It's just two games — two stinkin' games — at the end of the July, but after the New York Mets swept their bitter arch-rival, the mighty New York Yankees, on Tuesday and Wednesday, the narrative on this team has changed completely.
We look at them at lot differently now. And after winning 6-3 on Tuesday and then 3-2 on Wednesday at Citi Field, there's a new shine to this Mets team.
They look like serious World Series contenders now.
And we know why, of course. Because you can't get that kind of street credibility when you beat the Chicago Cubs twice in a row, or the Miami Marlins, or even better teams like the Philadelphia Phillies or the St. Cardinals.
Win two in a row against teams like that — which the Mets have done in the past few months — and hardly anyone notices.
Win two in a row against the Yankees, the current best team in baseball, and everyone notices. Now the Mets are absolutely, positively serious World Series contenders.
Without a doubt.
“Right now they are the best team in the American League, so this is a really good test for us,” Mets star Pete Alonso said. “I feel like the guys brought the energy.” Alonso said.
The Mets are 61-37 and they've been playing well all year, for the most part. The Atlanta Braves, the defending world champs, have been red hot and gaining on them, but it's still the Mets who lead the National League East. They're three games up on the Braves, 10 ahead of the third-place Phillies.
Only the Los Angeles Dodger at 65-32 have a better record than the Mets in the NL. And in all of baseball, only the Yankees and Houston Astros have won more games.
Don't let hold you back from thinking the Mets can't win it all though. They've got Max Scherzer back in the fold, and the veteran ace was tremendous on Wednesday, blanking the Yankees' powerful lineup for seven innings on Wednesday.
He's a beast, a World Series champion that no one wants to face. Just ask all those Yankees hitters who went down meekly all night.
Scherzer has been very good for a long time. He's got 196 career wins and a career 3.12 earned run average. He's won a World Series with the Nationals and he was signed by the Mets in the offseason so the Mets can win the next one.
He's that good, that tough, that ready for massive moments.
“I love to pitch in these situations and in this atmosphere,” Scherzer said following the walk-off 3-2 victory on Starling Marte’s ninth-inning hit to sweep this set. “I want the ball. They’re a great team with a great lineup. I want to beat them.”
Scherzer broke into the big leagues in 2008 and those 196 major-league victories have come in Arizona, Detroit, Washington and Los Angeles. he's started 21 postseason games, and wants to pitch in more.
Who's going to stop him?
“I love a guy who’s 38 — officially today — and has done the things he’s done, still has the zest and love for competing in the best league in the world,” Showalter said of Scherzer, who has a 1.48 ERA over five starts since his July 5 return after being sidelined for six weeks with an oblique strain.
Scherzer is just a start, too. Former Mets ace Jacob deGrom is on track to return to the Mets' rotation next week, and when he does, he and Scherzer immediately become the best 1-2 punch in the game in my book.
How's that for an edge in ANY playoff series?
Sure there's still 10 weeks to go and a lot can happen. But what the happens have proven after being the Yankees twice is that they can hang with anybody,.
Beating the Yankees will do that.
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