New York Mets Need To Be Road Warriors This Time

The New York Mets have had a wonderful record in the friendly and warm confines of Citi Field. They have excelled to a robust 24-10 record at home, 32-28 overall. Their home record is the best in the league. Their glaring weakness so far has been on the road.

They are an abysmal 8-18 in other team's parks, which ranks third worst among all MLB teams. They have an upcoming schedule, however, that could change that. It includes three favorable match ups in their next nine games.

First, they travel to Baltimore to take on the Orioles. The Orioles are 11-18 at home and a putrid 17-43 overall. The worst record in baseball.

The Mets then travel to Cleveland to oppose the Indians. The Indians are also a struggling team this year. They are 23-36 overall, and 10-16 at home in Cleveland.

Finally, they travel to the house that George built. Not George Herman "the Babe" Ruth that is, but rather George Steinbrenner.

They visit the new Yankee Stadium in part two of the subway series. That is the only pure test on this road trip as the Yankees are 19-7 at home in New York and 37-23 overall. However, this is the same Yankees team that the Mets took two out of three from just nearly three weeks ago in Queens.

That confidence combined with the momentum of a solid road trip, should make the Mets well prepared to face the cross town nemesis going into that series.

Overall, if the Mets can have a successful road trip, it would be the team's first such road trip of the season.

That would be the start of a little more swagger and a much needed boost in the club house for a road weary and opposing crowd shy team like the Mets. The first series with Baltimore to start things off will be very important.

If they can establish the momentum here, then it can carry them through to Yankees stadium with a chance at a more than just average road trip. That is a necessity for this team to address the questions of whether or not they are a contender. It all starts on the road. It all starts tonight.