The New York Mets sit in first place in the National League East, and after their offseason spending outburst, their fans have a right to expect nothing less. The highlight, of course, was the record, 15-year, $765 million contract the Mets bestowed upon free agent Juan Soto.
Even before signing Soto, the Mets brought in starter Frankie Montas for two years at $34 million and former Yankees closer Clay Holmes for three years at $38 million. Holmes was converted to a starter, but Montas is out until May with a lat strain.
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The Mets kept going, bringing back lefty Sean Manaea, a hero of last season’s run to the playoffs, for three years at $75 million. Unfortunately for the Mets, Manaea suffered an oblique muscle strain during spring training and was transferred from the 15-day injured list to the 60-day version on Tuesday.
The Mets still had one more offseason blockbuster in them, however. They re-signed slugging first baseman Pete Alonso to a two-year, $54 million deal.
Even with the injuries to two pitchers, Mets owner Steve Cohen’s investments have paid off.
On Tuesday, after the Amazin’s won their 21st game, beating the Arizona Diamondbacks at Citi Field in Queens by an 8-3 score, Major League Baseball took to its official X (formerly Twitter) account to make a big announcement about the Mets’ achievement.
As the MLB X post announced, the Mets’ 21-9 record is indeed the team’s best performance in its first 30 games in 19 years. In that 2006 season, when the Mets also started at 21-9, the Queens-based team ended up winning the NL East with 97 wins, then got to the NL Championship Series before losing in seven games to the St. Louis Cardinals — who had somehow taken the NL Central pennant with only 83 wins.
What MLB left out of its announcement, other than the fact that the Mets’ .700 winning percentage gives them the best record in baseball heading into Wednesday’s games, was that the 21-9 start is only the fourth-best 30-game record the franchise has produced since it joined the NL as an expansion team in 1962.
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In 1972, the Mets started off at 23-7, a .767 winning percentage. But in that strike-shortened season, the team under manager Yogi Berra won only 83 of its 156 games to finish third in the six-team NL East.
In 1986, a year the Mets won 108 games and beat the Boston Red Sox in a seven-game World Series, they compiled a 30-game record of 22-8 (.733). They repeated that mark in 1988 when they won 100 games, but lost to the 94-win Los Angeles Dodgers in a seven-game NLCS.
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