It took the MLB playoffs 1 day to prove a point to the NY Mets front office

In his two years controlling the New York Mets roster, David Stearns has avoided any major additions to the starting rotation. Yeah, he paid Sean Manaea $25 million for three years last offseason. He pursued free agents and trade targets, but never came through. With the MLB playoffs underway and planning already in full effect, we only needed one day of postseason action for Stearns to get an unintended message from 5 of the 8 teams that played on Tuesday.

We started with a game between two homegrown pitchers then transitioned to a matchup between Matthew Boyd and Nick Pivetta. Both were free agents this past offseason and suitable targets for the Mets; Pivetta’s biggest downside being the qualifying offer penalties attached to him.

The American League battle of aces included a similar theme. Max Fried vs. Garrett Crochet. What do they have in common? Aside from being arguably the two best pitchers in the AL this past year, each changed uniforms in the offseason. The Mets could have signed Fried or traded for Crochet. In the finale, it was the homegrown talent of Hunter Greene against Blake Snell who finished off an interesting trend: game one starters in the first round who were in their first season with the ball club.

The MLB playoff pitching matchups wasted no time alerting the Mets how badly they need a true ace on the staff

The only thing that ran more than Juan Soto this past season was hubris. The Mets were incredibly confident in themselves despite obvious flaws. Most notable was the absence of that sure fire number one starter in the rotation. Manaea returning was meant to take on that role even though his track record has him in the second-tier of pitchers in his best year. A returning Kodai Senga could’ve done the same and should have. Each of them had their questions. They combined to be two of the biggest culprits as to why the Mets were eliminated so abruptly.

Nolan McLean was able to establish himself as the next stud homegrown starter to take the league by storm. He’d do so as an official rookie with a handful of starts under his belt. None of the other game one starters on Tuesday are as green as he’ll be nor will we see someone as inexperienced start in the first game of the next round. We’d love to think McLean can do something outrageous like win the Mets a playoff game against an established ace. He certainly looked capable, but that shouldn’t be an excuse to bypass the stars yet again.

Stearns took risks in each of his offseason. Year one paid off incredibly well with the starting staff. Year two was the exact opposite.

Rather than define insanity, the Mets should take note of what the teams who made the playoffs have that they don’t. Look no further than the game one starters.