Mets' chemistry once again producing a baseball masterpiece
Jeff McNeil of the Mets celebrates his 10th-inning game-winning hit against the Washington Nationals with his teammates at Citi Field on Tuesday. Credit: Jim McIsaac
It’s all happening again.
As if we required any more proof that last year’s mojo is very much alive in these 2025 Mets, the sight of David Peterson finishing Wednesday night’s 5-0 shutout victory over the Nationals, to the rapturous salute from 40,681 fans at Citi Field — on Steve Cohen’s birthday, no less! — checked all the boxes.
The fact that the homegrown Peterson, only a year removed from hip surgery rehab, could turn in such a feel-good story, backed by a pair of homers from the suddenly resurgent Brandon Nimmo and another blast by Juan Soto — his fourth straight game with a homer at Citi — added an exclamation point to the Mets’ 14th win in 17 games.
“It’s awesome,” said Peterson, who allowed six hits and struck out six in slicing his ERA to 2.49. “I think you dream of doing stuff like this.”
The Mets could say the same about their unmatched success over the last calendar year. To suggest Carlos Mendoza & Co. have established a winning culture in Flushing can be a difficult thing to define. It’s usually filed under the category of “intangibles,” which as we know don’t fit into modern analytics.
But try this number on for size. On June 2 of last season, the red-letter date that signified the Mets’ final brush with rock bottom, they sat 11 games under .500 (24-35). Since then? After Wednesday night’s memorable W, the Mets are a stunning 47 games over .500, winning at a .637 clip (109-62), in much the same fashion as the guys responsible for the deep October drive that ended with the NLCS Game 6 loss to the Dodgers, the eventual world champs.
The next closest teams over that span? The Dodgers with a .594 winning percentage (101-69) and the Tigers at .591 (101-70).
That doesn’t happen by accident, or an endless cycle of lucky breaks. You can’t even point to the Mets’ $327 million payroll, because plenty of big-spending clubs have spectacularly flamed out through the years. The ability to add a Soto certainly helps, but they didn’t have the $765 million slugger last season, and we haven’t really seen peak Soto yet through the first nine weeks this year.
So what’s going on? Well, it seems that president of baseball operations David Stearns, along with Mendoza, have duplicated the 2024 chemistry experiment that produced an October threat no one saw coming before Memorial Day. And now the Mets are building on that foundation, perhaps becoming more dangerous in this recent iteration.
Tuesday night’s walk-off victory in the 10th inning was already their sixth of this season as the Mets improved to 18-9 in comeback wins. Their 26-7 record at Citi Field also represents the best home start in franchise history and the .788 winning percentage is also tops in MLB. The Mets also have MLB’s best record (44-24). None of that seems like coincidence after what the Mets accomplished only a year ago. Special things are taking place.
“Yeah, no doubt,” Nimmo said. “There’s definitely a part of that, that you learn how to win ballgames. You learn what it takes, right? . . .
But there’s something to learning how to win games. And I definitely think that experience from last year has carried over.”
Sure looks that way. While the 2024 Mets rode Jose Iglesias’ OMG track as their anthem and Grimace as sort of a spirit animal, this year’s roster has recreated the mojo without the sideshow mascots — and keeps winning at the same pace.
Turning to Francisco Lindor as a captain-like presence, bringing back Pete Alonso as the homegrown hero, having Nimmo as a sage spokesman. These players already have scaled the heights together — after peering into the abyss, too — so the Mets’ nucleus is battle-tested. It’s a dynamic that can replenish the culture, one that continues to flourish, and Mendoza — a baseball lifer in his first managerial gig — respects the role that plays.
Peterson’s brilliance Wednesday night was another example of how Stearns’ rebuilt rotation has excelled minus its de facto captain, Sean Manaea, who’s been on the IL since Opening Day and is still weeks away from throwing a pitch that counts for the Mets. On paper, there’s no logical explanation why the Mets’ starting staff leads the majors with a 2.84 ERA or has gone 34 consecutive games without allowing more than four earned runs. But there’s no reason to believe that magic will run out, either. And here’s why.
“I think you can either ride the high and get comfortable or you can put our head down and go back to work,” Peterson said. “ . . . Whether win or lose, come back the next day, every guy’s locked in, every guy’s focused on the mission today.”
You can see that’s definitely been happening with these Mets. Again.
“Our lineup is deep, it’s versatile, lefty, righty, power, contact — there’s a lot of different ways we can beat teams,” Mendoza said. “But I think the pitching, the bullpen, keeping us there and giving the offense a chance is always a good feeling.”
And the positive vibe is still very much rolling for these Mets, in just about every way imaginable.
David Lennon is an award-winning columnist, a voter for baseball's Hall of Fame and has covered six no-hitters, including two perfect games.
