Matt Harvey is looking like the pitcher of old.
OK, so maybe I’m getting a little bit ahead of myself, but excuse me a minute while I take a minute to compose myself —
Actually, I don’t know that a minute will do. The New York Mets are 7-1, coming off a three-game sweep of division rivals and previously unvanquishable foe, the Washington Nationals. Yes, you read that correctly—so you’ll understand my excitement when I explain to you that the New York Mets, my New York Mets, haven’t swept a series against those same Nationals in almost three years. The Mets record against the Nationals since 2011? 47-84, without a winning record in any of the past 8 years, save for 2015 when the Mets went to the World Series. You could forgive me for getting excited at seeing Matt Harvey, the artist formerly known as The Dark Knight, reach 95 consistently on his fastball, circa 2015, even if he gave up four runs in five innings. You might even understand my childlike optimism after the Mets jumped out to a 5-3 lead on the back of their second grand slam of the series and fifth home run, courtesy of Adrian Gonzalez and Asdrubal Cabrera.
So the Mets are going to the World Series in 2018. Yeah, I went there. Call me crazy, but in 2015 this team was one big hitter away from being a serious contender, and then they added YoenisCespedes. In 2016, the Mets dominated preseason headlines with a ridiculously deep and universally-accepted best rotation in the majors. They were a consensus top-five team preseason team that year and made it to the postseason, only to lose to magical postseason Madison Bumgarner in a thrilling wildcard game where Noah Syndergaard, a.k.a. Thor established himself as the best in an extremely talented group of Mets pitchers. Cracks began to form that year though, manifesting themselves through injuries; and in 2017 these cracks became massive fault lines that completely derailed their season, and seemingly any hopes for future success. The once highly touted staff of Thor, Harvey, Jacob deGrom, Steven Matz, and Zach Wheeler all went down with injuries at some point. A future that was once so bright was now faced with the uncertainty of injuries, and (more importantly to Mets fans) major league service time that was rapidly disappearing. It seemed the end was near, another promising crop of youngsters wasted because of injury.
It’s now one week into the 2018 season. The Mets were mostly an afterthought in what was considered the Nationals division to lose. Given the title of best team in baseball by some, the weak National League East would be a run-away title, with the only two possible challenges coming from the up-and-coming Braves and Phillies. Certainly, there was no chance the fire sale that is the Marlins, or the infirmary that is in Flushing could mount a season-long challenge. Then this weekend happened, the Mets stomped the Nationals, making a statement of intent for the 2018 season.
These Mets have a different, fresher feel about them, and credit has to be given to new manager Mickey Callaway for breathing fresh life into this supremely talented baseball team. Every decision he made this weekend came up roses, and while there will certainly be bumps in the road for the first-time manager, if you take a look down I-95 to see how the Phillies new manager is doing, the decision to bring in Callaway looks like an even better one. The hope was in hiring Callaway that he could help revitalize a pitching staff that was on life support. It’s been eight games so far, so the jury is definitely still out on that, but the early returns are definitely promising. Credit should be given to new Mets hitting coach, Pat Roessler, and Dave Eiland the team’s new pitching coach. After the massive overhaul in the offseason to the coaching and training staff, it is surprising to see how smoothly things are going early this season. The bullpen has been great, and even when they weren’t last night, Lugo stepped up in huge situations in extra innings to get them through. With a potentially great rotation, barring injuries, and a bullpen that looks like it can be dominant the stage seems to be set for another shot at the post-season, and that is something that has to excite even the most pessimistic of Mets fans.
- TAGS
- Champion
- New York Mets
- World Series
