Real or surreal: Seven early season MLB surprises
By Bill Felber
New York Mets, 7-4
The Mets completed their weekend agenda in first place in the NL East. Even better, they scored some runs – okay, four runs – for Jacob DeGrom and actually got him a victory. A Mets team that can generate four runs for DeGrom has to be taken seriously.
For Mets fans, though, the best news may be the performance of the rest of the rotation. Marcus Stroman is perfect in his first three starts with a 0.90 ERA. Taijuan Walker has allowed just three earned runs in his 10 innings, and the staff 2.93 ERA ranks right where you’d expect it, fourth in the league behind only the Padres, Dodgers, and Giants.
In Flushing, the question marks often revolve around production. So far in 2021, that’s been up and down. Mets hitters are carrying a collective .246 average – fourth best in the NL – but much of that has gone to waste. The team is scoring just 3.36 runs per game – second worst only to the Giants – and ranks last in base hits.
The apparent legitimate strength of the pitching staff makes New York a plausible prospect to hang around the top of the NL East even considering a schedule replete with matchups against the Braves and Phillies. And for the record, New York is already 4-2 against the Phillies.
The prospect that the offense bogs down the team’s hopes are real enough to worry Mets fans. But DeGrom, Stroman, and Walker have all proven they are capable of doing for a full season what they’ve been doing. That’s a solid foundation on which to build a contender.
Odds that New York’s 7-4 record is real: 73 percent.