Mets
This is the team with a lot of ifs. The team that
made the World Series in 2015 is basically
intact, with arguably a better lineup.
However, names may be the only thing
that carry over for some players from
that year.
What made the Mets special was
the starting rotation. An impressive
Matt Harvey, ace deGrom, emerging
star (at the time) Syndergaard and Matz
(when healthy) formed a truly special
group. They were young, dominant and
confident. When their offense struggled,
the team acquired Cespedes which gave
their star pitchers some run support
and the rest was history. They
made the World Series and lost
to a Royals teams that just made
fewer mistakes and got the big
hits when needed.
As heartbreaking as that was,
the future was bright. Their
rotation was intact. They lost
hitting machine Daniel Murphy
which was a huge mistake, but
Cespedes would return and
it appeared the NL East was
theirs to lose for multiple years.
However, the old truism
-- if you get to the
championship, win
it then, since you
never know when
you’ll get back
there -- reared its
ugly head.
2016 could’ve
been a disaster.
Harvey looked shot, and there was a plethora of
injuries. Nonetheless, somehow, they were able
to win a wild card spot. They would lose the game
in a classic pitching matchup against the Giants.
Considering the obstacles, it seemed like 2016
was somewhat successful and just a tiny step back
until the team really got healthy.
Then there was 2017.
So how does this year look?
Well, despite being called cheap, and to an
extent they are -- being in the middle of the pack
in a big market such as New York City with a new
stadium and television network -- the front office
was at least pretty active during the off season.
Maybe it was the pressure of fans, but they brought
back Jay Bruce and acquired Yankee favorite third
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