The New York Mets dominated the headlines of the MLB offseason with their high spending and continued urgency in attempting to catch the Phillies and Braves. Atlanta has dominated the NL East over the past few seasons while the Phillies surpassed the Mets last season with a late postseason run.
New York has the highest projected payroll in all of baseball and, as we sit at the halfway point of May, are tied with the team with the 24th-highest payroll (Miami Marlins) for third in their own division. It is clear that this team is aging and arguably not even the third-best team within their own division despite their huge payroll.
Part of the issue is New York relying on aging pitchers Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander to be their top options with their former ace now with the Texas Rangers. Instead of spending top dollar to build a younger and more flexible roster, the Mets have built an aging and injury-prone one.
A team that is completely reliant on its top two starters having outlier seasons and getting great production from what has been an average lineup. There isn’t any question that the Braves are the superior team, perhaps breaking the Mets with their late-season surge in the 2022 season and the Mets’ ensuing collapse.
The Phillies are a comparable team that is inarguably playing better baseball right now after getting Bryce Harper back. Even the Marlins have been surprisingly competitive to start the season, though numbers suggest they are due for a bit of regression.
New York’s headline-filled offseason was always going to be hard to live up to and, while it is still only May, it is safe to say this isn’t a World Series roster and this team is going to come up short yet again needing to battle for a Wild Card spot.
The Mets are proof of the inability to build a World Series team in spending in itself. The Mets are a team that is obviously missing something from an aging roster that isn’t the favorite within their own division and has a tough road ahead of them in a wildcard chase.