On August 15, the New York Mets were in the midst of the worst slump of their season. They had just lost 11-9 to the Milwaukee Brewers, their 14th loss in 16 games. They were 64-58, six games behind the first place Philadelphia Phillies, and only a half game in front of the Cincinnati Reds for the last Wild Card spot. The team that was two wins away from going to the World Series last season was in jeopardy of dropping out of the playoff picture altogether.
To be honest, with the preseason the New York Giants were having, I was pretty much done with baseball and looking forward to football season. I have a sneaky suspicion a lot of Mets fans were feeling the same way. No fanbase, except for maybe the Jets, has had more experience saying "Wait'll next year."
And then Nolan McLean took the mound at CitiField on August 16 and did something a Mets starter hadn't done since August 4: pitch at least five complete innings without surrendering an earned run. And unlike that early August game, which was a 7-6 loss to the Cleveland Guardians, this time around, the Mets prevailed 3-1. McLean went 5.1 innings, allowed 2 hits, 4 walks, no earned runs, and struck out 8. It was his first start in the majors and it could not have come at a better time for this beleaguered franchise.
So far, the 24 year old righty has started three games for the Amazins, and his stats are off the charts. In 20.1 innings, he is 3-0, with 21 strikeouts and a 0.89 earned run average. That is better than what Jacob deGrom, Dwight Gooden and Tom Seaver did in their first three starts. Last night, he threw eight shutout innings to help the Mets complete a three-game sweep of the Phillies to pull them to within four games of first place.
McLean's arrival has been a Godsend for the Mets. They are 8-3 in their last eleven, and have outscored their opponents 74-40. But even before he was brought up from Syracuse, there were signs that things were starting to turn around. Since August 12, New York's batting average with runners in scoring position is .388. Prior to that, it was .233.
Leading the way is Mark Vientos. After an impressive rookie campaign in which he hit .266 with 27 HRs and 71 RBIs, the third baseman was having a hellish second season, hitting just .234 with 7 HRs and 31 RBIs through July. But in August, he has rediscovered his swing and his swagger. He's hitting .297 with 6 HRs and 18 RBIs. He's tied with Francisco Lindor with an OPS of 1.000. Only Brett Baty - 1.002 - is higher. Juan Soto, the 765 million dollar man, is hitting .400 with an OPS of 1.156 with runners in scoring position since July 29. Even Tyrone Taylor is getting into the act. He's hitting .360 with an .OPS of .888 this month.
But with the starters continuing to struggle getting past the 5th inning, David Stearns has seen enough. He's calling up Jonah Tong from Syracuse, who will make his season debut Friday night against the Miami Marlins. Tong was 8-5 with a 1.59 ERA at Binghamton this season, and 2-0 with a 0.00 ERA at Syracuse. There are those in the organization who think his ceiling might be higher than McLean's. Meanwhile, Brandon Sproat, who's 7-6 with a 4.50 ERA at Syracuse, could be called up in September. The Mets haven't had three young starters with this much potential since the days of deGrom, Matt Harvey and Noah Syndergaard. Now you know why Stearns was reluctant to part with his top prospects at the trade deadline.
A revived offense that can hit in the clutch and averages seven runs per game; a revamped starting rotation that can go six or more innings; this was the way the Mets drew it up on the board before the year started. With 29 games remaining in the regular season, the Flushing Faithful finally have something they can look forward to in October.
