Mets 2018 Preview: Rising Apple’s Season Predictions

With Opening Day on Thursday, the Rising Apple staff is sharing their predictions for the Mets 2018 season.

JT. Teran, Editor

This season will be a complete and total contrast from the disaster that was 2017. Last year, Mets fans were expecting another trip to the postseason after back-to-back appearances, and we were quickly reminded how cruel baseball can be. This year, no one is going into the season expecting to win, and that’s actually a positive for this team.

The guys are coming out of Spring Training healthier than in seasons past. None of their pitchers are hurting (Jason Vargas is out, but shouldn’t be sidelined too long) and their only injured hitter, Michael Conforto, is progressing a lot better than we were expecting. Things are looking up as the season gets underway.

How well 2018 goes completely depends on how healthy they can stay though. And for the most part, I think the Mets will be able to stay on the field long enough to win a good amount of games.

The biggest problem for the Mets, however, is going to be the fact that a few teams in the National League got better, so competition for the postseason will be fierce.

In the East, the Washington Nationals are still the powerhouse we all know. However, 2018 is probably not a two-team race anymore. The Philadelphia Phillies made a good number of splashes this offseason and with the addition of Jake Arrieta, they may be able to win some games. I don’t think they’ll challenge the Nats for the crown, but they’ll be annoying enough to get us all mad.

Aside from them, the Colorado Rockies, and Milwaukee Brewers will also be making a run at the Wild Card. As much as I’d love to see the Mets win the NL East, I think the Wild Card will be more attainable this year.

I have the Mets winning 87 games and playing the Rockies in Denver for the Wild Card game in October. After winning that contest, they’ll unfortunately lose to the eventual National League Champion Los Angeles Dodgers in the NLDS.

As far as players go, I’m still sticking with my Matt Harvey wins the Comeback Player of the Year award prediction. I also think we’ll have four representatives in the All-Star Game this season (Noah Syndergaard, Jacob deGrom, Michael Conforto and Yoenis Cespedes).

I’m hopeful that Adrian Gonzalez is no longer a thing by May but something tells me he’ll stick around most, if not the entire season, unfortunately.

This year is going to be fun. I want another summer full of Asdrubal Cabrera bat flips, Thor strikeouts and Yo bombs. I really hope we get that again in 2018.

Samantha Murray, Contributor

I don’t think Mets fans will be too disappointed this year. As Matt Harvey said, I think this team is going to surprise people.

I think many of the Mets are going to have monster years. Two in particular, (the #1 1-2 punch in baseball) Noah Syndergaard and Jacob deGrom. If their springs are any indication of how they will perform this year, Mets fans have every reason to be excited.

Another Met that, in my opinion, will have a great year is Michael Conforto. No surprise there. He is too good to sit idly by and let the rest of the team do the work. Conforto will make quite a few headlines this year, I can almost guarantee it.

I really think Mickey Callaway and co. are going to have a great impact on the team. Everyone seems to really enjoy and respect his coaching method, and that can only improve clubhouse atmosphere. A great clubhouse atmosphere will transfer over to a great atmosphere on the field.

I would love to predict that the Mets will overtake the Nationals and win the division, but we all need to enjoy the Nats annual first round playoff exit at least one more time, so I’m predicting a Wild Card berth for the Mets. As it always does, it is all going to come down to health. If the Mets stay healthy, they will have a really good shot at their third playoff appearance in four years. Whoa.

In terms of wins and losses, I’m going to be optimistic and say they will win between 85 and 90
games, leaving them losing around 75-80ish games. Again, health permitting!

Unless the Mets are truly cursed by the injuries, I really think we are going to see some good baseball come out of Queens in 2018.

James Dececchi, Contributor

With the season less than two days away I find myself being optimistic about the 2018 season. It would be very difficult for the team to have anywhere near the injury problems and just plain bad luck as they did last season. With that said, I currently have the Mets as one of the Wild Card teams at seasons end facing off against the Brewers in the Wild Card game.

This team is not as good as the Nationals baring something catastrophic happening to them but they play in a very weak division and can possibly do something similar as in 2015 when they feasted on lesser competition within the division. I will say the Mets will go 88 and 74 this season.

On offense, Yoenis Cespedes will stay healthy and be the team’s best player this season becoming the third Met ever to hit 40 home runs in a single season. Cespedes has looked tremendous this Spring Training and I fully believe he will put up huge numbers provided he drinks his water.

On the mound, Noah Syndergaard will have one game where we will strikeout 18 batters. The best pitcher on the staff over the course of the season however will be Jacob deGrom who has looked great this spring coming back from the minor back injury earlier in the Spring. deGrom will garner some Cy Young votes at the end of the season.