3 toughest series for the Mets during the month of June

3. The Mets must travel to Houston and play the defending World Series champion Astros from June 19-21.

There is a strong case that the 2022 Houston Astros should be considered as one of the greatest teams of the century so far, and a lot of that had to do with the amazing pitching depth they had with their rotation and their bullpen. After all, they threw two combined no-hitters on the road in 2022. One was against their archrival Yankees in June that felt like the turning point of the whole season, and another in Game 4 of the World Series in Philadelphia against a vaunted Phillies offense.

Aside from Justin Verlander, who was the Cy Young Award winner in the American League, the Astros brought back the same team from last year, except they had a couple of prospects ready to replace Verlander in the rotation, led by Hunter Brown. And they still have Framber Valdez and Christian Javier, two of the top 25 starting pitchers, arguably, in all of baseball atop their rotation.

In terms of their lineup, they still have big names on there, with Yordan Alvarez, maybe the scariest left-handed hitter in baseball, and household names like Jose Altuve, Alex Bregman, and Kyle Tucker. Also, their rookie shortstop Jeremy Pena was the ALCS and World Series MVP last year, and became the first rookie shortstop to win a Gold Glove.

If there was a list of top 100 players in MLB right now, there is a good bet that eight of them would make it there. The roster is that loaded.