NL Champion Nationals Provide 2020 Hope For Mets

By Josh Finkelstein

I know that everyone was disappointed to see the Washington Nationals celebrate on the field on Tuesday night as they reached their first World Series.

Watching a team within the division make it was certainly not a good time, especially when you consider that the New York Yankees could theoretically be their opponent in what could be a pick-your-poison World Series for Mets fans everywhere.

That being said, for me personally, I looked at it a little differently.

In a way, what happened on Tuesday night was the affirmation I needed about the New York Mets. It proved to me that we should all still believe in this team in 2020.

I know some will say this is wrong, and that one team’s success doesn’t translate to another’s, but it’s hard for me to ignore the parallels between this Nationals’ team and what the 2019 Mets looked like.

Both of these teams dug themselves a hole over the course of the season, with the Nationals falling to 12 games under .500 before the end of May.

Everyone essentially counted them out and strangely it was the Mets who were responsible for them hitting their lowest point of the season.

After that, though, the Nationals became the hottest team in baseball, which the Mets would later become as well.

The difference was when each of these teams dug themselves into their respective ditches and when they got out of them.

Only about 1/3 of the season had been completed when the Nationals were at their worst point, so they were left with a lot of time to get out of their lowest point with 2/3 of the season left.

Meanwhile, the Mets fell to their lowest point in the weekend following the All-Star break at 11 games under .500. That meant they had less than half of the season remaining to get on the right track.

They made a nice attempt to get back in the race, but their bullpen failed them many times down the stretch and it was a little too much to overcome, despite making a 21-game swing in their record from their low point to the end of the season.

What the Nationals have proved, though, is the thing that I have personally always hoped to be true but had started questioning, given the way offense had been spreading throughout the game.

Starting pitching is still the key to success in the playoffs.

The Nationals possess one of the best pitching staffs in baseball and it kept them alive with no fear as to who gets the ball each day.

You know who else has that type of pitching staff? The Mets.

I had always thought that if the Mets could somehow find themselves in the postseason, that they could go far and maybe complete the prophecy of the 2015 season with a parade all over New York the next day.

Maybe I’m just wishful thinking here, but I don’t think I am.

The Mets rotation still is one of the most feared in baseball with Jacob deGrom, Noah Syndergaard, Marcus Stroman, and Steven Matz locked in for next season with a return of Zack Wheeler still a possibility. It’s probably one of the biggest reasons Joe Girardi wants to manage the Mets so much.

Sure, the Mets need to fill in the gaps on this team, and if they make the mistake of entering with the exact same roster next season, they will regret it.

But, for all the bullpen woes and defensive issues this team has had, we still have one of the best pitching staffs in baseball and one that 90% of the league doesn’t compare favorably against.

We finally saw the makings of a young offensive core to go along with that this past season, with Jeff McNeil, Pete Alonso, Michael Conforto, Amed Rosario, J.D. Davis, Brandon Nimmo, and Dominic Smith providing enough offense to help the team win 86 games in 2019.

It’s clear that 86 wins won’t get the Mets into the postseason, and they need to get much closer to the Nationals’ grand total of 93 wins if they want to be drinking and spraying champagne in the clubhouse again.

If the Mets can build on that core this offseason, the Nationals’ success behind their star-studded pitching staff gives me hope that on October 16, 2020, the Mets could be heading back to the World Series on the 51st anniversary of the 1969 Mets.

Every time a new season starts, I imagine what an ideal World Series victory would look like. I imagine the euphoria it would bring me and many other Mets fans.

For some reason on Wednesday morning, I woke up and it felt like it could be a reality soon, remembering that the Mets have something that not many other teams have: elite starting pitching.