METS STEP UP
After beating up on the weak, Amazin’s ready for Nats:
The Mets are right where they should be. Before the season, Fangraphs projected that Mets would go 84-78 (.519), with a 39.6% chance of making the playoffs. They’re currently 59-56 (.513) with a 40.8% chance of making the playoffs. They’re not as good as this ludicrous 13-1 run, but they’re not as bad as their first 100 games either. Muddling through, pulverizing bad teams while losing to good ones, will be enough to keep the team in contention through September.
But the Mets have an opportunity to do more than that, as you’ve probably heard by now. They have 18 games in the next 30 days against the Nationals, Braves, and Phillies, and three more against the Cubs, giving them a month of zero-sum battles against teams jockeying with them for the division and wild card. Half of those are at home, starting this weekend against Washington.
TROUBLE BREUING
On the field, the team has righted the ship. Off it, though, they continue to show a talent for self-created controversy.
The Mets tweeted and swiftly deleted a video with comedian Jim Breuer and Hall of Famer Willie Mays after they realized that the comedian had made offensive comments hours earlier. (Breuer has semi-regularly made videos for the Mets over the last few seasons.) He went on a Barstool podcast Thursday morning and said that relief pitchers Edwin Diaz and Jeurys Familia are “not only unreliable, but maybe working under the drug cartel.”
Breuer then went on to do an impression of Familia and Diaz agreeing to throw games for “the drug cartel” while the hosts laughed hysterically in the background.
KILLER MATCHUPS
These games are important, but are they any good? This Mets-Nationals series, at least, features fantastic head-tohead matchups. Friday night’s game is Marcus Stroman vs. Stephen Strasburg, and Saturday’s is Noah Syndergaard vs. Patrick Corbin.
Corbin and Stroman were available for the low prices of prospects (Stroman) and money (Corbin). Only the Mets and Nationals were aggressive enough to acquire the pitchers, though, and their fanbases will be rewarded with a fun series at Citi Field this weekend.
JACOB “DEGROM” DEGROM
The Met ace isn’t the only one to not get creative with his Players Weekend jersey, where players can put any nickname they want on the backs of their jerseys Aug. 23-25. Tyler “Bash” Bashlor, Steven “Matzy” Matz, and Robert “G” Gsellman are all lame. But deGrom is the only one to seemingly refuse to participate. He’ll simply go by “deGrom” as the likely starter in an Aug. 23 series opener against the Braves.
DON’T PANIK
The Mets did little about their biggest weakness, the bullpen, although most of the relievers other than Edwin Diaz has stabilized. (The team did sign righty Brad Brach Thursday after the reliever was cut by the Cubs.) There is an opportunity, though, to do something about their second-biggest weakness: a sloppy defense. The team and former Giants second baseman Joe Panik are reported to have “mutual interest.” That would help the team at second base (by getting Jeff McNeil out of there) and in right field (by getting Jeff McNeil in there).