This Week in Mets: Who needs to step up to carry the Mets to the playoffs? (2024)

“Inside the body, or beyond the body, there is something absolute and unchanging. The human life is all one thing, like a blade tracing loops on ice.”
— “The Things They Carried,” Tim O’Brien

The first week of the New York Mets’ extended homestand offered them a chance to get right — to rinse out the sour aftertaste of a 4-6 road trip that had ended so pitifully in Seattle. Instead, New York went only 3-3, losing a series to the Oakland Athletics and dropping Sunday’s chance to sweep the basically unrecognizable Miami Marlins.

Now, the schedule gets a lot tougher.

The 10 games the Mets play over the next 11 days will set the difficulty level for the final month of the season. If New York finishes this stretch against the Baltimore Orioles, San Diego Padres and Arizona Diamondbacks with a winning record, it may very well close the gap in the National League wild-card race. If the Mets can hold their own at .500, they should still be in the conversation. If they fall flat on their face, they might be staring at a significant deficit by the start of September.

With that in mind, let’s highlight four key personnel for the Mets over not just the next 10 games but the final 38. If the Mets are to make it to October baseball, these people have to lead them there.

Pete Alonso

Of course. Brandon Nimmo and Francisco Lindor have taken turns starring for the offense, and Jeff McNeil has been a different hitter in the second half. But the Mets are still waiting for Alonso to cash in his annual hot streak, with every big game turning into a false start. Such was the case this past week, when he followed up a four-hit evening (and a story pondering the possibility that the hot streak was coming) with a 2-for-14 finish to the homestand.

Alonso is not having a bad season; his OPS+ is still better than it was a year ago. However, his batting average hasn’t rebounded as hoped after a historically low batting average on balls in play last year. And his hits have not come in the most important situations: His OPS with runners in scoring position is down to .727 from a career mark of .912.

Given the supply of power elsewhere in the lineup, Alonso doesn’t feel as indispensable to the Mets offense as he did two years ago. But nobody else in this lineup can carry an offense the way he can. No other Met has Alonso’s ceiling as a run producer.

Jose Quintana

The Mets’ Opening Day starter was central to their turnaround earlier in the season, posting a sub-2.00 ERA over an eight-start stretch in which New York went 6-2. August, however, has been rough on the lefty: He’s allowed 12 runs in his three starts, all of them team losses, with 13 strikeouts to 10 walks.

Quintana is not that far off from his earlier form. His start in Seattle — 6 2/3 innings, five earned runs — was significantly better than that line indicates. When he’s been more aggressive in the strike zone and limiting his free passes, he’s been an effective starter who’s done more than just keep the Mets in the game.

Anyone in the bullpen alongside Edwin Díaz

As Sunday showed, it’s still a potpourri of pedestrian options between New York’s starter and its closer in Díaz. Huascar Brazobán allowed the tying run in the seventh, Reed Garrett the go-ahead run in the eighth (with an assist from Phil Maton), and Carlos Mendoza is still searching for someone — anyone — to be a dependable option in those spots.

As evidenced by how many different arms Mendoza has gone to lately in those situations, the Mets aren’t lacking candidates. Brazobán has looked pretty solid since coming over from Miami, Maton has been quite good since arriving from Tampa Bay, Jose Buttó has been very good in a hybrid multi-inning role, and Dedniel Núñez should come off the injured list soon. It doesn’t much matter which of those pitchers starts locking down the big outs before the ninth. But one of them has to.

Carlos Mendoza

When you take a step back, Mendoza has had a strong first season managing the Mets. There have been multiple occasions in which the season could have gone sideways, and in righting the ship Mendoza revealed many of the behind-the-scenes intangibles the Mets touted in hiring him: excellent communication skills, an even-keeled demeanor, and a way of showing trust to build confidence in his players.

With the margins this tight in the National League, Mendoza now has a chance to stand out more as a game strategist. This last homestand included hits and misses, including his decisions to ride with Sean Manaea and Luis Severino deeper into the game as well as the two times he opted to take the bat out of McNeil’s hand during his hot streak.

And the Mets are going to give Mendoza every opportunity to make an impact. This is not a roll-the-ball-out-and-let-them-play roster. The Mets don’t just lack a set bullpen hierarchy, they also lack a set everyday lineup, especially now that Starling Marte is back.

Each day, Mendoza will have to decide how to divvy up playing time in the outfield among Marte, Jesse Winker, Harrison Bader and Tyrone Taylor. He’ll have to decide how to structure his batting order around who’s hot and who has a longer track record of success. He’ll have to decide how deep to go with starters who are approaching or have already surpassed last year’s innings count. And he’ll have to decide which reliever can get the ball to Díaz, the lead intact.

In the end, the players will decide how far the Mets go. But Mendoza has more chances than most managers to put them in the best position to succeed.

The exposition

The Mets took two of three from the Marlins over the weekend. New York is 64-60, two games behind Atlanta for the final playoff spot in the National League.

The Orioles split a four-game series in Boston. They’re 73-52, tied with the Yankees atop the American League East.

The Padres cooled off in losing two of three in Colorado. San Diego had previously been undefeated in eight second-half series. The Friars are 70-55 and occupy the top wild-card spot in the NL.

The pitching possibles

v. Baltimore

LHP David Peterson (7-1, 3.04 ERA) v. LHP Trevor Rogers (2-11, 4.89 ERA)
LHP Jose Quintana (6-8, 4.26) v. RHP Dean Kremer (5-9, 4.48)
LHP Sean Manaea (9-5, 3.46) v. RHP Zach Eflin (9-7, 3.72)

at San Diego

RHP Luis Severino (8-6, 3.91) v. RHP Dylan Cease (12-9, 3.46)
RHP Paul Blackburn (5-3, 4.19) v. RHP Joe Musgrove (3-4, 4.97)
LHP David Peterson v. RHP Michael King (10-6, 3.19)
LHP Jose Quintana v. LHP Martín Pérez (3-5, 4.62)

Injury updates

Red = 60-day IL
Orange = 15-day IL
Blue = 10-day IL

• The primary injury concern is for Brandon Nimmo, who will undergo an MRI on Monday after hurting his right shoulder late Sunday.
• Núñez is slated for a rehab appearance on Tuesday. He could be in the majors by the end of the week.
• Reid-Foley had his rehab assignment formally halted, which resets the clock on his return. (Previously, he had to be activated by the final week of August.) While the Mets won’t get additional tests on the right-hander’s shoulder, his velocity has been down and his control has been non-existent during his rehab appearances. Reid-Foley is in the midst of a few days off in hopes of strengthening that shoulder.
• Scott has started playing catch.

Minor-league schedule

Triple A: Syracuse v. Durham (Tampa Bay)
Double A: Binghamton v. Reading (Philadelphia)
High A: Brooklyn v. Jersey Shore (Philadelphia)
Low A: St. Lucie v. Palm Beach (St. Louis)

Wild-card schedule

San Diego (70-55): v. MIN³, v. NYM⁴
Arizona (69-56): at MIA³, at BOS³
Atlanta (66-58): v. PHI³, v. WSH³
San Francisco (63-63): v. CHW³, at SEA³

Last week in Mets

• Luis Severino stared down concerns about his workload and delivered a gem
• The adjustment the Mets have to make offensively
• How the Mets’ marketing department tries to capitalize on viral moments
• The Mets walk too many hitters
• Is Pete Alonso about to get hot?
• Minor-league coaches on Brandon Sproat’s meteoric rise through the system; on the other hand, why you shouldn’t get your hopes up for a Sproat September call-up
• Austin Adams was a thing earlier this week
• How the Mets improved their defense
• Paul Blackburn is a different pitcher as a Met
• TWIM: On the sweep in Seattle

A note on the epigraph

I think part of growing up is realizing the books they make everyone read in high school are the books they make everyone read in high school for a reason. “The Things They Carried” was one I enjoyed in real-time, at least.

(“A Farewell to Arms,” on the other hand, is the book from high school I’m most fearful of re-reading, because I’ve enjoyed hating it so very much.)

Trivia time

In their five-game World Series triumph over the Orioles in 1969, the Mets’ pitching staff was responsible for 45 innings. How many pitchers did they need to cover those 45 innings over six days?

And for super extra credit, how many of them can you name?

(Top photo of Carlos Mendoza: Gordon Donovan / Associated Press)

Tim Britton is a senior writer for The Athletic covering the New York Mets. He has covered Major League Baseball since 2009 and the Mets since 2018. Prior to joining The Athletic, he spent seven seasons on the Red Sox beat for the Providence Journal. He has also contributed to Baseball Prospectus, NBC Sports Boston, MLB.com and Yahoo Sports. Follow Tim on Twitter @TimBritton