Livescore
After a sluggish start to the 2024 season, the Mets have arrived at the business end of the baseball’s marathon season like a freight train coming out of a tunnel: while obscured from full view, the team built up speed and now has burst out of the darkness.
“We’re in the thick of it,” president of baseball operations David Stearns said Tuesday. “We’ve earned the right to be here. We’ve played well enough to be here. This isn’t a fluke.”
The Mets’ rocky 22-33 (.400) start to the season, gave way to a 52-31 (.627) run over the past three months. Led by Francisco Lindor and a pitching staff’s assertiveness since the All-Star (3.63 ERA, 6th best in MLB), New York is now within striking distance of an NL Wild Card spot with 24 games remaining.
“We’ve got a month left to play really good baseball to give us a chance to have some fun in October and that’s what you want this time of year,” Stearns said. “And I’m optimistic and I’m confident in this group that we can continue to play at a high level.”
He added: “This is where we should be, this should be normal for us. When we get to September, we should be in the thick of a playoff hunt. Our responsibility now is to put our players and our coaches in the best possible position to succeed.”
While Lindor and his MVP push have gotten the attention, the results have been particularly good of late from a trio of pitchers: Sean Manaea delivering six outings of 6.2 innings or more in his last seven starts while pitching to 2.42 ERA over 44.2 innings, David Peterson (Tuesday night’s starter) pitching to 1.86 ERA in six starts in August and Luis Severino pitching to a 2.10 ERA in 25.2 innings over his past four starts.
“I think guys have just gotten better and stronger throughout the season,” Stearns said of the Mets’ squad in general. “That’s a really good sign in terms of both the work that they’ve put in to get to this point and also the quality of the coaching that’s gone into it and working with them.
“And really, this is what should happen. If we’re working with guys we begin to build that trust factor, begin to have the constant back-and-forth over six, seven, eight-month period. And ultimately, hopefully, get to places where players improve and get better and trust our organization, trust our coaches.”
Stearns believes they have seen that “in a couple of instances” as there are several players who have worked really hard and are now playing at a high level.”
Kodai Senga’s role if he makes 2024 return
Manager Carlos Mendoza and Senga both indicated optimism about the Mets’ ace getting back on the mound before the end of the regular season. But the 31-year-old said that with a tight timetable, it would be unrealistic for him to get back and be a starter, opening the door for him to work out of the bullpen.
“Whether they use me as a starter or in the bullpen that’s up to them,” Senga said on Tuesday, speaking through an interpreter. “I just want to be ready for as many innings as possible for the team.”
Stearns said that step one is to get Senga back on a mound and “to a place where we feel like he’s healthy enough to compete at the major league level.”
“And then we’ll tackle the role,” he continued. “Whether it’s bullpen, whether it’s starter, whether it’s couple innings at the front of the game. If we’re making those decisions I’m really happy to be making those decisions because that means we have a healthy Kodai Senga.”
Senga made his long-awaited debut in late July after dealing with a shoulder capsule strain and pitched well: two runs on two hits and a walk over 5.1 innings with nine strikeouts before sustaining a calf strain.
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