Marvelous McLean Leads Mets To Vital 8-5 Victory! Where Would New York Be Without Him?

McLean threw 5 1/3 scoreless innings, allowing two hits and striking out eight in a must-win situation. He commanded the excellent Seattle hitters throughout and never lost his composure. Fans should take stock of how remarkable that was, how many pitchers would have been able to do the same?

McLean staked his claim as the Mets’ ace in his New York introduction. The team has responded by putting him on the mound in increasingly high-pressure spots. He followed in his next start by stymying the Atlanta Braves on the road, an environment the Mets have failed to win over the years. He controlled the Atlanta bats, holding them to two runs in seven innings pitched. He struck out seven while giving up only four hits. New York cruised to a 12-7 victory, and a pattern was set.  

McLean consistently gave his team a chance to win through an excellent pitching arsenal, remarkable poise, and a tremendous understanding of how to read hitters and attack them. Facing the Philadelphia Phillies next in a key divisional race showdown, he made their hitters look silly.

McLean pitched his greatest MLB game, shutting the Phillies out for eight innings, giving up four hits and walking none. The Mets dominated in a 6-0 victory and swept Philadelphia at home, looking like at the time that they could make the National League East a race.

Stearns Has Been Terrible

Reality hit New York in September as an eight-game losing streak ensued and dreams of winning the NL East vanished. None of this was the fault of McLean as he beat the Detroit Tigers and gave up only a run in a heartbreaking 1-0 road loss to the Phillies. The primary blame goes to General Manager David Stearns.

Mets management vowed during the offseason not to give out extensive contracts to pitchers 30 years and older. This kept them from heavily pursuing Corbin Burnes and led them to take a measured approach to starting pitching. Stearns inked cost-effective, but risky, arms like Griffin Canning and Clay Holmes while resigning Sean Manaea to a three-year, $75 million deal. Stearns banked on a healthy season from Kodai Senga, who barely pitched in 2024.

New York failed to acquire a proven ace to head the rotation. They dabbled in Garrett Crochet trade discussions but couldn’t top the Boston Red Sox’s offer. Moving away from spending big dollars on Burnes proved wise as he injured his right elbow and underwent Tommy John surgery. Stearns, though, seemed content not to bring in a high-level arm, using the Juan Soto money as the cover.  

For three months, the gamble that the rotation would stay healthy and perform worked. The Mets had the best earned run average in the game on June 13th; they also had MLB’s top record overall. Building a starting rotation full of question marks and expecting it to provide positive results throughout a 162-game season was foolhardy. Something was bound to go wrong, and it did.

Injuries and massive underperformance have plagued all the veteran arms. Over the last three months, the typical start for an experienced starting pitcher has been four innings while allowing four or more runs. There has been no length provided, and New York has continuously fallen into deep holes that the hitters haven’t gotten out of. 

The trade deadline offered Stearns an opportunity to acquire starting pitching help; he failed to do so. The price that teams asked for was likely astronomical, but the Mets couldn’t go away without bringing in someone. They, at the very least, needed inning eaters that would have required giving up mid-level prospects. They failed to get any.

Stearns compounded the problem by delaying calling up his top pitching arms. McLean proved by May that he was Syracuse’s top arm in Triple A. He maintained his excellence throughout June and July, yet Stearns did not promote him. That was a colossal mistake and one, like many others, that he needs to own.

McLean Keeps Mets In Wild Card Lead

McLean has made eight major league starts; he has won five and should have been victorious in all of them. He lost to the Phillies 1-0 while giving up only one run. He left an appearance against the Texas Rangers after six scoreless innings; the bullpen blew the lead. Pete Alonso saved New York with an extra-inning three-run homer.

The Washington Nationals beat McLean despite giving up only one earned run. Atrocious Bad News Bears-like defense betrayed him, leading to several unearned runs and yet another deficit the uninspired Mets couldn’t get out of.

Despite his team doing all it can to blow a playoff spot, McLean has helped keep them in the Wild Card lead. He did so again on Thursday night. New York bats provided a cushion behind home runs by Francisco Lindor and Brett Baty, building a six-run lead in the fourth.

McLean blew Cubs’ hitters away to the tune of a career-high 11 strikeouts. He fanned all Chicago batters in the second inning, then two more in the next three innings. Holding an 8-2 lead into the sixth, he finally hit a wall. Carrying the rotation from his debut in high-stakes matchups was bound to catch up. The Cubs hit three HRs off McLean, Seiya Suzuki, two of them.

McLean received rare help from the bullpen, which shut down Chicago the rest of the evening, preserving the 8-5 victory. He earned his fifth victory, keeping the Mets one game up on the Cincinnati Reds for the last Wild Card spot. 

End Of My Nolan McLean Rant

McLean may be called upon Sunday in relief if New York is in a desperate spot to earn a win. The likelihood, though, is that his rookie regular-season campaign is finished. If so, it will end with a 5-1 record, 2.06 ERA, and 1.04 WHIP. He struck out 57 in 48 innings pitched while walking 16.

He belongs in the NL Rookie of the Year conversation and probably would be the front-runner with more run support and fielding help behind him.

McLean changed the tenor of the Mets’ summer. When he debuted, their Wild Card lead had slipped to a half-game over the Reds. He gave them a spark, and they played decent baseball for several weeks, going into early September. Without it, they would be dead to rights today. He has continued to perform, even when his teammates haven’t.

By becoming the team ace immediately and giving them playoff hopes, a case can be made that McLean is New York’s MVP.  He has been that essential. The Mets now once again face the Miami Marlins in a season-ending series, desperately needing to win. Fans have nightmares of past occasions, such as 2007, when the Marlins ruined the season and an epic collapse was ensured.

New York enthusiasts are right to doubt, especially if McLean is not scheduled to make a start. The Mets are in this spot due to Stearns. If they fail to make the playoffs, he deserves the heavy brunt of the blame. He built this team and chose to go cheap and risky with the rotation, necessitating the reliance on rookie arms to save them. McLean has done all he can, and whatever happens, he has etched one of the greatest rookie seasons in New York history.