3 best Mets statistics making us say OMG from the first half of the 2024 season

The New York Mets are one of the hottest offenses in baseball right now. The team is playing above .500 and is in a wild-card spot for the postseason.

The Mets' better positioning is due to an electrifying offense, which has awakened from a lethargy that it maintained during the first two months of the year, where they were the tenth-worst offense in terms of runs per game in MLB and the second-worst at home in terms of this statistic during that span. Now, the Mets see their chances increase, and this is due to some offensive stats that have allowed the resurgence of the organization.

1) The fourth-best offense in baseball measured by this metric

Baseball has modernized its way of measuring its statistics by trying to group results based on a single metric that allows players and teams to be quickly evaluated. In the case of the offense, this statistic is the Weighted Runs Created Plus (wRC+), a statistic that measures each hitting event, weights it by its weight, and adjusts it to the league level so that it is comparable, this means that one base on a ball has a lower weight in the calculation than a home run.

The Mets are the fourth-best team in wRC+, above fearsome offenses like the Philadelphia Phillies or the hot Boston Red Sox. This indicator explains how the Mets are in the fight and offers a context of hope that their offensive production would remain sustainable over time.

2) Power, power, and more power

One of the most worrying aspects before the start of the season was where the Mets were going to find the formula to get more power from their lineup. Despite not having additions beyond J.D. Martinez the Mets offense is showing considerable power led by Brandon Nimmo and Francisco Lindor.

The Mets are the seventh-best offense in MLB in slugging percentage due to an increase in their extra bases this season, especially in terms of home runs where they are the fifth team with the highest total number of home runs. This is supported by a better way of making contact with the ball. The team is the third-best in the league in barrels, a stat that counts those hits with an exit velocity equal to or greater than 98 mph and with a specific launch angle that guarantees a higher level of offensive production through extra bases.

3) Starting pitching has limited opponents

Starting pitching, unlike the bullpen, has managed to limit its opponents. The Mets' rotation pitchers have the fifth-best collective BABIP (batting average on balls in play) in the league, which means they have been efficient in not allowing runners on base via contact.

These statistics explain the team's success in the first half of the season. With the necessary adjustments to the trade deadline, the Mets could be an interesting team toward the second half.