How It's Going to Be

 

The whole offseason, the New York Mets have been doing the 'we're better than the Yankees' thing. Like, 'oh they think they're so special but they didn't give Juan Soto his own box and now we've got him', or 'there's no disparity, we're all on the same page', trying to distance themselves from the Yankees. And yesterday, to be entirely fair, they did something that the Yankees have only done once since the 2023 All Star Break, out of ten opportunities: they lost to the Houston Astros.

And that is gonna be the thing that kills the argument for the Mets. The Yankees' whole thing is they can beat the Astros, especially when it doesn't matter. Last year they began the season with a 4 game sweep of the Astros, which made the Astros so mad that Ronel Blanco immediately no-hit the Blue Jays. I honestly saw this as the turning point of the Astros' dominance: now that the Yankees can beat them, they may not be as mighty as they were. But yesterday, with help from Cam Smith, a guy they literally drafted last year, and Framber Valdez, who may be one of the least flashy aces in baseball, the Astros shut down the Mets and won the first game of the season. 

As it was later discussed, the game came down to the heart of the Mets order with Josh Hader on the mound. This was the kind of thing that the Mets had prepared for all offseason. Getting the right people in position to succeed when it counted. It happened last year against the Phillies. And now they had Juan Soto. Two outs, men on first and third. If you'll recall, last year's first game in Houston had some true heroics from Soto, albeit in another uniform. But now the stage was set for him to potentially tie, or win, the game...and Juan Soto struck out. More money than God and he can't do what he was doing last year under similar circumstances.

And look, it wasn't just Soto that didn't rise to the occasion. Vientos went 0 for 3. Luisangel went 0 for 3. Lindor had the team's only RBI and still went 0 for 4. Jesse Winker was a late sub that did nothing. Clay Holmes, given the start on a similar revenge mission against the Yankees, was dealt with sufficiently by the Astros' lineup. With more money put in, more eyes on them, and more pressure, the Mets couldn't do what they'd done with far less.

Logically, there are 161 games left. They're not all gonna go this way. The goal is to ensure that this isn't the lasting impression of the Mets, the team that had all the tools and couldn't do anything with them. They were already that team a couple years ago, and they can't go back. Alonso, Soto, Lindor, and Vientos need to deliver. The rotation doesn't look intimidating on paper [Megill, Canning, Peterson...I mean, compared to what the Phils are working with it's not too enthralling], but they're capable of a lot. Edwin Diaz needs to be immovable. Everything that didn't come together in Game 1 needs to. 

The pressure is on. And if these guys aren't up to the task, it's gonna be a long year.

Coming Tomorrow- He withstood an excruciating season, and he's gonna ensure it never happens again.