NY Mets: 3 observations we all made from the first 3 months of 2021

The New York Mets are wrapping up the month of June in a pretty good position. They’ve managed to more than stay alive in the playoff hunt despite missing many of their best players.

We’ve all developed a position about the club by now and have somewhat of an idea of what they can accomplish. However, with so many injuries and three months left to go, the final result guess you have may be as good as what anyone else can muster.

Three months soon in the books, I thought it was time to look back and made a few observations from April, May, and June.

The Mets pitching staff is playoff-worthy and more than enough to carry them through some tough games

You remember in Wayne’s World when Wayne and Garth would bow and say “We’re not worthy” to rock stars, babes, and anyone else they admired? That’s how I feel about the Mets pitching staff this year. The trio of Jacob deGrom, Marcus Stroman, and Taijuan Walker has been brilliant. Even the bullpen, for a nice change in recent history, has done well.

Every year we all get caught up in assuming the Mets pitching staff will be a strong part of the club. We’ve been fooled by recent clubs. Heading into this year, we had faith, but maybe not this much.

The big three have certainly exceeded expectations. It’s pretty amazing considering deGrom’s expectations are already through the roof and attracting lightning. Meanwhile, Stroman and Walker are well on their way to career years.

But let’s not forget about the bullpen arms. I’m not sure there has been a team from the start with this many trustworthy arms. While there have been shaky moments from guys like Miguel Castro and Trevor May, they’ve been mostly good.

In the postseason, big pitching matters a whole lot. The 2021 Mets have enough of it—as long as guys stay or get healthy.

The Mets offense is not nearly as good as anyone with a brain would think they could be

Listen, I’m not here to criticize you for believing the Mets could potentially have an all-time franchise great offense. On paper, they certainly seemed to have the guys to get this done.

I’ve seen enough. After three months, I’m ready to declare that this group of men is not very good—at least in 2021.

There’s a clutch bone missing in the body of many of these players. Hitting with runners in scoring position remains a weakness. More surprising than anything else has been the club’s inability to hit home runs. I know baseball has gotten to a point of the three outcome scenario: home run, strikeout, or walk. It’s not always fun.

Far less entertaining is a lack of home runs altogether. The Mets have been without some of their better sluggers for a good part of the season (J.D. Davis and Michael Conforto). This doesn’t excuse them from the lack of offense. The two most disappointing players on this side of the baseball have been Francisco Lindor and Dominic Smith. Pete Alonso may not be swatting long balls but at least he’s driving in his teammates more regularly than anyone else on the roster.

The scariest thing is that I don’t have even the faintest idea of how to solve this. The Mets have already created a fictional approach coach to hitting, fired their real hitting coach, and changed up the lineup. There is no answer whatsoever other than for the players to get things together.