Why Mets' Pete Alonso is hopeful for second-half turnaround

Slugger Pete Alonso is confident the 2023 New York Mets can still turn things around following a first half of the season most involved would prefer to forget. 

"We’re going to have home-field advantage in the second half," Alonso said on Tuesday, per Phillip Martinez of SNY. "It’s going to be nice to play in front of our home fans and not log as much travel hours. Not to make an excuse, but traveling a ton, especially crossing time zones, can be pretty hurtful over the course of time. It’s going to give us a chance to be more rested and ready to go." 

The 42-48 Mets are responsible for baseball's most expensive and most disappointing squad. New York entered the All-Star break trailing the first-place Atlanta Braves by 18.5 games in the National League East standings, and the Amazins are seven games back in the race for a wild-card spot. As Alonso referenced, though, the Mets will play 42 of their remaining 72 regular-season games at home. 

New York showed signs of life by opening July with six consecutive wins before the club lost two straight at the San Diego Padres. Alonso suggested the Mets can take such positive momentum into the upcoming three-game series against the Los Angeles Dodgers (51-38) that gets underway at Citi Field on Friday evening. 

"Clearly not the first half we were looking for but we had a great week before the All-Star break, going 4-2 against high-quality teams," Alonso explained. "We needed to have a good week before the break and I feel it’s going to springboard us into the second half." 

Depending on what happens over the next couple of weeks, the Mets could be either buyers or sellers before the Aug. 1 trade deadline. Theoretically, even Alonso could become available if a contender makes an offer for the three-time All-Star selection the Mets can't refuse. 

"We have a great clubhouse," Alonso said about such uncertainty. "We’re going to do whatever we can to go out there and win as many ballgames as we can in the second half."