The New York Mets are 47-27 through 74 games and lead the National League East by five games, with the defending world champion Atlanta Braves (42-32) having made up some ground in recent weeks.
Not bad, considering the Mets have gotten eight starts from Max Scherzer and zero from Jacob deGrom. To give you some perspective on what the Mets have missed out on, Chris Bassitt has made 15 starts. I think it’s fair to say that if the Mets had gotten, say, 20 starts out of Scherzer and deGrom by this point, they very easily could have several more victories.
But even the red-hot Braves could say, “Hey, how about us? We played the first month without Ronald Acuna Jr.” I merely bring it up to paint as realistic of a picture as I can about the Mets’ state of play and what they can expect as we get into the second half of the 2022 season.
Scherzer will probably be back by next weekend, and while his first start or two may see him on a pitch limit, Scherzer usually doesn’t go to the post unless he is 100 percent. He will probably make — barring any further injuries — 13 or 14 more starts for the season. deGrom is due back around the All-Star break. Let’s say he makes eight or nine starts from there until the end of the regular season.
Can the Mets win their division and make it to the World Series and win it with a rotation of Scherzer, deGrom, Bassitt, Carlos Carrasco and Taijuan Walker? Of course they can, and the importance of the overall strength of their everyday lineup becomes far less important with two of the best pitchers from the past 50 years of baseball.
Buck Showalter didn’t come back to manage just any team for just any owner. He came back and fell into perhaps one of the all-time best jobs, managing an MLB team with Max Scherzer and Jacob deGrom.
Only Showalter isn’t in a position to buy too many green bananas anymore. While he is beloved and respected in the game, Showalter has never managed a team into the World Series. And the seasons are running through the proverbial hourglass.
It’s my view that in the next couple weeks the rampaging Braves (19-5 so far in June) will put a good little dent into the Mets’ five-game cushion. The two teams play each other 15 more times the rest of the season — three times the week before the All-Star Game and then 12 more times in August and September.
When you hire Buck Showalter you don’t get half of Buck Showalter. He is all in and knows this season may present his best chance of winning a World Series before he retires.
Say the scenario I painted for Scherzer and deGrom plays out (Scherzer getting 13 or 14 more and deGrom getting eight or nine before the playoffs roll around). The Mets would have enough to beat back the challenge of the champs and at least allow Showalter a better shot at the Series.
But Showalter is in need of some insurance against the vagaries of the two most powerful right arms in the game. No, it won’t come in terms of another starting pitcher. It’ll come in possibly three ways … and Showalter will lobby GM Billy Eppler and owner Steve Cohen, because that is who you hire when you hire Buck Showalter.
The Mets need one more potent bat. Could that could be Showalter’s old friend Trey Mancini or perhaps Nationals first baseman Josh Bell? I am sure there are five more names that could help.
The Mets also need a better version of Adam Ottavino, the guy Showalter counts on to get him to Edwin Diaz for the final three outs. Showalter also needs a nasty left-handed relief pitcher.
Give Buck Showalter those three things and get out of the way, or as Gary Thorne used to say in Baltimore, “Buckle up, it’s going to be a wild ride.”
Here are my power rankings.
1. New York Yankees (53-20, No. 1 last week): The Yankees have played 13 games against tough foes the past two weeks (Rays, Jays and Astros). While Houston gave as good as it got, a 9-4 mark is pretty impressive. The Yankees will look to get one more starting pitcher.
2. New York Mets (47-27, No. 2): Sometime in the next couple weeks, manager Buck Showalter will sit down with owner Steve Cohen and GM Billy Eppler and ask them one very important question — do you want to really be able to beat the big boys in the NLCS and World Series? If the answer is what I think it will be, the Mets will pick up Trey Mancini, Josh Bell or some other bat that makes their lineup tougher to navigate. They could also use a better left-handed reliever and a better version of Adam Ottavino.
3. Los Angeles Dodgers (45-26, No. 4): A 5-1 week started out easy in sweeping the Reds in Cincy, and then they beat the red-hot Braves two games to one during a great series in Atlanta. It would not surprise me if Orioles GM Mike Elias begins to field some pretty persistent calls from Dodgers GM Brandon Gomes. The Dodgers have to be interested in any of the Orioles’ right-handed relievers, from Jorge Lopez to Felix Bautista to Dillon Tate. Craig Kimbrel has fallen down and while he seems to have more lives than a cat, I am not sure he is going to get up.
4. Houston Astros (45-27, No. 3): The Astros keep plugging away. They know they are good. But the underlying question is, “Are we good enough?” I’ll tell you this, nobody wants any part of them in a short series. They just get back center fielder Jake Meyers, but will his shoulder allow him to be as solid a contributor as he was last year?
5. Atlanta Braves (42-32, No. 5): The Braves are 19-5 so far in June. It’s the same tale that has worked its way through Boston and Toronto — sometimes it’s as simple as who you play. They did go 3-1 against the Giants this past week and were a couple outs away from taking the Dodgers series. But they really look like they have their mojo back, and of course part of that is getting Ronald Acuna Jr. back. The Braves really rolled the dice in bringing up outfielder Michael Harris II, their No. 1 prospect, from Double-A. All he has done in his first 107 plate appearances is hit three homers, knock in 14 runs and hit .330.
6. Boston Red Sox (42-31, No. 8): I have always admired Alex Cora as a manager. The job he has done with this team is nothing short of remarkable. The Sox are already down Chris Sale. They then go through an ineffective Nathan Eovaldi run, and now he’s been on the IL for close to three weeks. No closer? No problem. They’ve reinvented Tanner Houck the way they did so long ago with Jonathan Papelbon. The Sox are 19-4 in June. Sure, they beat up on bad teams, but they did go 5-1 against St. Louis and Cleveland.
7. San Diego Padres (45-30, No. 7): This week finishes with the Padres visiting their friends at Dodger Stadium. No word on whether Manny Machado will suit up. My guess is yes. He is not on the IL and has participated in pregame activities.
8. Milwaukee Brewers (42-33, No. 10): The Brewers are like the Little Engine That Could. In nine of the 12 weeks of the season, they are 37-21. In the other three weeks, they are 5-12. Unlike all the other teams I have addressed, they don’t seem to really lose against the better teams.
9. St. Louis Cardinals (41-34, No. 6): My enthusiasm about the Cardinals may have been a bit to exuberant. It now looks like the entire Red Bird offense lies on the shoulders of Paul Goldschmidt, who is having his first great season in St. Louis. Nolan Arenado looks to be missing in action.
10. Toronto Blue Jays (40-32, No. 9): This machine isn’t running on all cylinders. I keep looking at the manager. Who are you looking at? They’ll probably try to trade their way out of what ails them, and I don’t see that working. Look they were 18-17, then went 17-7 … so why worry over the recent 5-8 stumble? Look at the teams they are losing to now and look at who they were beating earlier.
11. Tampa Bay Rays (40-32, No, 13)
12. Minnesota Twins (41-33, No. 14)
13. San Francisco Giants (39-33, No. 11)
14. Cleveland Guardians (36-32, No. 12)
15. Philadelphia Phillies (39-35, No. 15)
16. Texas Rangers (34-37, No. 17)
17. Chicago White Sox (34-37, No. 16)
18. Seattle Mariners (34-40, No. 22)
19. Miami Marlins (33-38, No. 20)
20. Baltimore Orioles (34-40, No. 23)
21. Arizona Diamondbacks (33-41, No. 19)
22. Los Angeles Angels (35-40, No. 18)
23. Colorado Rockies (31-42, No. 21)
24. Pittsburgh Pirates (29-43, No. 24)
25. Detroit Tigers (28-44, No. 25)
26. Chicago Cubs (28-45, No. 26)
27. Kansas City Royals (26-45, No. 27)
28. Washington Nationals (27-48, No. 29)
29. Cincinnati Reds (25-47, No. 28)
30. Oakland Athletics (25-49, No. 30)