May was a miserable month in Queens.
As the month drew to a close, the Mets were fresh off a thorough home loss to the Dodgers, placing struggling pitcher Edwin Diaz on the disabled list and designating disgruntled right-hander Jorge Lopez as a designated player.
They also looked like a team with no way out, 11 games below .500, six games out of the final wild-card spot in the National League and seven teams above them.
“This team is terrible right now,” Adam Ottavino said after the finals loss to Los Angeles.
But the veteran right-hander added, “That doesn’t mean we’re going to be bad.”
The Mets were positively bad, but not for long.
After two wins over the Diamondbacks, they suffered two heartbreaking losses to Arizona before traveling to Washington and then London to face the first-place Phillies.
So what has happened in the past month that has led the Mets to once again be back at .500, winning the Subway Series at Citi Field in a landslide victory and trailing just 1.5 games behind the Padres and Cardinals for the Wild Card spot by Thursday night?
“That’s a credit to that team,” coach Carlos Mendoza said of his squad Wednesday night. “They’re good players, good coaching and they’re having fun.”
And many of the events that changed the course of the season began in May.
The Mets had a terrible month, going 9-19, but there was a silver lining, and it wasn’t just a team meeting one day or a key player being called back on the injured list that turned the tide.
Instead, it’s clear that the Mets’ surprising turnaround is the result of a combination of factors.
Here are some examples:
Francisco Lindor, one of the Mets players who had been having a terrible season through much of May, called a team meeting after the team’s final game loss to the Dodgers.
Since then, he has taken off.
The shortstop posted a .652 OPS over his first 55 games before posting a .997 OPS over his final 23 games.
But his success dates back even further and likely has to do with his move from the No. 3 spot in the lineup to the leadoff spot on May 18. Lindor is hitting at the top of the lineup with a .906 OPS.
Another key change was the decision to use Mark Vientos instead of Brett Batey at third base.
Vientos has a .907 OPS since being permanently recalled from Triple-A Syracuse on May 15, while Batty had just a .633 OPS upon his demotion.
And in the outfield they have Brandon Nimmo and Harrison Bader.
Bader hadn’t been happy with his playing time and wasn’t hitting well enough to be an everyday member of the lineup in mid-May, but he came out looking vibrant on this day.
In his last 34 games since May 16, Bader’s OPS is .875. Prior to that, it was .628.
Nimmo waited until June, but has hit five home runs in his last 11 games.
Around the same time as his move to third base, J.D. Martinez started hitting like J.D. Martinez after a slow start since signing late in spring training.
Through his first 15 games with the Mets, Martinez has been nothing if not a threat throughout his career, posting just a .675 OPS.
However, in the last 37 games played through May 13, his OPS was .920, ninth-best in the major leagues during that span.
Not coincidentally, since that day, the Mets have scored the second-most runs in major league baseball behind only the Orioles (prior to that day they were 18th).
Not to be forgotten is Pete Alonso, who has had a strong batting performance in the last month, and the addition of Jose Iglesias on May 31st has helped Jeff McNeil out of a slump. Iglesias has posted a .905 OPS since being promoted from Triple-A.
But perhaps the most significant addition in the first half of the season is the return of catcher Francisco Alvarez.
The 22-year-old got off to a tough start, posting just a .652 OPS in 16 games before undergoing surgery for a torn ligament in his left thumb.
He believes he used the downtime to observe the game and slow it down.
Since his return, Alvarez has been playing with a splint on his thumb, but he has maintained his good form, posting an OPS of 1.232 in 14 games since June 11.
And his backup, Luis Torrens, has been great, making the Mets much better at the position than Omar Narvaez and Tomás Nido, who spent the majority of the season with the Mets.
The Mets’ resurgence in offensive power, on full display against the Yankees, has given new energy to their season.
According to tankathon.com, the Mets have the third-easiest schedule remaining, with opponents holding a combined winning percentage of .488.
According to tankathon.com, combining the Mets’ improving play with the National League’s dire state gives the Mets a 41.8 percent chance of making the playoffs.
“We still have a long way to go,” Mendoza said.
