Those Relief Pitchers Sure Know How to Keep It Interesting

The New York Mets are fifth in the NL East at 34-41. In terms of the National League wild card picture, they’re 5.5 games behind the Chicago Cubs, with every team other than the San Francisco Giants and the Colorado Rockies in front of them.

One bright spot for them though is relief pitching. As of June 18, their bullpen had posted a 3.34 ERA so far as a group, ranking fourth in the majors and third in the National League. And they’d struck out 324 batters this season, the most in the MLB.

Overall, Mets pitchers had 672 strikeouts this season as of the same date, which was the fourth-most in both the majors and the NL. It was also their fifth-most in franchise history through the team’s first 74 games of a season.

Before the June 18 game, Devin Williams was unscored upon in 15 of his last 17 appearances dating back to April 26, with 24 strikeouts during that span. His 37 strikeouts were tied for 11^th among NL relief pitchers.

Luke Weaver hadn’t allowed a run over his last 17 appearances as of the same date. He’d thrown 19.0 scoreless innings, allowing 10 hits and four walks. And he’d struck out 22 batters in that span.

He was 2-1 with a 2.32 ERA for the season with eight walks and 30 strikeouts in 28 appearances. Recording six appearances of at least four outs, each of them scoreless.

And what about offense? Well, one reason for hope might be Juan Soto. As of June 18, his 259 career home runs were the 11^th-most in Major League history prior to turning 28. Those 259 home runs were also 24^th among active players and 21^st all-time amongst players born in the Dominican Republic.

As of June 18, Soto had reached base safely in 10 straight games, batting .382 with six runs, three doubles, two homers, seven RBI, 10 walks, a .523 OBP and a .647 SLG.

One might think this stark contrast between team record and individual brilliance puts the Mets management in a fascinating position as the trade deadline approaches on August 3.

With elite assets like a lockdown bullpen and a surging Juan Soto, the front office has to decide whether to push their chips in for a wild-card run. Or leverage these staggering individual stats for a future haul.

Which means the next few weeks could determine whether these bright spots are the catalyst for a summer comeback. Or simply the silver linings of another lost season.