For large stretches of this young season, the New York Mets have struggled offensively. Injuries have played a major factor, for sure. No argument there. But even when they were close to full strength, their lineup was still performing far below expectations. Entering Monday, the homestand against Detroit, the team ranked second-worst in MLB in batting average (.222) and hits (295), and worst in MLB in RBIs (132), OBP (.287), SLG (.341) and OPS (.628).  

A path to climbing up the standings would not seem attainable until that changed. Well, that shift has certainly started over the last few days.

The Mets capped off a 5-1 homestand with a walk-off win over the New York Yankees on Sunday. It looked all but over until Tyrone Taylor came to the plate in the bottom of the ninth. David Bednar failed to locate a curveball. Taylor was ready and hit a game-tying three-run home run down the left field line, sending the game to extra innings. After Devin Williams put up a zero in the top of the tenth, Carson Benge had his second walk-off of the week to complete the series victory over the Yankees.

During the Mets’ six-game homestand, the team tied for the fourth-most hits (54), drove in the fifth-most runs (34), had the seventh-best batting average in MLB (.260), and, more importantly, had the seventh-best OBP (.345), 12th-best SLG (.399), and tenth-best OPS (.744) in baseball.

History was made on Sunday. Entering the day, the Mets had lost 91 consecutive games when trailing after eight innings. They had also lost 131 consecutive games when trailing by three runs or more in the ninth inning or later, dating back to May of 2023. They snapped both these streaks with their comeback against the Yankees.

For the season, the Mets are now averaging 3.83 runs per game. Only three teams rank worse than them. With that being said, during this homestand, the Mets scored 6.16 runs per game. The contributions from Benge and A.J. Ewing have helped, supporting Juan Soto and a resurgent Mark Vientos during this recent stretch.

“It was just good to see the guys fight back and stay in the fight. It’s just a good feeling right now. We know we’ve got to start playing better, period. It’s been rough, but that’s in the past. Now, all we know, all we can control is every game, every series,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said postgame.

If the Mets are to get back into the playoff race in the National League, their offense needs to maintain this level of performance. Even with all the injuries, they are more than capable of doing that.