Well, that was fun.
Three days ago my favorite baseball team, the New York Mets, had their season ended by the Evil Empire San Francisco Giants and their timely devil magic hitting. It seemed inevitable that our season would come down to a hard fought outing by our star pitcher, Noah Syndergaard, and the Giants' fire-breathing dragon, star pitcher Madison Bumgarner. Syndergaard pitched a gem by going seven innings, giving up 2 hits, and striking out 10 batters. Unfortunately, the Mets offense did not perform up to the standard of their starting pitcher and the results of the evening showed that.
This season started with hopes of a return to the World Series, and hopefully a victory in that World Series. But, things started slow as multiple players were injured on-and-off throughout the year. Yoenis Cespedes, Asdrubal Cabrera, Neil Walker, Wilmer Flores, and Michael Conforto all missing significant portions of time this year with injury. All of those players had a significant impact on the team's offense and their absence put more pressure on the pitching staff. Luckily, that pitching staff was one of the best in baseball throughout the year with starters Noah Syndergaard, Bartolo Colon, Jason Degrom, and Steven Matz having exemplary individual years. But, you need to score to win and the Mets struggled with that all season long.
Although the team was prolific with their home run hitting (ranking fifth in the league in home runs) their lack of "small ball" eventually sealed their fate (twenty-sixth in the league). This team often leaned on their pitching staff to secure them victories, which was helpful in the middle of the season, but as the season wore on fatigue settled in. Matt Harvey, Jacob DeGrom, and Steven Matz all ended the season on the disabled list, which made manager Terry Collins tinker with a formerly stellar rotation.
I wouldn't view this season as a failure for the Mets, if anything, this proves just how dangerous of a team they can be. If they could rally themselves back into the playoffs by winning 27 of their last 40 with the injuries they had, fully healthy this team could definitely compete again next year. My optimism comes from the simple fact that the Mets haven't been this good in a looooong time and this formula seems to be working. So, goodnight to the 2016 New York Mets and congratulations on a magical season I won't forget for a long time. Lets Go Mets.
