We got to see two very different sides of the New York Mets yet again during the Subway Series this week.

On Tuesday, we witnessed the type of team that could make a really deep run in the postseason and really compete for a World Series. However, it isn’t that straightforward with this team and we saw their bad side on Wednesday as the Mets split both this series and the four-game season series with the Yankees.

Consistency, or a lack thereof, has been the Mets’ biggest fatal flaw, their toxic achilles heel, all season long and an inability to play two good baseball games back-to-back has hurt them yet again. At the time of writing this, they have just a 13.7% percent chance of making the postseason, per FanGraphs. At this point, selling at the Trade Deadline seems the only logical and likely option.

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3 Up

Return Of The Polar Bear

We finally got a tantalizing glimpse of the Pete Alonso we’ve all been waiting for on Tuesday. Having displayed signs of breaking out during the series against the Red Sox, Alonso had himself quite a night at Yankee Stadium in the Subway Series opener. The slugger crushed a pair of big home runs and drove in the first five runs of the night as the Mets absolutely crushed the Yankees 9-3. It was a monster game for Alonso, who looked like his usual powerful self at the plate.

His productive night started with a well-placed, lucky bloop single that scored Brandon Nimmo to put the Mets on the board before he really began to do some damage. Alonso’s pair of homers were his first since July 6, and he finished his night going 3-for-4 with a walk and five RBIs. Granted, Alonso went 0-for-4 at the plate on Wednesday night, but he proved Tuesday that his stock is on the rise again. Hopefully, he can continue to turn the corner in a big way.

Lucky Break For Álvarez

Francisco Álvarez quite literally caught a lucky break on Tuesday night. In his final at-bat, the rookie took a 97 mph pitch from Yanks pitcher Albert Abreu bang on his right middle finger. Álvarez immediately went down in a lot of pain, and he was instantly removed from the game. Manager Buck Showalter admitted that he was “worried” and, although X-rays came back negative, you were still left fearing the worse given just how painful the injury looked. It would have been just the Mets’ luck right now if Álvarez had broken something.

However, the phenom catcher was back in the lineup on Wednesday, and he showed no signs of struggles or limitations as he singled in his first at-bat of the night. It was a welcome sight for a team who needed all the lucky breaks they could get right now. 

Starting Pitching Continues To Get Right

A big piece of the puzzle when it comes to the Mets’ struggles this year has been the demise of the starting rotation, which has sucked from top to bottom. You can’t be competitive without good starting pitching, after all. However, a corner has seemingly been turned in July, with the staff starting to figure it out. That turnaround continued in the Bronx, with both Justin Verlander and José Quintana delivering quality starts.

It began with Verlander, who is playing damn near close to the peak of his powers right now. The veteran was dealing filthy stuff all night long on Tuesday, dominating the Yankees as he has done throughout his career. Verlander is now a career 10-7 against the Yanks with a 3.24 ERA and 150 strikeouts in 25 outings. He pitched six high-end shutout innings on Tuesday, giving up just two hits while walking four and striking out six. Verlander threw 98 pitches, 63 of which were for strikes, and he now boasts a stellar 1.46 ERA through his last six outings.

As for Quintana, the veteran has shown a lot in just two starts as a Met. He looks every inch the middle-of-the-rotation workhorse that this team clearly needs, and Wednesday offered another encouraging sign. Despite loading the bases in the second inning, Quintana was largely solid, but he was let down by bad defense. Two really bad plays by Mark Vientos at third ultimately doomed the Mets and Quintana. Despite that, the lefty struck out five while allowing three runs (two earned) on six hits. If this Subway Series taught us anything, it’s that this rotation is starting to deliver as it should, thanks to Verlander settling in a groove and the return of a trusted veteran arm in Quintana.

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3 Down

Baty Continues To Slump

There’s been a lot of hit-and-miss from Brett Baty this year, and it was mainly a miss from the rookie throughout the Subway Series. The lefty bat went a combined o-for-6 in the Bronx, striking out four times. Baty is now hitting .230/.292/.351 on the year with a .642 OPS. It is understandable for a player still trying to find his way in the majors to be streaky, but Baty’s lack of consistency on both sides of the ball has been alarming at times. The Subway Series was another titanic struggle for the rookie both at the plate and in the field. The final few months of the regular season will be key for Baty in regards to trying to be a more reliable presence in the big leagues.

Hot & Cold, Hit & Miss

Speaking of consistency, the two-game set at Yankee Stadium provided a perfect summary of the 2023 season for the Mets so far. World beaters one night, a fundamentally flawed baseball team the next. After beating up on the Yankees on Tuesday, the Mets couldn’t follow that up with even a solid effort the following night. That’s been the story the entire year, and it’s exactly why this team is on the cusp of missing the postseason. Pete Alonso and Jeff McNeil, after having big nights on Tuesday, couldn’t get it going on Wednesday. Mark Vientos was a disaster at the plate and in the field, and the offense in general just vanished after putting up nine runs the night before. In-fact, the Mets could only string together four hits all night on Wednesday, including just one extra-base hit. This team is the very definition of streaky, and the extremes they hit on a night-to-night basis are beyond maddening.

Heart Attack Waiting To Happen

This Mets bullpen really is something, isn’t it? Watching it is like a House of Horrors heart attack just waiting to happen. They gave the Yankees every possible chance to get back into the game on Tuesday, with Brooks Raley loading the bases and then allowing an Anthony Volpe RBI double. David Robertson then had to come in to get out of a bases-loaded jam. While they ultimately got the job done, it was far from pretty and you were never convinced that the bullpen wasn’t going to collapse like a cheap pack of cards. The Mets did get two hitless innings from Drew Smith and Trevor Gott on Wednesday, which was encouraging, but no lead, no matter how big, truly feels safe with this bullpen. And that’s a major problem.