Were the Mets great this year or was the National League weaker than usual?

The 2022 New York Mets found themselves in a position that the franchise is not too familiar with in its 60 years of existence. For just the second time in team history, New York won more than 100 games. 101-61 was their record, to be exact. 

The National League as a whole saw a very interesting season transpire as three teams won 100+ games, while three others lost 100+ games. That leads us to the question that a lot are wondering: Were the Mets actually really good this past season, or was the rest of the National League just weak?

The Mets were regular winners even against the best of the National League

No matter what happened in the final weekend of the regular season, along with the postseason, the 2022 New York Mets were a really good baseball team for almost the entire season. Was this a down year for a lot of teams in the league? Yes. But that should not take away anything from what the Mets accomplished. 

The playoff teams in the NL this year included the Mets, Los Angeles Dodgers, Atlanta Braves, St. Louis Cardinals, Philadelphia Phillies, and San Diego Padres. The Amazins got an opportunity to play each of these teams at least six times in the regular season. 

First let’s start with the division winners. In seven meetings against the 111-win Dodgers, the Mets had a winning record of 4-3. The two teams split a four game set in Los Angeles back in June before the Mets took two out of three at Citi Field in late August. In 19 meetings against the Braves, the Mets won nine of them. Yes, we know, if they had just won 10, the NL East crown would be parked in Flushing, Queens but regardless of that, playing .500 baseball against another team that won over 100 games is still impressive. In seven meetings against the Cardinals, which all took place in April and May, the Mets went 5-2. 

Against a fellow Wild Card team in the Philadelphia Phillies, New York owned the Phils in the regular season 14 of the 19 contests. You can even throw the Milwaukee Brewers into the conversion, as they were a team that won 86 games this year and found themselves in the Wild Card race until the final week. The Mets won four out of six. 

The San Diego Padres were the only team who truly had the Mets number in every series in which the teams met, as the Padres took two of three in both regular season matchups, along with their date in the Wild Card Round. But asking a team to win the season series against every single other playoff team is a lot to ask. 

The New York Mets proved all regular season long that they can play with and beat the best, whenever they were put in front of them. Just because they ran out of gas down the stretch, does not make it fair to give them this reputation that they only succeeded due to a “weak” National League in 2022.