3 UP

1. Most Valuable Pitcher

After Jacob deGrom departed the mound after eight brilliant innings, he all but cemented the Cy Young award (assuming he hadn’t already). It was the perfect way to cap off a historically great season.

As noted by MMO‘s Michael Mayer, deGrom is the ONLY pitcher in MLB history to have over 260 strikeouts, 50 or fewer walks, 10 or fewer homers allowed, and an ERA under 2.00.

All told, he has a 10.3 WAR necessitating the question of whether he should be the NL MVP. The last player in the National League to lead the league with a WAR over 10.0 and not win the MVP was Dwight Gooden in 1985.

Given the historic nature of deGrom’s season and the history of players with a WAR this high, you can make a very credible case he should be the MVP in addition to the Cy Young.

2. Conforto Sets New Career Highs

When Michael Conforto collapsed to the ground last year, we could not be sure he would ever be the same again. Those fears were not exactly put to rest when Conforto hit .216/.344/.366 in the first half.

In the second half, Conforto has returned. He’s hitting .282/.364/.564. With that surge, he now has 28 homers and 82 RBI. Both are career highs.

Along with other developments from the second half, Conforto’s emergence gives you legitimate hope for 2019.

3. Mets Finally Beat Braves

It took five-and-a-half months, but the Mets finally took a series from the Braves this year. What made the accomplishment all the more surprising is the fact the Braves needed the series for NLDS homefield advantage.

The Mets took the series because of terrific pitching from deGrom and Jason Vargas as well as timely hitting from Conforto, Dominic Smith, and Kevin Plawecki.

It’s not enough to think the Mets as currently comprised to challenge that Braves next year, but it’s a sign there’s a sufficient talent base to do this. More than anything, it’s nice to see the Mets hurt that Braves in a late September series.

3 DOWN

1. No Action Jackson

Austin Jackson‘s initial hot streak when joining the Mets is a distant memory. Over his last 35 games, he’s hitting .198/.200/.398. In the field, he has a -15 DRS in center field this year.

Part of that poor defense was his flat out dropping a ball in center which helped cost the Mets a game.

While he may have been a worthwhile flyer to see if he could be a right-handed fourth outfielder on the bench next year, he has proven he should not be counted on filling that role next year.

Overall, with him playing behind a Cy Young winner in four of the last seven years, he serves little more than a good luck charm for deGrom.

2. Toddfather Where Are You?

In April, Todd Frazier was great leading the Mets on the field and in the dugout. Since April, he has not been the same player. He’s now limping to the finish line.

In September, Frazier is hitting .133/.264/.267.

More troubling than the finish is his walk rate. He had made steady progress on that front over the previous three years with a career best 14.4 percent walk rate last year.

This year, that’s down to 9.8 percent. It raises legitimate questions about whether this is a one year blip, or if this is a sign of real decline.

3. No Wright PH Attempts

Due to the Braves fighting for homefield advantage in the NLDS, the Mets announced they were not going to have David Wright make a pinch hitting appearance. The Mets made that decision despite fans coming to the park hoping to just catch a glimpse of him.

While the rationale was probably a thinly veiled attempt to shield Wright from doing something he may have been physically prepared to do, the Mets would come across ridiculous when they did things like bat Brandon Nimmo ninth or allow Drew Smith to struggle out of the pen again.