Mike's Mets - Still Work to Be Done with the Mets

 

By Mike Steffanos

While much has been accomplished this season to improve the Mets' roster, there still remains work to do.

Over their first 52 games, the New York Mets gave us many reasons to believe that they've come a long way towards the goal of being a legitimate contender. Then they traveled west to Los Angeles. While apparently dealing with the pervasive smell of "rat urine" in the visitor facilities, they've also spent a couple of games learning that they still have some distance to go if they hope to compete with the best teams this fall.

I'm not going to allow myself a colossal overreaction to a couple of bad games out west. The Mets went into this series with Jacob deGrom, Max Scherzer, and Tylor Megill all on the shelf. Assuming all three are healthy when the playoffs roll around, the Mets will be in much better shape to take on the Dodgers. Certainly, they can at least hope for better starting pitching than they received these last two days, although it's hard to fault Taijuan Walker's effort in the series opener. But the Mets have faced some elite pitching over the last couple of days — the sort of elite pitching that the Mets will see plenty of in the playoffs — and the lineup has struggled mightily.

While the Mets are unlikely to see a better pitching staff than LA's in the playoffs, they certainly will see plenty of elite pitchers on teams like San Diego, San Francisco, Milwaukee, and the Braves in their own division. They're not always going to be able to string a bunch of hits together to score some runs against elite pitching. In their first two games against the Dodgers, the Mets totaled only 8 hits combined. The only run they've scored was on a Pete Alonso home run. Meanwhile, LA has scored 8 runs over the two games and had 3 home runs in Friday night's contest.

The Mets worked hard to build a deeper lineup this season, and that hard work has paid off for the most part. What's clear, however, is their lineup isn't as deep as the All-Star team Los Angeles sends out day after day. Work remains to be done if the Mets hope to be more competitive in the postseason.

This isn't some sort of doomsday rant on my part. Even if the Mets get beat up in these next couple of games, I don't foresee a repeat of last year's implosion. They have a much better team, and Buck Showalter is a much better manager. Tylor Megill is set to make a minor league rehab start on Sunday. He'll provide a huge boost if he can return at anything close to his early-season effectiveness. There are still questions about the Mets' bullpen, but picking up a reliever or two is always doable at the trade deadline. I personally doubt very much that the Mets will swing a big deal for a starting pitcher, but I honestly don't think they need one.

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