With everything that has gone on in 2020, it’s easy to forget that the Mets’ current manager was someone completely different back in January.

From the Beltran-cheating debacle to a once and a lifetime Pandemic halting the 2020 season, Luis Rojas has had anything but a normal start as a major-league manager.

But despite all that, Rojas has kept a demeanor that has made him so popular around the organization over the last decade plus: calm, cool, and collected.

He has seemed to handle every (what feels like unprecedented) hurdle in his short stint as Mets’ manager with flying colors, but how would he fair once the real games started?

Well, if Opening Day was any indication, then Mets fans should be excited to have this young skipper at the helm in Flushing for awhile.

The first area Rojas shined yesterday was in his bullpen usage.

Ace Jacob deGrom was taken out after five dominant innings over 72 pitches (a little below the planned 85-pitch limit), which left Rojas with major bullpen decisions from the sixth inning on.

He called on his super-reliever Seth Lugo, who picked up where he left off in 2019, allowing no runs, just one hit, and three strikeouts over two-innings pitched.

In the eighth, the skipper would call on lefty Justin Wilson to get the job done, and boy did he.

After allowing a leadoff hit to Dansby Swanson, Wilson would settle in nicely, retiring the next three hitters he faced to end the inning.

Then came the ninth, when Rojas called upon everyone’s favorite closer, Edwin Diaz.

Diaz started the inning well, getting All-Star Ozzie Albies to ground out for the first out.

After walking Met-killer Freddie Freeman to put the tying run on base, Rojas would stick with his young closer, who then proceeded to strikeout both Marcell Ozuna and Matt Adams to end the game.

Besides Rojas’ excellent bullpen management yesterday, another area that he deserves praise was his decision for certain defensive replacements late in the game.

After the Mets took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the seventh (thanks to a Yoenis Cespedes moonshot), Rojas spared no time treating the game like it needed to be, a must-win.

In the top of the eighth, Rojas replaced both Robinson Cano and J.D. Davis for late inning defense with Andres Gimenez and Jake Marisnick, something we should expect to see a lot of when the Mets have close leads late in games.

Rojas pushed all the right buttons, which should come as a sigh of relief in comparison past Mets managers in recent memory (sorry Mickey).

It was only the first of (hopefully) many games we will see Rojas managing in New York, but Mets fans should be excited for what seems to be a bright future ahead for the young manager.