The Mets Are Back At .500!

I’m gonna do something I haven’t done in years — write my feelings.

The New York Mets are good. The New York Mets have life. The New York Mets might be better than the Atlanta Braves. The New York Mets should be getting some sort of pitching reinforcements, in the forms of Kodai Senga and Christian Scott. The Mets have won on back-to-back days with a go-ahead run (or three) in the eighth inning, the sort of thing they would have done in 2006, early 2007, and all of 2022 up until the final weekend in Atlanta. They’re getting contributions from everywhere in the order — including literally fucking Harrison Bader, who isn’t good. They’re a win away from being over .500, which isn’t a feeling, but a fact.

There are 5 1/2 months left in the 2024 season. The Mets, for all intents and purposes, have a fresh start starting tomorrow, when their Opening Day starter, José Quintana, toes the rubber against the best pitcher in the Pirates’ rotation, Jared Jones (presumably). It has the makings of Re-Opening Day, and I, again, will be in attendance! What joy.

Sixteen games in, the Mets have 146 to go (I did that math in my head). All they have to do is go 78-68 from here on out to give themselves a reasonable shot at a National League Wild Card spot. You know who finished 10 games over .500? That’s right, the 2019 Mets. Sure, they had an extra 16 games to do it, but they were also dogshit for four months. Unless the roster goes down in a (insert outdated graphic metaphor here), they will not be dogshit. To paraphrase Francisco Lindor, they are the New York Mets. They are good.

There is so much that can still go wrong for the 2024 Mets. For now, I’m choosing to ignore that. I’m choosing to think about the things that can go right, because they’re much more fun anyway.