The NBA Finals and Stanley Cup Final are in the books and summer is officially here, which means baseball takes center stage for a few months until the start of the NFL season in the fall.
Over the last couple of weeks alone, we’ve seen a stunning blockbuster trade, a switch-hitting catcher make history and several divisional races heat up as the temperatures have done the same.
After sweeping the New York Mets and winning a series against the MLB-best 49–30 Detroit Tigers, are the Tampa Bay Rays a legitimate contender? Did the Boston Red Sox make a mistake by trading away Rafael Devers? We’ll answer those questions and more below.
The Mets have reason to worry
Verdict: Fact
Cue the theme. The Mets were riding high on that fateful day entering play against the Rays on June 13, boasting the best record in the National League and a 4 ½ game lead over the Philadelphia Phillies. Since that point, the Mets have played nightmarish baseball and won just one of their last 10 games. Making matters worse, the Phillies overtook them for the NL East lead after taking two of three from the not-so-Amazins’ during a June 20–22 series at Citizens Bank Park.
Let’s be clear here. It’s a long season, and the Mets are still 13 games above .500 and firmly in the mix for the division title; at worst a wild-card spot. There’s no need to panic. But worry? There are several reasons to worry.
During the Mets’ losing skid, only one team, the Texas Rangers, has scored fewer runs than New York. The Mets lineup, which features $765 million man Juan Soto, slugger Pete Alonso and star shortstop Francisco Lindor, has been shut out twice and has scored two runs or fewer four times in those 10 games.
The most concerning part for the Mets? The trio of Lindor-Soto-Alonso has mostly been highly productive in June. The rest of the batting order? Not so much. Catcher Francisco Alvarez, once the top prospect in the majors, has scuffled to a career-worst .652 OPS and on Sunday was optioned to Triple A to work through his struggles. Alvarez is far from the only underachiever, with others like Brett Baty, Luisangel Acuña and Tyrone Taylor also bringing down the offense. Simply put, if Lindor, Soto, Alonso or Brandon Nimmo aren’t hitting, the Mets are probably in trouble.
And it’s not just the lineup. The previously stout pitching staff has yielded the second-most runs in MLB since June 13 while Mets starters have pitched the seventh-fewest innings during that span, prompting manager Carlos Mendoza to lean more and more on an increasingly taxed bullpen. As you can see, it’s been a perfect storm for the Mets during this less-than-stellar stretch.
Plus, the injury bug has landed in Queens. Ace Kodai Senga, outfielder Jesse Winker and starting pitchers Tylor Megill and Sean Manaea are all either sidelined or working their way back from injuries.
In their division, the Mets have to contend with the playoff-tested Phillies and the resurgent Braves. New York is too talented to continue playing like this. But it would be a lie to say that this wasn’t a worrying stretch.
