When I last wrote in this space, I reacted to some things I was reading in the local and national media about the Mets and Phillies. Hot takes abounded that Philadelphia "fixed" its bullpen problems from last year, while the Mets were still struggling to plate baserunners. Could the Phillies indeed be a more successful team than the Mets in 2021?
Three games and another rainout later, those hot takes have cooled down considerably. At 5-3, the Mets have looked a bit stronger in the three games they were able to play, while the Phillies bullpen hasn't been quite as invincible as they were at the start of the season.
This, I believe, brings us back around to the point that there will be plenty of ebbing and flowing over the next few months, but it will still take a while to see what we really have here. As with any season, I'm sure the high derived from watching the Mets perform pretty well in three straight winning efforts will be offset before too long with more disappointment. Then something good will happen again. Rinse, lather, repeat.
I think the Phillies are indeed a better team than some pundits predicted before the season. It doesn't surprise me. I knew there was no way that their bullpen would be as bad as they were in 2020, and the 1-2 rotation punch of Aaron Nola and Zack Wheeler (thanks, Brodie) is formidable. However, they remind me many of the better Mets clubs of recent vintage — good enough to compete but not deep enough to be a likely playoff club. Nothing I've seen so far has changed my mind about them. They'll need things to fall almost perfectly to win the division or steal a wildcard spot.
As for the Mets, they're still a work in progress. They'll need to play games much more regularly than MLB and the weather gods have allowed so far. I wouldn't be at all surprised if their offensive woes continued at least in fits and spurts for a while longer.
In Tuesday's post, I also questioned MLB for scheduling the Mets one trip to Colorado for April. Sure enough, there are snow showers and a 20-degree weather forecast for both Friday and Saturday night. Big shocker there. On top of making the Mets go out there in April, why the hell are both Friday and Saturday scheduled night games? I know more fans tend to come out for night games, but how many will be there in their parkas, gloves, and electric socks for the pleasure of freezing their butts off to watch this game? I'm curious to see whether they actually opt to play baseball games in 20-degree weather and can only hope that no one gets hurt.
If they do play in artic conditions, don't be surprised if you see all of the Mets players staying as close to Brandon Nimmo as they possibly can. The dude is so hot right now that he has to be giving off some excess heat. I honestly don't understand why I spend so much time every offseason reading 1,000 trade proposals with Nimmo as part of the deal, not only from pundits but plenty from Mets fans. He's one of the best pure leadoff hitters in baseball and is just hitting his prime. Growing up in Wyoming without even high school baseball, Nimmo took a bit longer to fully come into his own than some other first-round picks.
I hate cold weather. Baseball should have a plan to shift entire series if there is weather like this.
ReplyDeletePart of me loves Coors Field. Never been there but it seems like a really nice stadium and the brick and steel makeup gives it a classic baseball feel.
ReplyDeleteThe other part of me wonders why a baseball stadium in Denver, Colorado doesn't have a retractable roof.
yup, if ever a city (south of Toronto) needs a roof, it is Denver. I might try to get there sometime in the next couple years. Perhaps Seattle this year.
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