BOSTON — What needs to happen for the Mets to make the playoffs?
Hold your snark, please, and don’t say another miracle.
Call me the Queens Crazyman, but there’s a reason this team’s players make close to $400 million, and it goes beyond the fact the owner had it in his checking account.
This Mets team does have talent.
The first thing we need to remember, and it isn’t easy, is that they are very much the same team as the 2022 Mets.
You know, the one that won 101 games.
Yes, I know there’s no Jacob deGrom.
But let’s be real, he was only a part-timer anyway.
The next thing we need to recognize is that future Hall of Famers Justin Verlander (the defacto deGrom replacement) and Max Scherzer are back pitching as they were expected to pitch.
Obviously, something’s better about Verlander, who went eight innings on Wednesday in what basically counts as a complete game for starting pitchers these days.
Scherzer was lights-out, too, last Sunday and he thinks he rediscovered something about his slider.
Scherzer, for one, isn’t giving up.
“Crazier things have happened,” Scherzer said about the Mets’ chances before their game Friday night against the Red Sox was suspended in the fourth inning.
“We’ve played like crap,” Scherzer also said. “We’ve got to play one day at a time. What else can you do? Keep the blinders on, and go one day at a time.
“That’s how you play good baseball even when you’re playing good baseball.”
For months we whined about the rotation, and now that’s the least of the Mets’ problems. To be fair, there are still a few for the 45-51 team.
If some of these things happen, they have a chance:
1. Pete Alonso and Jeff McNeil need to start hitting
It’s hard to know what has happened to these two homegrown stars.
Between them, they’ve won the Triple Crown — Alonso has led the league in home runs and RBIs and McNeil has been tops in batting average.
Two of those titles (Alonso RBIs, McNeil batting average) happened only last year, so we know they must still have it in them.
McNeil is suffering from an 80-point drop in his batting average from last year to this year (.246 from .326).
And we don’t even have to look it up to know that’s the biggest decrease in the game.
Alonso has insisted he’s healthy, though he has struggled since returning from the injured list with a wrist contusion (he’s at .140 since the beginning of June) in about a third of the time originally predicted.
That just doesn’t happen.
Mets historically take three times longer, not one-third the time.
Alonso said the second exam showed he wasn’t nearly as hurt, and he did look decent in the Home Run Derby, although he was knocked out early by Seattle’s hometown hero Julio Rodriguez.
That’s about the closest thing to a highlight these days for Alonso or McNeil.
2. Mark Vientos needs to start playing
The Mets called Vientos up before the Red Sox series, so that’s half the battle.
It would be nice to see him in the lineup, however.
With right-hander Kutter Crawford throwing for the Red Sox on Friday, lefty Daniel Vogelbach and his sub .678 OPS were once again in the starting lineup.
Manager Buck Showalter said he would find some spots for Vientos.
Let’s hope so: Vientos, with a 1.000 OPS in the minors, brings hope.
We’d like to see Ronny Mauricio, too.
Since we know the Mets are anything but cheap and not holding Mauricio down in the minors due to service-time considerations, they must not think he’s ready.
But he’d have to be a better option against lefties than Brett Baty at this point (.553 vs. lefties).
Francisco Alvarez is the best thing about the Mets season so far; keep the kids coming.
3. The bullpen needs to get back on track
David Robertson needs to continue to beat Father Time, and also maybe provide a few pointers to his colleagues.
Brooks Raley has been about what was expected, but the circle of trust seems to be getting smaller.
We all love Adam Ottavino, but the new rules aren’t doing him any favors.
The long delivery makes his inability to hold runners on that much more pronounced.
“It’s always been that way — no different,” Ottavino said. “I’ll get a few extra outs by them thinking it’s a given. It’s a tough one. You don’t want to mess with the quality of the pitches. … We weren’t throwing anybody out before the rules. It’s tough now. I wish they didn’t do it.”
Ottavino is a pro, so he’ll make the best of it.
The rest of them seem to be finding their way, at best.
Obviously, the Edwin Diaz injury was a killer, but you would still think a team spending close to half a billion (including the Steve Cohen tax) would have a deeper bullpen.
Drew Smith was pitching better since he was caught with the sticky stuff, then he imploded against the White Sox on Thursday.
That loss was a real killjoy — a defeat to one of the very few teams that has been an even bigger disappointment than the Mets.
Fortunately, there’s still time, and there should be enough to talent to at least make a run.
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