After getting rained out Thursday, the New York Mets started their season Friday afternoon in opposition to the Milwaukee Brewers, and it couldn’t have gone a lot worse. The Mets had been one-hit at Citi Subject — the one hit was a Starling Marte solo homer — and Jeff McNeill received into it with Rhys Hoskins over a late slide. The Brewers gained the sport 3-1 (field rating).
Previous to Friday’s recreation, Mets proprietor Steve Cohen held court docket with the native media and mentioned that, though the membership had extra of a low-key offseason, he could be disapponited in the event that they missed the postseason once more. From the Related Press:
“I feel the purpose is to make the playoffs. Fairly easy. Let’s not overthink this,” Cohen mentioned Friday. “If we do not make the playoffs, clearly I would be dissatisfied.”
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“(Followers are) nonetheless fairly supportive. I am ready for that to expire. We have got to win in some unspecified time in the future,” he mentioned. “Hear, I feel the purpose is to make the playoffs and be there 12 months in and 12 months out, and I feel we will over time accomplish that. I feel what we’re constructing right here is one thing that is sustainable.”
The Mets gained 101 video games and went to the postseason in 2022, although they blew a ten.5-game division lead and had been eradicated by the San Diego Padres within the Wild Card Sequence. They then slipped to 75-87 in 2023, and issues went poorly sufficient that they offered on the commerce deadline. Mark Canha, David Robertson, Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander had been among the many veterans traded away.
To Cohen’s credit score, he agreed to eat important {dollars} on these contracts, permitting the Mets to obtain higher prospects in return. This previous offseason he employed president of baseball operations David Stearns with the concept that Stearns would construct a constant contender. Cohen has mentioned repeatedly that he desires the Mets to grow to be the East Coast model of the Los Angeles Dodgers.
That is one thing of a transition 12 months for the Mets. They wish to contend, as Cohen mentioned, however they’re additionally utilizing the season as a possibility to see what they’ve in younger gamers like Brett Baty. On the identical time, they not too long ago signed J.D. Martinez, which pushed younger slugger Mark Vientos again to Triple-A. The Martinez signing was their most all-in transfer of the winter.
The Mets entered the season with 38.7% postseason odds, per SportsLine. Baseball Prospectus has them a tick larger at 42.8%, FanGraphs a tick decrease at 26.0%.
