Now some of you may be saying "oh so they got lucky and barely made it into the playoffs... yawn!" Well to you people I must respond with "you hate us 'cause you ain't us." No, I'm not trying to say that this team is better than what their record shows (87-75), but what I am saying is that I am damn proud to support this team that had to overcome a ton of adversity to get the opportunity they now have. Not many teams in the MLB could overcome the massive amounts of injuries to some of the biggest stars in the league and still be able to make the playoffs. Still not impressed? Well then keep reading, if you know baseball, you'll understand why this season was Amazin'.
The 2016 NY Mets began the season expecting to compete with the Washington Nationals once again for the top spot in the NL East. For the first month, they did exactly that going 15-7 in the month of April. They were getting great pitching performances every day, Neil Walker was crushing the ball, and Michael Conforto was raking as well. Unfortunately, the success tailed off May. They went 14-15 in May. They weren't playing terrible baseball but the biggest issue seemed to be Matt Harvey. Harvey was clearly not himself as he struggled just about every time he took the mound. Then June rolled around and bang! Both David Wright and Matt Harvey were placed on the disabled list with serious injuries. Wright had a herniated disk in his neck while Matt Harvey had thoracic outlet syndrome, both needed season ending surgery.
July started off nice as the team won 6 of 7 to start the month, but the success did not continue. It wouldn't be until August 13 and 14 when the Mets would again win back to back games... This period of futility would be defined by poor offense, tiring pitchers, and of course- injuries. The two biggest injuries were to Yoenis Cespedes and Asdrubal Cabrera. Both attempted to play through their injuries but eventually needed to be placed on the DL. The offense clearly missed these two veterans.
August 19th was probably the low point of the season. The Mets had just lost their second consecutive game to the SF Giants and were 60-62 on the season- their worst win percentage since early April. The team looked ready to call it a season as not even the acquisition of slugger Jay Bruce could turn the offense around. I thought the season was over. Man was I wrong... The Amazin's would go on to win 9 of their next 11 to close out August. This all despite losing both Jacob deGrom, Steven Matz, and Neil Walker to season ending injuries!
So the Met's highly touted, young starting rotation was left standing with two original pieces- the young gun Noah Syndergaard and the 43 year old stud Bartolo Colon (go figure). There is no way they could keep up the success.
Again I was wrong... The Mets would just go 13-9 the rest of the way to clinch a playoff spot. How? I'm still not really sure. It was a team effort. Rookie starters Robert Gsellman, Seth Lugo, and Gabriel Ynoa pitched like veterans down the stretch. Asdrubal Cabrera played some of his best baseball of his career despite nursing a knee injury. Yoenis Cespedes was a stud as usual. Mid season acquisition Jose Reyes was impressive out of the lead off spot. Jay Bruce finally heated up and crushed the ball like we all expected him to. And lastly, the bullpen- headlined by Jeurys Familia- was solid.
I must give all the credit to the manager, Terry Collins, on keeping his cool and turning the season around. As with any NY sport team, the fans were not happy in early August but Terry ignored the whines and kept the team focused and on track. Terry had to deal with a lot, including a ton of other injuries that I didn't even have room to mention in this post (Jose Reyes, Wilmer Flores, Justin Ruggiano, Jon Niese, Lucas Duda, Travis d'Arnaud, Juan Lagares).
If you look at this season's DL records, you would probably guess the Mets would be a few games under .500 and getting ready to hit the links for the offseason. Well they're not. Instead they are preparing to make another run in the playoffs. This team has overcome a ton of adversity, that's why I'm damn proud to be a Mets fan.
#LGM #YaGottaBelieve #Amazin
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