Centerfield

The problem with this team is that they are just not clutch. It's baked into their DNA. Kidding. I have no idea what's in their DNA. But I mentioned something in the last IGT that got me thinking. For a team that's been very good, they don't really have any "signature" wins this season. No game really stands out as a great comeback victory. This site tracks come from behind victories. The Mets have 19, which ties them for 9th in MLB. The Dodgers are first with 29. The Cubs are tied for 5th with 21. https://champsorchumps.us/records/most-mlb-comeback-wins-in-2025 This site also tracks 9th inning comeback wins. The Dodgers have 2, the Cubs have 2. Philly has 3, and Atlanta has 2. The Mets have zero. Examining their 19 come from behind wins: 1. March 31 vs. Miami. 1-0 lead in the first inning. Mets tied it in the 3rd. Took the lead in the 5th 2. April 2 vs. Miami. Mets were down 4-1 to Miami. Tied it in the 8th inning. Won in 11. 3. April 5 vs. Blue Jays. Toronto up 2-0. Mets scored 2 in the 8th, 1 in the 9 inning to win. Lindor SF. 4. April 8 vs. Miami. Miami took a 2-0 lead in the first. Mets tied it in the 3rd, broke it open in the 5th. 5. April 18 vs. STL. STL was winning 3-2 in the 6 inning. Mets pulled ahead in the same inning. STL tied it in the 9th, Lindor walkoff. 6. April 23 vs. Phil. Tied 2-2 going into extras. In 10, the Phils scored the ghost runner. Mets scored 2 to win it in the 10th. 7. May 2 vs. STL. STL had leads of 1-0 and 3-2 in the first and third innings. Mets went ahead in the 5th and pulled away. 8. May 5 vs. ARI. Arizona leads 1-0 after 1. Mets take the lead in the 4th inning. Hold on to win. 9. May 12 vs. PIT. PIT leading 2-1 top 7. Mets scored two in the bottom of the 7th. 10. May 17 vs. NYY. Yankees had an early 1-0 lead after 3. Mets went ahead top 4. Yankees tied it in the 6th, the Mets got a SF in the top of the 9th to win it. 11. May 24 vs. LAD. Dodgers led 2-0 after 2. Mets took the lead in the 4th inning. 12. May 25 vs. LAD. LA lead 1-0 top 1. Mets scored two in the bottom of the first. 13. May 26 vs. CHW. Mets trailed 1-0 in the 8th inning. SF in the 8th and 9th won it for the Mets. 14. May 27 vs. CHW. CHW scored 2 in the first. Mets answered with 4 bottom 1. 15. May 31 vs. COL. COL scored 1 in the top of the first. Mets answered with 4 in the bottom half. 16. June 1 vs. COL. COL scored 1 in the 3rd. Mets scored 3 in the 4th. 17. June 6 vs. COL. Losing 1-0 in the 7th, the Mets scored 2 to take the lead in the 7th inning. COL tied it, Mets score two top 9 to win it. 18. June 10 vs WAS. Losing 4-2 in the 8th inning, Soto and Alonso drive in runs to tie it. McNeil doubles home the ghost runner in 10. 19. June 21 vs. PHI. Losing 3-1 in the 3rd, the Mets go back to back to back to take a 4-3 lead. Pull away. As you might expect, most of these are just early leads that are overcome in the course of a regular game. You don't really tend to think of overcoming an early 1-0 lead as a "comeback win". 3 of these wins are against Miami, 2 against the White Sox, and 3 against Colorado. So while it's good to win those games, there's a part of you that's annoyed you were losing in the first place. You figure a signature win is one where you're chasing a lead late, then come back to win. Like game 161 last year. Or Game 5 in Milwaukee. The Mets have 7 wins this year where they were chasing a lead in the 7th inning or later, and then came back to win. 1. April 2 vs. MIA (Down 4-1 in the 8th, score 3 to tie in the 8th, then win in 11th) 2. April 5 vs. TOR (Down 2-0 in the 8th, score 2 in the 8th to tie, win in the 9th) 3. April 23 vs. PHI (PHI scores the ghost runner in 10, Mets score 2 in the bottom of the 10th) 4. May 12 vs. PIT (PIT leads 2-1 in the 7th. Mets take the lead bottom 7) 5. May 26 vs. CHW (CHW winning 1-0 in the 8th, Mets hit a SF in the 8th and 9th to win it) 6. June 6 vs. COL (Col winning 1-0 in the 7th, Mets score 2 in the top of the 7th) 7. June 10 vs. WAS (WAS winning 4-2, Mets score 2 in the 8th to tie, then win in the 10th on the McNeil double) Of these wins, 5 are against ****** teams, so it's hard to think of those as "signature wins". Though the June 10 game against Washington was awesome. So that leaves us the April 5 Toronto game, which let's be honest. Most of us have forgotten about it. And the April 23 day game against Philadelphia. This was the Zach Wheeler start that capped off the sweep. So if I had to pick a "signature win" for the 2025 Mets, I guess it's that day game against Philadelphia. The Mets almost had a signature win in their Friday night, May 23 game against the Dodgers. This is the game where they scored 3 runs in the 9th off Tanner Scott. But they couldn't complete the job, so instead, this became a cock-punch loss. Speaking of cock-punch losses, I count a bunch. 1. April 25 vs. WAS. Leading 4-3, the Nationals score 2 in the ninth off Ryne Stanek to walk it off 2. April 27 vs. WAS. Mets blow a 7-1 lead. Nationals score 2 in the ninth off Ryne Stanek to walk it off 3. May 23 vs. LAD. The 13 inning debacle 4. June 3 vs. LAD. Muncy 9th inning HR, 10th inning Freeman fly ball to Nimmo 5. June 5 vs. LAD. The Conforto game. Mets give up 3 in the 8th. 6. June 13 vs. TAM. The 6 run inning for Blackburn/Kranick. Started the losing streak 7. June 17 vs. ATL. The Ozuna 3 run double off Reed. What does all this mean? Not much I guess. But for a team that has been good except for this recent stretch, it kinda sucks that they haven't given us that great moment. But has instead given us a bunch of cock punch losses.

Kinda wish we had done the 3 years, $90 Million. Or four years 120M.

It's strange that a day has passed and the "it didn't look good" status hasn't really been updated.

Mendoza about Vientos. “He didn’t look good”. Maybe Mauricio time.

I can’t find any updates on Brooks Raley except a random tweet by Anthony Dicomo that he should be ready around the end of June.

It made no sense to me either. One mitigating circumstance could be that with the rain Mendy didn’t think they’d get all 9 in. But still.

Hot Corner DH candidate Brandon Waddell not having the best day today.

That would be a huge lift if he's healthy and effective. I'm getting way ahead of myself here. But I feel like a huge part of how we do in October will depend on the performance of our left-handed reliever.

What about Brooks Raley?

We are not allowed to have lefty relievers.

Kinda. Looks like an incredible athlete. Super fast. But very long-limbed. Almost too long. Like it’s hard for him to have fine coordination because of it. I felt this way about Amed Rosario. I don’t think he’ll ever be a very good contact hitter because of it. It looks like he can hit one out when he gets a hold of one. He just hasn’t yet. Took a bad route on that Rooker triple.

I’d trade any prospect in the Mets system for Alcantara. I bet Stearns would too. But I’m guessing someone can give a package that will beat the Mets.

Youse mean pitchers should avoid pitching to the sweet spot? That's what pitchers have been doing, or trying to do, since baseball was invented. Yes. But assuming it’s a regular barrel, the idea is to live on the corners. If the barrel is now middle in, then the batter should be vulnerable away.

So then pitch them outer half.

Yeah. Not good.

I definitely have some weird psychosis. Just based on my gut, I believe Nimmo, Alonso, McNeil, Senga and Diaz will have bounce back seasons. I think Alvarez and Baty will break out. I think Mauricio will get back healthy and be a big factor for us sometime this year. I also think Manaea and Peterson will duplicate what they did last year. And Holmes will be good as a starter. At the same time I think the Mets will win 77 games, because, they're the Mets. But I'm trying not to think that way anymore. So. My predictions. 1. What will the Mets' record be? 91-71 2. Predict the NL East standings from 1 to 5: ATL - NYM - PHI - WAS - MIA 3. Will the Mets make the playoffs (if so, as the division champ or 1st, 2nd, or 3rd WC)? Yes. First WC 4. If so, how far will they go? NLDS 5. Who will be the World Champion? Texas Rangers 6. Number of regular season HRs for Pete Alonso: 44 7. Who will be on the cover of the 2025 winner of the Tabloid Cover Derby? Jose Siri

Musicals. Cat vs phantom vs French revolutionary vs chorus line Maybe work in a rockette somehow.

I think the idea is fun. I think the costumes are a miss. In the other parks, it’s all sausages or all Presidents. Here the mascots are too much of a jumble. There are so many things we could have done. Buildings. ESB vs Chrysler vs Freedom Tower vs Statue of Liberty. Mayors. Rudy. Bloomberg. Koch. La Guardia. Foods. Pizza. Bagel. Apple. Knish. Taco. We could even use offensive stereotypes for this one.

Hagenman has looked good this spring. 2.25 ERA with a 1.13 WHIP. Canning has been even better. 0.90 ERA with a 0.80 WHIP. It's not too late for someone to jump on the Max Kranick bandwagon. 9.1 IP, 0.96 WHIP, 1.93 ERA. Paul Blackburn on the other hand... Of course, it's just spring training. And spring training stats mean nothing.

Awful. Starting pitchers are losing half a season to injuries that didn’t exist a generation ago. Pitching is so fragile.

Big news from Yankee camp as a fly ball was hit to LF and Jasson Dominguez caught it.

Maybe we did have it. Here's Mike Piazza in his last game as a Met.

I remember him trying. Did it fly? Here's Pedro Martinez violating that rule.

The rule was one of the dumbest things in all of sports. It arose from a moral standard that is long outdated. It's insulting to grown professional men who are the greatest in their arena. It may have served as a detriment in free agency, now that the Yankees are not at a financial advantage over all other teams. It was likely illegal. Given that they benefit from the anti-trust exemption and have player control for 6+ years. But I liked that it made the Yankees look stupid and outdated.

Excited for this.