Will Leitch of Sports On Earth writes that the New York Mets will be unable to defend their division crown this season and he has them finishing second in the NL East behind the Washington Nationals in their Season Preview.
“Two reasons. One, I think the Nationals are about to make a big step forward, which we’ll get into in a couple of paragraphs. And two, the Mets are basing their whole success on two theoretically strong but particularly flimsy legs. They’re counting on hitters in their 30s and pitchers in their early-to-mid-20s. If all lines up, the Mets could win 100 games. But what are they getting out of David Wright? Can Curtis Granderson keep up his late-career resurgence? What if Cespedes isn’t quite a superstar? And can all those pitchers remain healthy?”
“If the Mets get the best out of everybody and keep everyone on the field, they win the division. But after all the good fortune from last year … it feels like a minor turn could be in their future.”
Of course if everything breaks right the Mets could repeat as NL East champsand at least they killed the LOLMets meme, but he concludes that everything isn’t going to break right two years in a row. (Or can it?)
Leitch’s case for the Washington Nationals unseating the Mets atop the NL East is that last season they massively underachieved and they took a big step toward fixing that by replacing Matt Williams with a seasoned and unflappable manager in Dusty Baker.
On the player side he predicts that MVP Bryce Harper could be even better next season, a horrifying thought to say the least. He also says the Nationals are comprised of “a ton of bounce-back candidates and some help right around the corner on the farm.”
Essentially, he asserts that Washington will do this season, everything they were projected to do last season. He has the Nationals winning 94 games and the Mets 92.
Read their complete NL East Preview here.
I’ll give you Bryce Harper, but Dusty Baker? Really? Agree, disagree, let us know.
“Lord, save me from these tools and their keyboards.”
