Despite a valiant comeback effort, the New York Mets closed out their opening series on Sunday afternoon with a 6-5 loss to the Washington Nationals on a Trea Turner walk-off home run. Though they were not able to compete the series sweep, the Mets certainly sent an important message to both the Washington Nationals and the Mets fan base.

In this series, the Mets showed that this team will be a tough out and will have no quit. During his post-game press conference, Mets manager Mickey Callaway praised his team for the fight they showed.

The players in the Mets clubhouse also spoke proudly about their resiliency, especially against Nats closer Sean Doolittle, who they will likely see often in 2019. This was a game the Nats should’ve put in their back pockets, but once again the Mets were able to feast on their bullpen, as they were able to grind out three eighth inning runs.

But most importantly, it should make the Mets fan base very happy. The club took a road series from a division rival whom many experts consider to be better than the Amazins.  These three games illustrated that they have the depth on this roster to come back in games, and that will be a big factor in how this division shapes up as the year progresses.

Rookie first baseman Pete Alonso has also provided an immediate spark to the lineup. Over his first fourteen big league at-bats, he is hitting .500/.571/.750 with three doubles and has posted a 217 wRC+. The young slugger has shown a nice relaxed approach at the plate, and is hitting hard line drives to all fields.

Alonso is not only an extremely talented young ballplayer, but he brings a ton of passion and energy to this team. That certainly should not be overlooked by these experts. Through three games, he has continued to perform, which has given the Mets a very much needed balance at the right side of the plate.

It must also be noted that you gain playoff spots in this sport by handling your games inside the division. Though it is still so early in the season, winning two-out-of-three on the road in DC is a great starting point for this team. Over the past three seasons, the Mets have not taken care of business in division and it has showed in the standings.

This series also showed that the Mets bullpen is deep and talented. As I’ve said all winter, it will be the best set of relief pitchers in the NL East. I still firmly believe that, and I know that the bullpen is such a key component in today’s baseball. When you combine this with their starting pitching, it’ll give the Mets a huge advantage.

Speaking of the starting pitching, I talked to many team executives this weekend who told me that starting pitching depth is something they will be looking for as the season begins to unwind. I also know for a fact the Mets reached to the reps of free agent Dallas Keuchel. The lefty would still be an expensive price to pay, but he is such a quality arm that the Mets are certainly not ruling it out.

And let me give my pitch to Brodie Van Wagenen in writing. This signing would give you two bonafide aces Keuchel and deGrom for years, joining a rotation that already has Noah Syndergaard and Zach Wheeler. However, those two arms are not locked up to long term deals so landing Keuchel would give you maximum flexibility to get the most out of this rotation in 2019 and in years to come. It will also keep him away from all other NL East teams giving the Mets clearly the best pitching staff in all of baseball.

There you have it my pitch to the Mets on a day in which they just took two-out-of-three in a road series in DC that defines the character of this team, resilience to withstand adversity. Great times are ahead for Mets Twitter even if they want to ignore it. So don’t ignore it, join the party.