For the Mets, just making the playoffs this year is enough for now.
But overall, this is surely another step in the Steve Cohen-David Stearns partnership in Year One, with the bigger picture they're pursuing being the one across from them this weekend at Citi Field and looming in Atlanta over the next few days.
After the Phillies clinched a playoff berth with a 12-2 victory over the Mets on Friday night, the Phillies staff held a low-key celebration. A massive champagne-spraying festivities was expected after the team clinched their first NL East title since 2011, which began Saturday against the City.
Still, simply showing up is clearly not enough. The Phillies advanced their goal by reaching the postseason for the third straight year. “This is the standard,” Phillies manager Rob Thomson said after Friday's playoff decider. “Winning the World Series is firmly established as a goal. That's it. It feels good to feel that way. It really does.”
I asked Thompson to expand on that “standard” before Saturday's game, and he explained: “It's the mindset you bring to spring training. It's not enough to just talk about playing at a .500 percentage or wanting to get better or wanting to make positive changes. That's not enough. It's not enough. I always say teams that win over .500 are good, teams that make the playoffs are very good, but teams that win the World Series are great teams. And we want to be great every year.”
Thompson said it was something that was ingrained in him during his nearly 30 years with the Yankees, mostly during the win-or-lose periods, and Carlos Mendoza said his “standards” were also shaped during his 15-plus years with the Yankees.
“We know we're in a tough division and the leagues around us are getting stronger,” Mendoza said, “but the standard for us can't just be to play meaningful games in September. We have to play games in October, late October. That has to be the standard.”
But it's still baby steps: The Phillies have been around since 1888 and this is only the third time they've made the playoffs in at least three consecutive seasons. By contrast, the Mets, who were founded in 1962, have never done that.
The Phillies were looking to end the Braves' six-year reign as NL East champions. The Mets have only won the division six times in their history: once in the 1960s, once in the 1970s, twice in the 1980s, none in the 1990s, once in the 2000s and once in the 2010s.
The Mets have won just two division titles since the Marlins joined the NL East in 1993. That's tough to do without the never-winning-division Marlins standing in the way.
The Mets are on the brink of making the playoffs in their generation for just the second time in franchise history (1986 and 1988 as well). But in 2022, they were soundly swept by Atlanta in the penultimate series of the season, costing them a shot at the NL East. This year's penultimate series will be a three-game series in Atlanta. The Braves have been downgraded by injuries to their star players, and if they make it to this year's tournament, it will be in part because of their winning DNA.
The Mets are still trying to get that ingredient: consistent excellence, the traits that will bring October baseball.
“I think we're 100 percent headed in that direction,” Mendoza said. “It starts with committed ownership. That's what David and his baseball people are doing from the top all the way down to the Dominican Academy. We have great people with the goal of making this a first-class organization.”
One of the reasons the Braves and Phillies became the gold standard is that they developed a sustainable high-end core, something the Mets still lack.
The Braves did it mainly because of a strong farm system and shrewd trades by president of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos, while the Phillies did it mainly because owner John Middleton was willing to shoulder a big payroll and president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski led a team that consistently selected the right players, resulting in more success with high-priced free agents than any other team.
Cohen has signaled a willingness to back a record payroll, and Stearns' track record with Milwaukee has been one of doggedly searching for talent to carry the team past October.
In the first year of their partnership, Cohen and Stearns hope to build on the momentum of the past few months and see the Mets win a playoff round for the first time since reaching the World Series in 2015, but just making an appearance would make this a successful season for the franchise.
If that happens, the standards will have to change.
