frankie Montas still on the injured list! Overachieving or not, that’s impressive work from the available arms.
But lucky for the Mets, both the White Sox and Rockies are awful to the point where most of these six upcoming games should be shoe-in victories. Lose one game to each, the Mets tip their cap at being caught on a bad night. It happens to everyone.
However, even if the Mets lose just one of the series, and with June just a few days away? That should be enough to kick the front office into trade deadline mode to add an arm, a bat, whatever the Mets need to get back in rhythm.
