The 2020 shortened season has come to a disappointing end for the Mets, they finished the year 26-34 and in a tie with the Nationals for last place in the National League East.
On the offensive side, the Mets tied the Dodgers for best in the majors with a 122 wRC+ as a team. Despite that number, the Mets ranked only 13th in runs per game with at 4.77. A big reason for the lack of scoring was their .732 OPS with runners in scoring position, ranking 24th in baseball.
The 122 wRC+ smashed the previous team record of 111 that was set back in 1988.
For the first time in team history, the Mets had three hitters finish in the top 10 in the National League in hitting.
Let’s take a look at how Mets individual players ranked on the NL offensive leaderboard:
Average
- 6th Michael Conforto .322 (7th in MLB)
- 8th Dominic Smith .316
- 9th Jeff McNeil .311
- Robinson Cano (.316) finished just a few plate appearances shy of qualifying
On-Base Percentage
- 6th Conforto .412 (8th in MLB)
- 8th Brandon Nimmo .404
- 11th McNeil .383
- 12th Smith .377
- 13th J.D. Davis .371
Slugging Percentage
- 4th Smith .616 (5th in MLB)
On-Base Plus Slugging (OPS)
- 4th Smith .993
- 14th Conforto .927
- 15th Nimmo .888
Runs Scored
- 11th Conforto 40
Hits
- 7th Conforto 65
Doubles
- 2nd Smith 21 (2nd in MLB)
- 9th McNeil 14
Triples
- 4th Nimmo 3
Home Runs
- 3rd Pete Alonso 16
Runs Batted In
- 5th Smith 42
Walks
- 10th Nimmo 33
- 11th Davis 31
Stolen Bases
- 10th Andres Gimenez 8
wRC+
- 4th Smith 165
- 7th Conforto 157
- 15th Nimmo 148
As a team, the Mets had a 5.01 ERA (22nd in MLB) though the starters were the big culprits with a 5.37 ERA. The 5.37 starters ERA is the worst in team history.
Jacob deGrom set a record with his 21.6 swinging strike percentage, previous record was 16.8 set by Gerrit Cole last season and Randy Johnson posted 16.3% during the first year they started tracking it in 2002.
Steven Matz finds himself in the record books in bad way, his 4.11 HR/9 was the second highest in baseball history for a pitcher with at least 30 innings.
Here’s how Mets pitchers ranked in the NL leaders:
ERA
- 4th Jacob deGrom 2.38
- 15th Edwin Diaz 1.75 (among relievers)
fWAR
- 2nd deGrom 2.6
- T/7th Diaz 0.9 (among relievers)
K/9
- 1st deGrom 13.76
- 3rd Diaz 17.53 (among relievers)
WHIP
- 3rd deGrom 0.96
Swinging Strike %
- 1st deGrom 21.6% (MLB starter record)
- 3rd Diaz 21.5% (among relievers)
In other Mets pitcher stats, David Peterson led all major league rookie pitchers with his 1.5 WAR.
Another interesting stat from 2020, is that Conforto had 86 plate appearances against lefty pitching, fourth most in baseball. The Mets went 8-14 against left-handed starters despite most of their left-handed bats – Conforto 142 wRC+, Smith 147, Cano 136, McNeil 111, Gimenez 109 – faring just fine against them.
The Mets certainly saw some big-time individual seasons in 2020 – specifically from the offense – but unfortunately all they could muster was a 26-34 record.
