Are the Mets the real deal?

The New York Mets are competing like a World series contender, can they keep it up?

Are the Mets the real deal?

Jonathan Albers, Editor

There are a lot of teams in MLB that many consider to be a joke. The Pirates, Guardians, Orioles, and Athletics are all looked down upon because of their low payrolls year in and year out. What if a team was a joke because of their high pay roll? Enter the Mets. The Mets are near the top in payroll every single year, but always fail to get very far above .500. MLB fans have made fun of them for this reason. So when the Mets went out and got star players like Max Scherzer, Starling Marte, and Eduardo Escobar, people expected them to still be the same old Mets. After the start of this year, it doesn’t look like that is the case, and now the Mets are being considered World Series contenders.

In 2021, the Mets made a huge acquisition in Fransisco Lindor. Lindor under-performed in 2021, but seems to have found his swing in 2022. This past off-season, the Mets made five huge moves to greatly improve their roster. The Mets signed Max Scherzer, Starling Marte, Mark Chana, Eduardo Escobar, and Chris Bassitt. Scherzer and Escobar were the only all-stars from the group, but the other players are no slouches. Marte led the league in steals with 47 and would have been an all-star if his first and second halves of the season were switched. Bassitt was having a great season before he was sidelined for six weeks after taking a 100 mph liner to the face.  The Mets were done all this without Jacob deGrom, who would’ve won the 2022 Cy Young if not for injury. DeGrom will help the Mets tremendously when he returns.

The Mets are currently sitting at the top of the NL east, with a record of 14 and 6. They will look to further their division lead, with seven games against the 2nd place Phillies in 11 days. Can they keep winning? Or will the Mets be the Mets?