After a very anticlimactic run-up to yesterday’s 4:00 pm trade deadline, the New York Mets continued doing what they began roughly three weeks ago – that is playing winning baseball.
After securing their sixth straight win with a 4-2 victory over the Chicago White Sox at Guaranteed Rate Field last night, the Mets now find themselves just four games back from that coveted second NL wild card spot.
In the past week, the Amazins have come three games closer to securing a postseason berth and they have leapfrogged four other teams in the process.
Fueling this second half resurgence has been a more consistent bullpen, an abundance of timely hits, and most of all – the league’s best starting pitching performance led by their ace Jacob deGrom.
While he may not have had everything in his arsenal working the way he would have liked, the reigning NL Cy Young Award winner still delivered a knockout performance as deGrom held the South Side favorites to just one run over seven innings while striking out 11 and walking just two batters.
“I felt like I was kind of nibbling, not really going right after guys. But after that third inning, I was like, ‘Here it is, let’s see if you can hit it.’ I made a lot better pitches from that third inning on.”
DeGrom, 31, has a scintillating 1.80 ERA over his last seven starts with a whopping 62 strikeouts over that 45.0 innings span.
Overall this season, the lanky right-hander has held batters to a .223 average while boasting a 2.71 ERA, 1.109 WHIP and a 11.5 strikeout rate – the highest mark of his career. Fangraphs sets his WAR at 4.4 with two months still to go in the regular season.
Not one to cloak his emotions, deGrom seemed more thrilled that the Mets rotation remained intact after non-stop rumors that either Noah Syndergaard or Zack Wheeler or both could be traded before the deadline.
“I enjoy this staff, all great guys on it and we enjoy being around each other,” deGrom said. “I would’ve hated to see anybody go. We’re staying together and that says they believe in us and hopefully we can keep the ball rolling.”
Since the All-Star break, the Mets pitching staff leads the Major Leagues with a 2.71 ERA accompanied by a .226 BAA, 1.131 WHIP and 9.5 K9. And that’s before the newly acquired Marcus Stroman makes his anticipated Mets debut on Saturday against the Pirates in Pittsburgh.
“It takes the pressure off knowing the pitching staff is clicking on all cylinders,” manager Mickey Callaway said after the game.
Here it is in a nutshell my friends… If you are a firm believer – like me – that pitching wins ballgames, you may want to strap yourselves in for what could be a pretty exciting finish to the regular season for the Mets.
Boasting a one-through-five of DeGrom, Syndergaard, Stroman, Wheeler and Matz, the Mets have arguably the best rotation in the National League. And if this pitching staff continues to keep “clicking on all cylinders” there could very well be a postseason in our future and with a rotation like this maybe even another one of those Flushing-Sized Miracles. LGM
