Each series win, each perfectly executed managerial move by Buck Showalter, each test that they pass against the game’s best teams continues to give credence to an idea that has been very foreign to their fans for years.
These Mets are built not to collapse.
Every season is different from the last, of course. New players come in and out, factors around the league change, but still the Mets have found a way to turn magnificent starts into late-season heartbreak. In 2021, 2012, 2009, 2007, 1998 and 1997, the club won at least 31 of their first 56 games. None of those teams ended up in the playoffs.
The 2022 Mets are 37-19 as they leave Los Angeles and head south for their next conquest, hoping to have the same kind of fun in San Diego. Their run differential is better than the 2021 and 2007 squads’ — the most talented and memorable of the Met teams in recent history that disintegrated down the stretch — were at the same point in the season. And unlike the 2007 team, the current Mets aren’t relying on two 41-year-old pitchers to hold up over a full season the way they were with Tom Glavine and Orlando Hernandez 15 years ago.
Looking back to last year’s team (which was 32-24 at this juncture and also leading the National League East), the main difference is that this year’s roster was bolstered around the edges to support the inevitable damage that happens to the main frame. Chris Bassitt has not only been a welcome presence in the clubhouse and on the pitcher’s mound every fifth day, but has validated the idea of bringing him in as insurance in case Jacob deGrom or Max Scherzer go down. With that scenario unfortunately coming true, sending both former Cy Young winners to the injured list, trading for Bassitt looks like a stroke of genius by general manager Billy Eppler.
A healthy Carlos Carrasco changes the equation dramatically, too. The veteran is out to prove that he’s more than just a throw-in from Cleveland in the Francisco Lindor trade. The Mets did not have this version of Carrasco last season, and frankly, they had something that wasn’t even close. Now that he’s right again, Carrasco is back to being a top-ten pitcher in his league, a post he occupied for an entire decade when he was the American League’s eighth-most valuable pitcher of the 2010s. His bounce-back season is more than just a heartwarming story: It’s a major reason why the Mets haven’t crumbled like they did in the past when adversity barreled through Citi Field.
Those two have helped solidify the Mets as an unquestionably better team than they were last year, but three new additions to the lineup have really made this thing sing. Starling Marte, Mark Canha and Eduardo Escobar all brought their own reputations and track records to Flushing when the Mets acquired them this offseason, but the trio of veterans also provide an air of confidence to everything they do. Marte, Canha and Escobar have played in over 3,000 combined MLB games, allowing the Mets to lean on experience at three everyday positions rather than continually waiting for J.D. Davis or the recently-demoted Dominic Smith to finally grab a starting role and run with it.
With the new, older guys helping out now, the Mets turned several question marks into periods. Those are the types of players you want on your team for big spots in September and beyond. While he’s been fine but unspectacular so far, Adam Ottavino adds a similar quality to the bullpen. A 36-year-old — who ranks 11th among active relievers in career innings and has pitched in 17 postseason games — Ottavino is the kind of player that a manager doesn’t have to worry about mentally. That’s a tremendous luxury on any team, but especially one that’s eyeing greatness while knowing how it’s evaded their franchise in the past.
No matter what Ottavino’s numbers look like at the end of the year, his fans, teammates and manager can all feel better about using him in a high-leverage jam than they would about, say, Yennsy Diaz, who the Mets relied on far too often last year.
The other considerable difference between the 2022 Mets’ situation and the ones that doomed teams of the past is the expanded playoffs. Sure, right now it looks like the NL East is theirs for the taking, but at this time last year the Mets were the only team in the division above .500 and they still watched the postseason from home. Even if regression comes for them in the second half, the implementation of a third Wild Card team buys a pretty sizable cushion.
Of course, if and when this veteran-laden, high-floor team gets into the postseason, they could very well throw deGrom, Scherzer, Bassitt and Carrasco in a playoff series. Good luck beating those four pitchers when they’re all healthy, and there’s always the very real possibility that the roster will look even better after the trade deadline.
Knowing Steve Cohen’s aggressive approach to team improvement, these Mets could get even more collapse-proof in the coming months. Should struggling teams like the Cubs, Rockies or Tigers choose to give up in July, the Mets could happily poach some players off them that will make any talk of a summer swoon seem even sillier.
