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Mets short odds of just under 20-1 to win World Series
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Carlos Beltran taking the reigns seems like a good hire early on
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Questions about the bullpen still remain
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The New York Mets are trending in the right direction improving their win total in each of the last two seasons. They won 86 games last year finishing 11 games behind Atlanta in the rugged NL East and 3.0 games out of the second wild card, missing the playoffs for a third straight season. For a club that is at best the No. 2 team in the division, and that’s if everything goes right, the Mets have short odds at +1980 to win their first World Series since 1986.
2020 New York Mets World Series Odds at BookMaker.eu
New York Mets +1980
2020 New York Mets Overview
News during the offseason had to do with ownership and management and less about the on-field product. The club was on the market with a potential buyer in line before the deal was squelched. Current ownership hasn’t instilled much faith in the fans and there’s at least one more season before anything happens on that front.
The Mets won 86 games but missed the postseason, and it cost Mickey Calloway his job after two seasons. The team dug into its past for Carlos Beltran to take the reins. It seemed like a good hire until Beltran left the organization prior to the start of spring training for his role in the Astros’ sign stealing fiasco. Eager to fill the position the Mets hired from within naming Luis Rojas the new skipper.
With the exception of few deals the Mets were relatively quiet on the personnel front. That likely won’t be problem if a few guys have rebound seasons. Yoenis Cespedes is ready to return after missing the 2019 season to bolster the offense. The starting rotation is solid and Noah Syndergaard can make it better after struggling to a 4.28 ERA in 2019.
Pitching
With reigning two-time Cy Young winner Jacob deGrom, the Mets boast one of the better rotations in baseball. You rarely see a starter win the award with 11 wins, but that’s what deGrom had last season, along with eight losses and a sparkling 2.43 ERA. The win total was actually one higher than the previous season when deGrom won with a 10-9 record. It’s hard to vote against a guy sporting a 1.70 ERA.
Syndergaard can make the rotation one of the best or he can throw a wrench in the whole thing depending on how he pitches. He tossed a career-high 197.2 innings, but the numbers across the board were worse. He finished 10-8 with his 4.28 ERA over run higher than his previous career-low. Marcus Stroman, who went 4-4 with a 3.77 ERA after his in-season acquisition, is a dependable middle-of-the-rotation guy.
The Mets let 11-game winner Zack Wheeler walk and turned to former Cy Young winner Rick Porcello and Michael Wacha to battle with incumbent Steven Matz for a spot on the rotation. Matz shared the team lead in wins going 11-10 with a 4.21 ERA.
The bullpen was shaky at best in 2019 and cost the Mets a wild card. Closer Edwin Diaz blew seven saves and owned a bloated 5.59 ERA over 58 innings. There doesn’t appear to be anything wrong with his arm after he fanned 15.9 batters per nine innings. Former closer Jeurys Familia pitched to a 5.70 ERA across 60 innings. Getting just one of those guys back to previous years form would be a huge boost.
Hitting
There are a couple of big ifs on the offensive side. Rookie of the Year Pete Alonzo had 53 home runs with 120 RBIs in 2019. If he comes close to those numbers the offense is in good hands. The Mets were 13th in runs, but the rest of the lineup hit only 189 homers.
That could change if Cespedes is ready when the season gets underway. Cespedes hit 31 homers with 86 RBIs and a .280 average in 2016. He had just 26 big flys combined in 119 games over the next two seasons missing all of 2019. The Mets were middle-of-the-road in most offensive stat categories last season and both Alonzo and Cespedes need big seasons for the numbers to rise.
Jeff McNeil and J.D. Davis both hit over .300 with more than 20 homers to help spread the offense around. The team has a few other comeback player candidates in Robinson Cano, who hit .256 with 13 homers last season, and Michael Conforto.
2020 New York Mets World Series Pick
New manager Rojas has a lot to work with. It’s hard to imagine Alonzo having another 53-homer season making the presence of Cespedes a key in the middle of the lineup. There are some nice peripheral players so the offense should be in good shape. The key is pitching, especially the bullpen. Diaz and Familia both have lively arms and one of them needs to regain form. Dellin Betances was brought in as insurance just in case. If he pitches the seventh inning everything is fine with the Metropolitans. A wild card isn’t out of the equation and aces deGrom and Syndergaard in a short playoff series is scary.
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- Phil Simon, Gambling911.com
