Why the 2022 Mets are built to have strong second half, too
Mets catcher Tomas Nido and centerfielder Brandon Nimmo, center right, celebrate with their teammates after Nimmo reaches on an infield fielding error to allow the game-winning run by Nido in the 10th inning of a game against the Marlins on July 9 at Citi Field. Credit: AP/John Minchillo
The first half of the Mets’ season offered a lot to like: a 58-35 record, second best in the National League behind the Dodgers; a 2 1/2-game lead in the NL East, ahead of Atlanta; all sorts of statistical feats in which their peers are some of the best teams and most memorable seasons in franchise history, surpassing even the most optimistic of projections a few months ago.
So as they try to end their five-year playoff absence, their challenge now is this: Do it again, beginning Friday when they host the Padres to start the post-All-Star-break schedule.
Take it away, Max Scherzer.
“We’re playing great baseball. You’re getting contributions from everyone on the team — offensively, defensively, pitching, starters, relievers. Everybody’s had a hand in this. It’s not one guy. It’s a collective of all of us,” Scherzer, veteran of many playoff races, said this month. “We just play good, fundamental baseball and we don’t beat ourselves a lot of times, and we take advantage of a lot of mistakes that other teams make. Those little mistakes add up to runs and add up to runs in our favor. That’s why you’ve seen us play great baseball in this first half.
“It's going to take the exact same formula — everybody is going to have to do the exact same thing — to continue to play at this level for the rest of the year. To be on top, you gotta be consistent. You can’t just have a good first half and have a bad second half. You have to be good the whole year. That’s the challenge of 162. That’s why I love it.”
Because a section of the fan base gets bad flashbacks based on last season . . . and 2016 and 2015 . . . and 2006 and 2007 . . . and, really, every season to some degree since 1986, always waiting for the other miserable shoe to drop, here are a few ways in which these Mets are better than the 2021 Mets (who led the division by four games at the All-Star break):
* The Mets already have won 30 road games this year. That matches their total last season.
* These Mets have 58 wins. Last year they didn’t reach that mark until Aug. 10 — by which point they already had fallen out of first place.
* Their 4.70 runs per game are good for fifth in the majors. Last season they were 27th with 3.93 runs per game.
* Their 3.61 ERA is tied for sixth. That is a step up from their solid 3.90 mark (ninth) in 2021.
The tricky part for the Mets is Atlanta. The team their ERA is tied with? Atlanta. The club just ahead of them with 4.74 runs per game? Yup, also Atlanta, as hot a team as any since the start of June. The Mets and Atlanta will play 12 more times, including in the penultimate series of the year as the calendar flips to October.
When the Mets took two of three from Atlanta last week, on display was their season-long strength: They frequently received significant contributions from someone different.
The question of first-half team MVP is a tough one. Pete Alonso has been their best hitter. Brandon Nimmo leads the team in WAR, as calculated by Baseball-Reference. Taijuan Walker has been their best starter. Edwin Diaz has been maybe the best closer in baseball.
“At some point or another, I’ve said to myself, ‘Boy oh boy, what would today have been like without him here?’” manager Buck Showalter said, the "him" being any given player who stepped up that day. “It’s been a sum of the parts so far. And it’ll continue to be if we want to get where we need to go."
Tim Healey is the Mets beat writer for Newsday. Born on Long Island and raised in Connecticut, Tim has previously worked for the South Florida Sun Sentinel, the Boston Globe and MLB.com. He is also the author of “Hometown Hardball,” a book about minor league baseball in the northeast.
