And to think everyone wanted Jay Bruce run out of town last season.

In 50 games after Bruce was traded to the Mets last year, he batted just .219/.294/.391, while hitting just eight home runs. Comparisons to Jason Bay were justly made.

Hey, they even have the same initials.

In a complete reversal of fortunes, Bruce has a chance to break the Mets’ single-season home run mark. Needless to say, this has been a much better year for the slugger.

In 101 games, Bruce is batting .262/.325/.531 with 29 homers and 75 RBI . This puts him at a pace to hit 44 home runs this year, which would top the Mets’ current franchise record of 41 home runs in a season. This record was initially set by Todd Hundley in 1996, and later matched by Carlos Beltran a decade later in 2006.

The major obstacle in Bruce’s way here will be whether or not he is traded.

He cleared waivers on Friday, which means he can be traded to any team for the remainder of the season. The market, however, has been notoriously lukewarm towards Bruce this year. The Mets tried their hardest to trade him this offseason, couldn’t find a partner, and couldn’t trade him at the non-waiver deadline either.

If Bruce does not get traded, his pursuit of the single-season home run record is going to be one of the major story lines surrounding the Mets over the final two months of 2017. In a season where it seems like everything has gone wrong, Bruce has been one silver lining.

By most metrics, this has been Bruce’s best season since he first came to the majors in 2008. He’s also never hit more than 34 homers in a season, which he did in 2012, and he has never had more than 109 RBI in a season. Bruce is on pace for 114 RBI, which would tie Carlos Delgado for ninth-most in Mets history.

What makes Bruce’s season even more impressive is that he is putting up higher home run totals in a less hitter-friendly ballpark. Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati is one of the most hitter-friendly parks in baseball; ESPN’s park factors rank it ninth in the game this season. Citi Field, by comparison,  is ranked No. 26.

This season couldn’t have come at a better time for Bruce, since he’s up for a new contract this offseason.

And with Michael Conforto being floated around as the centerfielder of the immediate future for the Mets, Bruce might just be back in blue and orange in 2018.

Who would have thought that when everyone was calling for his head this past offseason?