The Mets are playing like baseball’s best and they’re not surprised at all

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NEW YORK — The Mets have the best record in baseball now, at 18-7, but that’s not what should worry the rest of the league. The problem for the Phillies, the Braves and all the others is that the Mets will be this way for a long time.

What we’re seeing now is the reason Steve Cohen wanted David Stearns so badly. Cohen, the Mets’ outrageously wealthy owner, could always sign superstars. Stearns, who had built winning Brewers teams with a small budget in Milwaukee, could make the pieces fit around them.

One of those pieces, center fielder Tyrone Taylor, was on deck Wednesday when Starling Marte dumped a broken-bat single into center to beat the Phillies, 4-3, in 10 innings. Marte was one of three pinch hitters who singled in the late innings, as five Mets relievers held the Phillies without an earned run.

Taylor, a former Brewer, has seen wins like this before.

“I feel like the similarity is the depth of the bullpen that we have,” he said. “David does a good job of doing that.”

But the comparison only goes so far. Juan Soto made a perfect throw to cut down a runner at the plate in the eighth. Francisco Lindor reached base three times and dazzled in the field. Pete Alonso doubled home the tying run in the 10th.

“I ain’t never been around so many stars like this,” Taylor said, smiling. “It’s pretty awesome.”

Here’s Starling Marte’s walk-off single to cap a perfect homestand for the Mets: pic.twitter.com/DnFPwkjsQP

— Anthony DiComo (@AnthonyDiComo) April 23, 2025

The Mets’ No. 1 through No. 3 hitters will collect more than $120 million this year, and they are all under 32 years old. Add Marte and Brandon Nimmo, and that’s more than $160 million for five players. Half of all MLB teams don’t spend that much on their full rosters.

What makes the Mets so formidable, though, is that while none of their five highest-paid players is a pitcher, their pitching staff is the best in the majors, with a 2.34 ERA. That underscores the kind of sound decision-making that should never go into a slump.

Kodai Senga, Clay Holmes, David Peterson, Tylor Megill and Griffin Canning have been the stingiest rotation in MLB. Mets starters have allowed just five home runs all season; every other rotation has allowed at least 10. And they’re doing it without Sean Manaea and Frankie Montas, who have been on the injured list since spring training.

“It was hard losing those guys, but if anybody has the makeup, it’s definitely our staff, to just pick up where they left off,” Nimmo said. “When guys go down, it presents an opportunity and guys have a chance to capture it. Guys have definitely done that. I’ve been super proud of them, and honestly, that’s winning baseball: if your starting pitching is good, you have a chance to win ballgames every time. That’s imperative.”

Before Cohen hired Stearns in October 2023, he had taken the most obvious approach to starting pitching: paying sticker price — or higher — for brand-name luxury. When one three-time Cy Young Award winner with 2,500 innings on his arm (Max Scherzer) wasn’t enough, Cohen got another (Justin Verlander), paying a record $43.3 million per year for each. Scherzer and Verlander did not pitch badly, but Cohen authorized a pivot when former general manager Billy Eppler traded them for prospects at the 2023 deadline.

The Mets now believe they can figure out the run prevention side by identifying the right fits, accentuating each pitcher’s strengths and prioritizing sound defense. That is how it works in Milwaukee, and so far, it’s working in Flushing, too.

None of the Mets’ starters is signed to a nine-figure deal. Megill and Peterson came up through the farm system. Senga (signed by Eppler) cost $75 million for five years, Manaea $75 million for three, Holmes $38 million for three, Montas $34 million for two, Canning $4.25 million for one.

Every team should be able to afford deals like that. And besides Edwin Díaz — baseball’s only $100 million closer — the Mets’ relievers are also eminently affordable. It comes down to shrewd evaluations and a staff that can get the most out of the players. In manager Carlos Mendoza, pitching coach Jeremy Hefner and the rest of the crew, the Mets have that.

“There’s a lot of confidence in the front office and the leadership — Mendy, Hef, how they run things and how they identify the guys they want and what they want them to do,” said lefty reliever Danny Young, who struck out Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber in the seventh inning on Wednesday. “You put everyone in the best situation, you’re going to succeed.”

“This is a team that doesn’t give up. It doesn’t matter if we’re winning by a lot or losing by a lot, the guys have been showing that we never give up.”

– Juan Soto pic.twitter.com/2m4epXQ3Ut

— SNY Mets (@SNY_Mets) April 23, 2025

The Mets have succeeded wildly, sweeping the Cardinals and Phillies in this seven-game homestand to finish 10-3 in a 13-day stretch without a day off. The Phillies looked lost at Citi Field, their bullpen a mess and their lineup of thumpers reduced to a whimper: They managed 11 hits on Wednesday, all singles.

“We feel like everybody around us is panicking,” manager Rob Thomson said before the game, insisting that his group would be fine and start slugging again soon. “Guys’ numbers historically — there’s a lot of slug in that lineup. And we’re going to go through another time during the course of the year where we don’t slug. And maybe one more time when we don’t slug. It’s just the way the game is.”

But the Phillies have been mediocre for a while now. Since sweeping the eventual champion Dodgers in a series last July, they are 48-50. That includes a division series loss to the Mets that now seems like a watershed moment in the National League East.

The Mets are the bullies with brains. They are riding last summer’s momentum without the OMG slogan, which no longer applies. They’re not surprised at all to be baseball’s best.

“I said it right off the rip in spring: This is a really tight knit group, because there’s so many guys here from the year before,” Alonso said. “We have experience together, we have continuity, and then the guys that were added — not just talent-wise, but personality-wise, they just kind of jelled right in. It’s like we’ve been playing together for years. It’s a really special group.”

(Photo: Al Bello / Getty Images)

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