Mets shortstop Amed Rosario has the longest active Opening Day streak on the team

Often forgotten as a member of the New York Mets young core, shortstop Amed Rosario owns the franchise’s longest active streak of starting at one position on Opening Day.

Opening Day is in limbo, leaving plenty of time to check back on years past. Before the New York Mets take the field for a game that counts at some point in 2020, I’ve been checking regularly on past Opening Day performances, scores, and lineups.

An intriguing fact I continually come across is how the Mets will probably have a completely different defensive alignment on Opening Day than they did back in 2018. A lot can change in two years—but this much?

If we go back just two years, the Mets have only one guy in line to start the same position he did back in 2018: shortstop Amed Rosario.

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The 2020 team is vastly different from the 2018 squad. The only other players present in the Opening Day lineup still with the organization are Rosario, Yoenis Cespedes, Brandon Nimmo, and Noah Syndergaard.

Back in 2018, left field belonged to Cespedes. Nimmo was patrolling center field, and Syndergaard was on the mound to begin the season.

Somewhere in between another summer sell-off and a general manager change, the roster shifted as well. The 2019 Mets had plenty of new everyday players. Plus, Jacob deGrom finally got a long-awaited Opening Day start.

Due to injuries, transactions, and positional changes, the 2020 Mets Opening Day lineup may have a streak of just three consecutive starts to boast as the longest. Cal Ripken Jr. has nothing to fear. It’s going to take a lot longer for Rosario or anyone else to catch up.

Aside from Rosario, it appears that Nimmo will be the only other player starting in his third straight season on Opening Day. He gets an asterisk because of a start in center field back in 2018 and in left field in 2019, thus ending the streak.

Often, Rosario gets lost in the shuffle of this team’s core yet here he is—owning the longest active Opening Day starts streak at one position. Michael Conforto has missed some due to injuries and a few of the other youngsters are just too green at the moment.

Fortunately for New York, Rosario is pretty steady at his position—at least as far as attendance goes. Say what you will about his defense. Rosario does show up to the ballpark ready to play.

Over the past two seasons, he has started in 154 and 157 games for the Mets. The only reason he hasn’t been in 162 is because we’ve entered an era of load management in sports.

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For an organization with very few memorable shortstops who stayed around for more than a few seasons, it’s nice to know at least for a few seasons we know who will be at the position on Opening Day; whenever that may be in 2020.