The Mets, who after their game in Miami, are sitting in first place at 21-17 despite having an absurd 16 players sitting on the injured list. Among the players on the IL are four of their starting pitchers, one of their best relievers, two starting outfielders, three starting infielders, an all-world defensive infielder, two backup outfielders, a utility man, and two veteran relievers. Among the accolades presently injured are two Cy Youngs, a plethora of All-Star appearances, a Rookie of the Year, and multiple first-round draft picks.

As we look back on this last week in Atlanta, the Mets needed more than 20 innings from their bullpen after going with a bullpen game and two games having starters exit early. Rojas ran out lineups consisting of Jose Peraza, Johneshwy Fargas, Cameron Maybin (who was acquired for $1), and Khalil Lee. Tommy Hunter and Sean Reid-Foley threw important innings for the Mets, and Tomas Nido played folk hero. Somehow, the Mets managed to take two in their three-game set with the Braves, and will head to Miami as a first-place team.

When the Mets land in Miami, they’ll know more about a potential injury to Pete Alonso and about the rehab status of third baseman J.D. Davis. Until then, the Mets are going to keep needing key contributions from a “Bench Mob” that sees three of the original members injured and two of them seeing regular playing time. The Mets’ current “Bench Mob” consists of Jake Hager, a platoon of James McCann and Tomas Nido, Khalil Lee, Patrick Mazeika, and Wilfredo Tovar. For obvious reasons, that group doesn’t exactly strike fear into the hearts of opposing pitchers.

Despite all this, the Mets are 12-6 in May and are sitting in first place. They’ve seen just about every injury imaginable, have already fired two popular coaches in the club house, have had a plethora of cancellations and doubleheaders, and are somehow still in first place. Usually when a team faces as much adversity as the Mets have in such a short amount of time, the results aren’t good. But for this edition of the New York Mets, the results are at a peak. They enter Miami winners of nine of their last 12 games, and begin a series against a team that is four games under .500.

There are several places to hand out praise for the Mets’ start: the front office for assembling an impressive group of depth and bench players, the players called upon to step up for being ready and prepared, but one recipient stands out more than most. That man is Luis Rojas, who has been arguably baseball’s best manager early on. Rojas has been handed little to work with, and has his team sitting atop one of the more competitive divisions in baseball.

Rojas has had to run out lineup card after lineup card that is missing some of the better bats in baseball, and even to a point where the replacements for those missing bats end up needing replacements. Rojas managed the Mets into several wins and has made move after move that has put the Mets in a position to succeed. For example, in Wednesday night’s game against Atlanta, Rojas walked Guillermo Heredia to force Brian Snitker to pinch hit for Charlie Morton, who the Mets hadn’t been able to figure out yet. Pinch-hitter Pablo Sandoval promptly lined out to third base, stranding three Braves. The following inning, the Mets would take a 4-3 lead off a Braves bullpen that had struggled all series. While a lack of rest for the Mets bullpen wound up costing them the game, Rojas put them in a position to win as best as he could.

Looking further back to a David Peterson start against Arizona during the Mets’ seven-game wining streak, Rojas pulled Peterson for Robert Gsellman at the perfect time. Gsellman kept the Mets in the game, and they ended up walking it off with some more Mazeika magic.

Luis Rojas has been dealt a terrible hand to date, considering how he came into the Mets’ managerial job, his first year being a COVID-19-shortened season, and his first full season as manager being ravaged by injuries to one of the best teams in baseball on paper. But despite all of that, the Mets sit over a game up on the Phillies for first place as they enter a soft stretch of their schedule in which they don’t face another team over .500 for the rest of the month.

If Rojas can navigate these tough waters and keep the Mets afloat until their big bats and starting pitching is healthy, he will have them well positioned to run away with the National League East, and in doing so would make him one of the clear frontrunners for National League Manager of the Year.