Impressive NL-Best 9-3 New York Mets Are No Early-Season Fluke

The New York Mets should not be a surprise right now.

They started this season with everything they needed to be postseason contenders. And through 12 games, their youthful upside, promising rotation and veteran presences have all lived up to the hype. The Mets have won nine of their first 12, including seven in a row, and sit in first place in the National League East.

This is not a fluke.

During this stretch, the Mets have won series against the heavily favored reigning division champion Washington Nationals, the woefully awful Philadelphia Phillies and the expected-to-contend Miami Marlins. They have overcome starts by Max Scherzer and Stephen Strasburg and gotten good-to-great ones from Matt Harvey, Jacob deGrom, Bartolo Colon and Jon Niese. 

The rotation was expected to be the best part of the club going into spring training, before Zack Wheeler underwent Tommy John surgery. Despite that loss, the Mets have not missed a beat. Four of the five starters—all mentioned above—have ERAs of 2.25 or lower.

Harvey, coming off his own Tommy John procedure, has looked mostly impressive in his two starts. Colon, who had a career-high 147 ERA+ in 2013 but a down year in 2014, has made three quality starts and already collected three wins. Niese, who has a 1.59 ERA, has allowed just two earned runs in 11.1 innings.

And last season’s NL Rookie of the Year, deGrom, has continued to look like an ace through his first three starts. Since allowing two runs to the Nationals in his first inning of the season, deGrom has pitched 18.1 consecutive scoreless innings, dropping his ERA to 0.93.

He was at it again Saturday night, shutting down the Marlins for seven innings while not walking anyone and striking out eight. His final one came in the sixth inning after falling behind 3-0 to Giancarlo Stanton with a two-run lead and two men on base. Three pitches later, the showdown was finished courtesy of a swinging strikeout.

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That win put the Mets in position for a four-game sweep as Harvey starts Sunday. An eight-game winning streak would be the team’s longest since 2010.

The bullpen has done its job as well. Entering Saturday’s game, the Mets had the league’s third-lowest reliever ERA (2.12) before allowing four runs over two innings. Closer Jeurys Familia has been the most impressive of the group, saving five games in five chances and striking out nine in 6.2 innings (2.70 ERA).

Familia took over the role because of injuries, one of them to Jenrry Mejia, who started the season on the disabled list. Familia will remain in the role because Mejia was suspended 80 games for testing positive for a performance-enhancing drug on April 11. Mejia also will not be able to pitch in the postseason if the Mets make it, meaning Familia will keep the job moving forward.

It’s not like Familia is a fluke in his own right. In 77.1 innings last season, he had a 2.21 ERA and finished seventh in NL Rookie of the Year balloting.

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Offensively, the Mets have been mediocre except for getting on base at the third-highest rate (.322) in the NL. Individually, Lucas Duda has a .995 OPS, Michael Cuddyer’s is at .899, Travis d’Arnaud has two home runs and an .843 OPS, and Wilmer Flores has two homers.

Veteran David Wright was hitting .333/.371/.424 with a home run before he hit the DL with a hamstring injury earlier in the week. He had resembled the David Wright of two and three seasons ago, using the entire field to collect hits, but once again an injury has taken him away.

Injuries like that could derail the Mets’ postseason hopes.

The Mets have already suffered numerous early-season dings, including to the aforementioned Mejia, Wright and Wheeler. Another one to a front-line pitcher, reliever or key hitter, and this team could struggle to win at anywhere close to its current pace.

For now, though, this is about what the Mets are: good-to-great starting pitching, steady relief and a mildly potent offense. And they do this in a division that should present only one real threat with the Nationals.

This two-week run should not be a surprise. The Mets had this potential on Opening Day. Right now, they are just living up to it.

Follow Anthony on Twitter @awitrado and talk baseball here.