As the Mets have welcomed back their injured players the past few days it has lengthened their lineup putting bats like Jeff McNeil, Brandon Nimmo and Michael Conforto amongst the other RBI bats in this order like Dom Smith, Francisco Lindor and Pete Alonso.
Over the weekend, we saw how an opponent like the Yankees could get worn down by a relentless group of hitters and we saw it once again at Citi against the Brewers–one of the hottest teams in all of baseball. Tylor Megill gave the Mets 5 innings of one run ball keeping his team in the game before the Mets manufactured a run in the 4th inning with a Brandon Nimmo double, a Francisco Lindor Sac bunt and a Dom Smith sac fly.
And then in the 7th inning which is when this Met team generally unveils their lumber on a nightly basis they plated three runs on a 2 run double from Pete Alonso coupled with an RBI single from Michael Conforto. And that has become a pattern since some of the injured players have returned. A big inning with player after player in the lineup carving out great at bats that leaves the opposing pitcher exhausted and defeated.
And it generally settled matters against quality pitchers like Brandon Woodruff who has one of the best arms in this league. We’ve seen the Mets do that in recent weeks to pitchers like Gerrit Cole, Blake Snell, Charlie Morton, Aaron Nola and Jake Arrieta. That is a serious collection of great arms that this team has beaten leaving them shaking their heads after the game.
Sometimes we forget that this team was missing more than half of their hitters in this lineup and are still missing JD Davis. At the start of the season, this team was supposed to be a squad that relied on the long ball and we have seen a home run festival in certain games. But this relentless approach to working counts, lifting pitch levels and hitting the ball where it is pitched has become much more of their personality in the batters box.
I do think the long ball will still surface but when you combine power threats with an ability to carve out some runs by manufacturing them with speed and well placed outs that move runners over, this lineup could become downright devastating. And this team has a rotation that is stingy in giving up runs which make this relentless approach tough for opponents to deal with every night.
The Mets are now halfway through their schedule holding a solid lead in their division with a record of 44-37and have shown the ability to take on elite teams like the Padres, Braves, Cubs and Yankees more than holding their own. The starting pitching and the bullpen are a big reason for that but as we move deeper in this season, the offense is beginning to flex their muscles in a plethora of ways. And that is real bad news for the rest of The National League.