By John Jastremski
Four plus months into the 2022 season and contrary to popular belief, I haven’t seen any similarities between the current edition of the New York Mets and the 2015 team that won the pennant.
Why? The 2022 team is leaps and bounds better.
It’s not even close — and the record proves my point.
The Mets have been a first place team all season as opposed to 2015 where the Mets were .500 for 4 months.
For the first time all year, I noticed a similarity that gave me a 2015 flashback.
The New York Mets buried the Atlanta Braves in the same way the 2015 Mets team buried the Washington Nationals.
This past weekend was a brilliant display of baseball on so many different fronts that should have the fan base jumping for joy.
The Mets had the Braves closing in their rearview mirror the months of June and July.
The Mets had terrific months, but the Braves kept winning.
You wanted to see how the Mets would handle their biggest series of the year?
Well, they passed with flying colors.
Sure, they won 4 out of 5 games. That’s outstanding, but think about some of the stars of the weekend.
The Mets three headed pitching monster looked unhittable against one of baseball’s best lineups.
It started on Thursday night. Mets manager Buck Showalter set a tone for the weekend: that we are here to win and to win big.
He decided to call upon Edwin Diaz for a six-out save after an easy 8th inning, and Diaz delivered.
Saturday, the Mets counted on their bulldog hired gun Max Scherzer to complete a doubleheader sweep. Scherzer delivered seven shutout innings with relative ease.
On Sunday, the icing on the cake. Jacob deGrom’s first Citi Field start of 2022 and was perfect for five plus innings, striking out twelve.
It was pretty clear to me, if you have a healthy Scherzer, deGrom and Diaz come playoff time, you can beat anyone in a short series.
You combine that firepower on the mound with a lineup that makes pitchers work, puts the ball in play and has a knack for getting the big hit, well then.
You’re cooking with gas!
The Mets have it all rolling in mid August, but in reality unlike 2015, this team has been rolling all damn year.
You don’t win any parades in August, but the statement was pretty clear this past weekend.
The Mets are the best team in the NL East and boy are they dangerous…
You can listen to my podcast New York, New York every Monday, Wednesday & Friday on The Ringer Podcast Network on Spotify & Apple Podcasts. You can watch me nightly on Geico Sportsnight after Mets postgame on SNY.
