Make no mistake, Mets must advance to validate their season
Mets manager Buck Showalter (11) speaks to the media at Game 1 of the Wild Card Series at Citi Field on Oct. 7, 2022 Credit: Newsday/William Perlman
Pete Alonso spent a great deal of time on the eve of the NL Wild Card Series talking about how proud he was to be wearing a postseason patch on his new gear — hoodies, caps, T-shirts.
And to have Citi Field hosting a playoff game for the first time since 2016 was absolutely significant for the Mets. It’s been a long six years.
But we all know this isn’t anywhere near enough.
Just getting to the playoffs can be viewed as a grand achievement in the scope of the 61-year history of this franchise — this is only the Mets’ 10th postseason trip, so kudos for that. Still, they won 101 games this season and spent 175 days atop the NL East, and second-year owner Steve Cohen invested nearly $290 million to give new manager Buck Showalter a shot at a World Series.
For all those reasons, the Mets shouldn’t even be playing in the wild-card round. That in itself is a disappointment. There’s no other way to spin their regular-season fate, and the Mets mostly have themselves to blame — aside from giving some credit to Atlanta for its relentless pursuit since about mid-June (and last weekend’s sweep at Truist Park).
Now that the Mets have had a week to regroup, it’s time to see clearly what’s at stake here against the Padres.
Losing the division title to the defending world champs is one thing. Atlanta has haunted the Mets going on three decades now, so failing to exorcise those demons wasn’t all that surprising in the historical context of these two longtime adversaries.
But the Mets are out of second chances now. They were fortunate to have the wild card as a safety net to salvage the franchise’s second-best regular-season record, to preserve the World Series dreams that were talked about as a given back in May. This is only a temporary reprieve, however. The Mets have to get past the Padres or be forever labeled as colossal underachievers. They’ve graduated beyond participation trophies.
“These guys, we’ve all been preaching since the beginning that once you get in the playoffs, all bets are off,” Brandon Nimmo said before Friday’s Game 1. “So we all knew that, whether it was the division or whether it was with the wild card, once you get in there, all that matters at that point is who gets hot and who plays well, and you can take it all the way to the World Series.”
Nimmo’s not wrong. Having to endure an extra playoff round certainly doesn’t disqualify the Mets from winning a championship, but it definitely makes life more difficult — especially with Atlanta and the Dodgers getting to sit at home and watch everyone else burn through their pitching staffs.
With that in mind, Showalter already was using his imagination, deploying Max Scherzer for Friday’s opener but holding off on naming his starter for Game 2. Showalter’s reasoning? Win Game 1, and Chris Bassitt would get the call for Saturday in hopes of preserving Jacob deGrom to start Games 1 and 5 of the Division Series against the Dodgers. But if the Mets faced elimination either Saturday or Sunday, then deGrom would pitch in that do-or-die game.
Showalter took some heat for those plans, mainly for overthinking the usage of a two-time Cy Young Award winner in deGrom. Conventional wisdom suggests going for the kill in a potential clincher rather than risking being backed into a corner later, but Showalter can’t help but think ahead if given the opportunity. And the Mets’ rotation depth is allowing him to do so.
“You can make that argument,” he said on Friday. “There’s always a lot of things that you have to take into consideration that may not be something to talk about here. We took in all the factors of the risk and probabilities and just felt like this is our best way to go forward to satisfy all the things that you may have to pivot from. I don’t consider Chris not a good option. I consider him a real good option.”
Showalter had better hope his faith is rewarded if it comes to that. And that holds true for a number of other key decisions involving the Mets’ roster, with Starling Marte not only being active with a still-healing fractured finger but starting Friday night, batting sixth and playing rightfield.
Marte was an All-Star this season and brings an irreplaceable dynamic to the Mets’ lineup, so it’s just a matter of gambling on his questionable health to produce with the team’s playoff fate on the line.
When Marte was asked before Game 1 just how close to 100% he was feeling, his answer seemed to stir more uncertainty.
“That’s kind of a tough question for me,” he said through an interpreter. “But it’s starting to feel better. You still feel a little bit of discomfort, but I think as the more you keep playing, you’ll be able to adjust to it and feel better.”
Make no mistake. Marte’s return is a big boost for the Mets, who are still under pressure to validate their 101-win season. Beat the Padres, and they’re much closer to doing so.
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.
