The New York Mets have started reporting to Citi Field in hopes of Spring Training resuming on July 1. If the players sign off on a 60-game season, with a 10-team playoff, the season will be full of chaos.
Each National League’s worst 60 game stretch in 2019:
LAD 35-25
ATL 33-27
CHC 28-32
WAS 27-33
ARI 27-33
MIL 26-34
PHI 26-34
CIN 26-34
STL 25-35
SFG 25-35
NYM 24-36
SDP 22-38
PIT 20-40
MIA 17-43
COL 16-44— Jeremy Frank (@MLBRandomStats) June 23, 2020
The Mets played two different seasons during 2019. Their worst 60-game stretch has them as the fifth-worst team in the NL, and their best stretch has them as the fifth-best team in the NL. The Mets’ best stretch came with their backs against the wall, and every team will have their back to the wall in 2020.
With such a short season, any team can emerge from the pack to surprise the league, and a predicted contender could easily go through a bad stretch they cannot survive.
Win Early and Often
The Mets would benefit from playing with a sense of urgency from game one. Ideally, the Mets would love to have control of their destiny for the entire season. The reason they never made it to the top of the Wild Card picture is that they depended on other teams to lose so they could move up in the standings.
Jacob deGrom puts in work. pic.twitter.com/lw4U6WN4MM
— MLB (@MLB) March 11, 2020
A key emphasis for the Mets is to pitch Jacob deGrom every time he can get at least four days of rest. If all five starters make their start, he will only make 12 of them. Allowing deGrom to pitch after three games of rest and an off day, allows the Mets to squeeze out an extra 2-3 starts. They would push everyone in the rotation back a day, but the Mets need their best pitcher on the mound as often as possible.
The Mets bullpen is set up well for a short season. There are plenty of live arms and pitchers who can pitch multiple innings. In this modified season, relievers will be called upon early, as they would during the postseason. Their closing situation still remains a question because the Mets do not have games to waste if Edwin Diaz cannot figure himself out.
Each team has plenty of questions to answer and holes to fill during a short Spring Training. The Mets’ roster depth sets them up well to find answers to their questions quickly.