The Mets Got Better This Offseason
The Mets had a good year last year by any fan’s standards, but it ended poorly. Steve Cohen has made adjustments to the team, however, bringing in star pitcher Justin Verlander, who is coming off one of the finest seasons of his career with a 1.75 ERA and winning the Cy Young award.
Loss Of DeGrom
The loss of DeGrom won’t impact the team at all, especially with the addition of Verlander. Verlander and Scherzer’s leadership and experience in the locker room is exactly what the Mets have been looking to secure for years. The Mets also hope to have Verlander be more available than DeGrom had been in 2022.
The Mets will also be looking to see what they have in Kodai Senga. The team doesn’t know exactly what he’ll be, but he could also be a huge upgrade over some of the middle pitchers the Mets rolled out last year.
A Stacked Team
The Mets have 8 top 100 players in the MLB. In descending order; #61 Starling Marte
#54 Brandon Nimmo, #51 Edwin Diaz, #45 Jeff McNeil, #31 Pete Alonso, #21 Francisco Lindor, #15 Max Scherzer, and newly acquired #14 Justin Verlander. The defending world champion Houston Astros are the only other team with 8 players on the list.
What the Books have to Say
The Mets won 77 games in 2021 and have been on an upward trend since, winning more games each season. In 2022, the Mets had an over/under win total of 88.5 (+105 over/-145 under). The Mets finished with a record of 101-61 in 2022.
This year, however, the Mets have an over/under win total of 94.5 (-105 over/-115 under). I expect the Mets to follow up their promising year and send their win total over.
Experience
The big thing that the Mets got last year was experience in big games. The way the team got manhandled by the Braves and suffered big-time losses in the year’s final games in Atlanta was certainly a shock to many.
Alonso and the crew now know what it feels like to have big time at bats in big time situations. The experience will be a factor that helps take this Mets team over the top this year.
It is very difficult for a team to win a championship on their first playoff run together, and the losses the team endured only drew the players closer. The gut-wrenching defeat in the wild-card round to the Padres is exactly what the Mets needed in order to fuel a great 2023 season and playoff run.
All Odds Via Draftkings Sportsbook March 1st, 2023.
