Tom Brennan - WILL DEGROM & SYNDERGAARD IN 2018 BE SEAVER / KOOSMAN CIRCA 1969?

Tom Brennan - WILL DEGROM & SYNDERGAARD IN 2018 BE SEAVER / KOOSMAN CIRCA 1969?

The Mets  miraculously won the World Series in 1969.  

Miracles often have underlying causes.

They never would have gotten that far without Tom Seaver and Jerry Koosman going 42-16 with a 2.25 combined ERA - there is no doubt that the Mets would have never made the playoffs without that incredible duo.

T
he rest of the team's pitchers were only 12 games over 500 in that miracle season. The weight, and the success, of that miracle season rested squarely on the shoulders of our friends Tom and Jerry.

As we know, prior to the last incredible 50-game stretch of the season, when the Mets won 41 games, they would have completely fallen out of the race against the Cubs without the Tom and Jerry duo.

The question for 2018 clearly becomes:



Can Jake deGrom and Noah Syndegaard get close to having 26 more wins than losses like Tom and Jerry in 1969?

Doubtful - the 1969 duo, after all, did start 67 games between them, a number that Jake and Thor no doubt will not reach. Maybe they reach 62 starts - maybe. 

However, to really succeed, the Mets need them to win about 22-24 games more than they lose in those 60 or so starts.

Can they do it?



Why not?

The two are both superior pitchers, every bit as good in my opinion as the duo of Tom and Jerry were in 1969.  If you disagree, that's fine - you have the right to be wrong.

Of course, they will be more reliant than Tom and Jerry were on the bullpen, since pitchers these days don't go as deep into games as pitchers from 1969 (like Tom and Jerry) did.

However given the absolute top tier talent of Messrs. deGrom and Syndergaard, is it not feasible that the two of them could end up with a combined record of, oh, 38 and 14 combined?

I
f they do, the Mets should certainly make the playoffs and perhaps even win the division. I believe honestly that talent-wise, the aforementioned 2018 duo is every bit as talented as the 1969 duo.  Wait, I already said that - bears repeating.

I
n my mind, frankly, it is up to the Jake/Thor duo to lift the team's boat just as Seaver and Koosman lifted it in 1969.



Because, had the latter two not pitched that well through early August 1969, the Mets would have been so far behind the Cubbies that the Mets never would have made the playoffs, and the World Series Miracle Win of 1969 would have never happened.

It is almost entirely up to Thor and Jake to get us to the promised land.  Hopefully, they read this and rise to the challenge.  It is up to them.  Up to them.  Them.

Well, in fairness, they do need 2018 pen arms to rise up like Ron Taylor and Tug McGraw did in 1969 when they were 18-7 combined. Are Jeurys Familia, AJ Ramos, Jerry Blevins and Anthony Swarzak up to that task?  We'll find out.  They could be.

Losing Jason Vargas for perhaps the first month of the season does not help, but it just means Thor and Jake have to be even that much bigger and badder.   If I were to ask Seaver and Koosman, I'll bet they'd say the Mets' 2018 Aces are up to the task.   They have the broad shoulders.