3 reasons why the Mets will win the National League East

2) Mets manager Buck Showalter is the right guy to steer the ship

Buck Showalter has proven all year that this team won’t fall into traps and remain focused on the main prize, a World Series title in 2022. I don’t know if there has been a more obvious circle-in in the past few years in the awards categories than Showalter as this year’s National League Manager of the Year. That’s how locked in he is as the team skipper, the best manager the team has had in a really long time. 

Showalter has been the best in-game manager in baseball this year by a mile, as evidenced by his successful challenge rate of nearly 80 percent. Some of those overturned calls triggered by Buck’s challenges have been the difference between winning and losing some games. That’s how well-coached this team is, and they are ready for anything that has come their way, and the coaching staff that has the team to this point has his fingerprints all over it. 

And now that it appears certain the Mets are going to the playoffs this year, it is time for Buck to get his team’s situational awareness and elevate it to another level. The trust is there from the top of the organization to the players and to the fans, a recipe for success when the culture is so great.

3) The Mets have elite and deep starting pitching, even with an injury or two

The Mets invested so much money into their pitching that it would have been a disappointment if the Mets were even in the middle of the park with their rotation. With the likes of Max Scherzer, Jacob deGrom, and Chris Bassitt headlining the game’s scariest rotation come October, it would make sense that they have the advantage in pitching matchups at least three out of every five games all by themselves.  

Obviously, Scherzer and deGrom are already intimidating just by their brands, but Bassitt’s arsenal of pitches and experience (and some quotes too) make him such an imposing matchup for the teams he may be facing down the stretch, and not many of them can match up with him.  

The Mets didn’t have to worry about adding starting pitching at the deadline unlike their other rivals because it was so deep that it could withstand injuries. Carlos Carrasco is expected to miss another 2 to 3 weeks with an oblique issue, while Taijuan Walker has a back issue and couldn’t make his scheduled start on Sunday.

The pitching is the reason this team is favored to win most of their remaining games. 

Best of all, they have a couple of other pitchers to back them up where needed, such as David Peterson, Trevor Williams, and if the team decides to stretch him back out to the rotation, Tylor Megill.