MLB The Show simulation for the 2022 New York Mets

MLB The Show’s release and Opening Day just so happened to be in the same week this year. I thought it would be interesting to simulate the New York Mets season in franchise mode and see what happens during the 2022 season.

An interesting discovery right off the bat is that Robinson Cano is nowhere to be found in franchise mode. He is not on the Mets roster, he is not in the free agent pool, and when I went to player search in an attempt to find him, the results were blank. I decided to promote Travis Blankenhorn to the Majors in place of Cano.

There are a couple of other things worth mentioning. First, MLB The Show doesn’t allow roster expansion to 28 like MLB did. Sean Reid-Foley and Travis Jankowski were left off the roster because of that. Second, MLB The Show did not revise the schedules to reflect the delayed start to the season, so this simulation uses the original schedule.

With that out of the way, let’s get into the New York Mets’ 2022 season simulation on MLB The Show.

The Mets had a decent start to the season, finishing April at 15-13 and in the second place in the NL East (Braves were first at 21-8). Pete Alonso got off to a roaring start with nine homers and 18 RBI’s. J.D. Davis also had a nice month, batting .302 with six homers and 15 RBI’s. Max Scherzer led the pitching staff with a 3.20 ERA and 46 strikeouts in 39.1 innings pitched. Edwin Diaz racked up 11 saves with a 2.08 ERA and a 0.92 WHIP.

The Mets finished May at 31-26, 4.5 games behind the Braves. Alonso slowed down a little bit in May, but still leads the team with 14 homers and is second to Mark Canha with 30 RBI’s. The pitching staff has been excellent. Megill leads the rotation with a 2.44 ERA, followed by Scherzer with a 2.97. However, Carlos Carrasco has been struggling mightily with a 7.64 ERA. I’m putting Trevor Williams in the rotation until Jacob deGrom is ready to return…

… on June 10th at the Angels. He pitched six innings and struck out seven batters in Los Angeles, but Chasen Shreve would be tagged with the loss after giving up a walkoff single in the bottom of the 9th. Carlos Carrasco was sent to AAA to make room for deGrom.

The Mets had a good June overall, going 15-9 and gaining two games on the division-leading Braves. Alonso now has 22 homers and 55 RBI’s, which both rank 5th in the National League. Scherzer had an insane month, lowering his season ERA to 2.27. Diaz is having an awesome season, with a 1.14 ERA and 27 saves.

Scherzer has the second-most All Star votes among starting pitchers, and Edwin Diaz leads all closers. Alonso is second among first basemen, Mark Canha is fourth among left fielders, Marte is 5th among center fielders, and Nimoo is third among right fielders. Lindor, Escobar, and Williams also have a chance to make it.

Heading into the All Star break, Alonso had 25 homers, which wasn’t enough to make the Home Run Derby since there were 10 guys with 26 or more. The game doesn’t take into account the marketing aspect of the Derby, which basically guarantees Alonso a spot. Ignore this part of the simulation.

I was looking through the trade block on the day after the All Star Game. The Rays had relief pitcher Jeffery Springs on there with a 2.32 ERA and 0.98 WHIP. I offered them Joely Rodriguez and Felix Pena, and they accepted.

The Mets finished July at 63-43, two games back of the Braves. deGrom is deGrominating, with a 2.21 ERA amd 71 strikeouts in 61 innings. I decided to call Brett Baty up to the Major League team on August 1st, after hitting .280 with 12 homers in the first half at AAA. I moved Escobar to second base and started Baty at third. McNeil is now on the bench, since he hasn’t hit for any power and not much contact either (only .258 batting average).

August was a great month with 18 wins, which was enough to overtake the Braves to claim the first spot in the division by 2.5 games. Alonso is up to 34 homers and 84 RBI’s, while Davis has 28 homers with 77 RBI’s. Escobar got really hot and now has 26 homers with 82 RBI’s. deGrom and Scherzer are leading the rotation still, and even with Tylor Megill going into a little bit of a slump, his ERA is still 3.41. Drew Smith, Trevor May, and Seth Lugo are all dealing in the ‘pen, with ERA’s below three.

With rosters expanding on September 1st, I decided to call up Kahlil Lee and David Peterson. Lee had 13 homers and 47 RBI’s in AAA, while Peterson had a 3.52 ERA in 100 AAA innings.

On September 3rd, Starling Marte fractured his foot, ending his season. Bradon Nimmo also missed a few days with a bruise, so I had Dom Smith starting in left, Canha in center, and Lee in right. I called up Nick Plummer to take Marte’s spot on the roster. Nimmo came back after just four days. Unfortunately, Baty broke his arm the day after Nimmo returned, which ended his season. He had a decent two-ish months, hitting .260 with eight doubles, two homers, and 20 RBI’s. I went back to the original lineup, with Escobar at third and McNeil at second.

The Mets finished the season at 96-66 and won the NL East. The Braves finished in second with 90 wins, and that was enough to win the first Wild Card spot. The Phillies missed the second Wild Card spot by just one game.  Max Scherzer won the Cy Young.

The Mets played the Cardinals in the Division Series. It was a three game sweep, with only game two being close (5-4). They played the Dodgers in the Division Series, getting swept in four games. A couple of the games were close, but the Dodgers took care of business.

Does any of this simulation mean anything? Not really. I thought it would be interesting to see what would happen over the course of a full season, and even though the ending isn’t fun, it was ultimately a good year. 96 wins, a division victory, and a Max Scherzer Cy Young award is plenty to root for. If this happens in reality, Mets fans are in for a treat.