Reese Kaplan -- Game One Is Finished But There Are 161 More

We all waited with bated breath for the first pitch of the 2025 season to begin.  We all looked forward to the surprising free agent development of Clay Holmes into a starting ace.  We all considered what it would be like having Juan Soto up in a critical spot when a big hit was needed to tie the score.

Sometimes reality doesn’t quite match baseball fantasy and you can’t root for your team as if it was fantasy baseball either.  Occasionally the other club will pitch better, hit better, field better or get the benefit of umpire calls in their favor.  It’s a 162 game season and no team goes 162-0.  In fact, the de facto standard for a highly successful season is 100 wins which is then accompanied by 62 losses.  As such, take game one (and by the time you read this piece) game two in stride.  

While it’s way too early to draw any definitive conclusions it was encouraging to see the glove work by Luisangel Acuna whose addition to the 26 man roster was indeed an eleventh hour decision.  It appears as if for the early part of the Jeff McNeil absence it is Carlos Mendoza’s intention to play a strict lefty/righty platoon at second base with Brett Baty riding the pines (or fiberglass) whenever a lefty starts the game for the opposition.  Yup, that’s the way to ride the hot hand from spring training – have him cool off by merely sitting down and watching.  

Some people were aghast that the Mets only managed to score one run in the Houston opener.  I guess they didn’t factor in the assignment of the Astros’ top starting pitcher to handle mound duties.  

For someone who wallows in the negativity when the rest of the world embraces optimism, I’m taking the odd position that I’m happier that the season started and even with a loss leading things off it’s not exactly time to bury the 2025 roster nor management.  Nearly every single day the team will play again and until long intervals of repeated poor performance take place you just have to roll with the punches and know that every hard hit ball that becomes an out will someday be traded off for a slow roller that should have been fielded yet goes for an important hit.  

Going forward personally I’m just as interested in seeing if David Peterson 2024 was a mirage or a sign of things to come.  I want to know which Edwin Diaz will show up to close games.  I want to see Francisco Lindor shake off his traditional early season doldrums.  I have the same question about the 2025 Mark Vientos as i had about him in 2024.  I want to see if Jose Siri’s glove and legs will make his occasional power bat worth the long wait for productivity. 

I also want to see if some of the lesser regarded pitchers like Tylor Megill, Griffin Canning, Max Kranick and Huascar Brazoban were putting on a show against lesser competition in Florida or if they are ready for reality circa 2025.  We want to see A.J. Minter perform as he has in the past when healthy.  We want to see Juan Soto show he’s worth the money being paid.  We want to see that Brandon Nimmo, Starling Marte and others are healthy enough for regular duty.  

I said it yesterday and I’ll repeat it again today.  Let’s go Mets!