It feels like the NY Mets are finding an identity, just not what we expected

Two days with A.J. Ewing on the roster and two victories, it’s merely a coincidence, right? Ewing wasn’t a one-man army in either game, but scoring the winning run on Wednesday after an impressive debut the day prior carries some weight. The New York Mets are playing looser, getting results, and finding an identity.

It was in early May when ESPN’s Jeff Passan questioned what the team’s identity even was.

He wasn’t wrong. They were a jumbled team of veterans, younger players, and somewhere-in-betweens trying to win. Suddenly, the ball club has some sense of understanding who they are with players like Carson Benge getting more comfortable and behaving like anything but a rookie.

In addition to treating the greener players like rookies, he commented on the change in the locker room.

The Mets identity isn’t what we wanted, but it’ll do

So who are they? This is a below .500 team that’ll end up separating from a lot of their veterans mid-year. Two games in a row against a Detroit Tigers club with their own issues isn’t about to convince anyone the Mets are World Series-bound. Their newly-discovered identity can, however, accelerate where they need to be next.

They let Benge learn on the job for the first few weeks and showed a lot of faith in him. He hasn’t gotten bogged down by any mistakes he has made, coming through with the game-winning hit in their latest victory. He seems cool, calm, and collected.

A team that was built with the expectation of large contributions from veterans has become something else. Before losing Francisco Alvarez, the best lineup they could put together with the healthy guys were all 28-years-old or younger with Marcus Semien being the one outlier at 35. It’s unique to have a young superstar in Juan Soto as well as a free agent mercenary, Bo Bichette, be so young yet experienced. They’ve fit in from the start even if their performance hasn’t met what we wanted it to.

This means the Mets are, unfortunately, probably in a bit of a transitional phase. They aren’t a group of kids who came up through the minors together ready to sock home runs. There’s still a battle between Benge and Ewing for supremacy while Brett Baty and Mark Vientos try to convince us they deserve more time.

At 17-25, the Mets have only the 17-26 Colorado Rockies behind them in the National League. A team that could’ve become even more lost in their identity is finding one and maybe it’s because they feel less like a group of players and more like teammates.

The locker room discourse within the Mets won’t end this year, Noah Syndergaard tossing his hat in the ring to add to the politically-driven theories.

The identity of a baseball team is a unique topic because how do you actually define it? It’s one of those organic elements. You could never plan for Grimace in 2024 just like the Mets couldn’t have purposefully put themselves in a spot where Benge, Ewing, and Nolan McLean are three of the players showing up with the most confidence. Here we are with those three front and center to lead the charge.

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