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It's February, and at least for those of us here on Long Island who had an incredibly mild winter, spring fever is in the air early, and the only prescription is more baseball.
The 2023 New York Mets have taken the field in Port St. Lucie, getting ready for Spring Training intrasquad action today.
(Corey Sipkin/NY Post)
I'm not one to get excited for preseason of any sort. I usually skip it entirely and wait for the real action to start. But I'll admit, Mets Twitter has me foaming at the mouth right now. Videos of the two headed monster Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer throwing bullpen sessions, Kodai Senga striking out Pete Alonso with his "ghost forkball," a pitch that Alonso admitted he's "never seen in his life," and Francisco Lindor taking BP from Edwin Diaz has me the most excited I've ever been for a Mets season since spring training 2016.
Although falling victim to the Carlos Correa scam much like the San Francisco Giants did, Mets fans aren't deterred. Major upgrades to the starting rotation like acquiring Japanese sensation Kodai Senga, Jose Quintana, reigning American League Cy Young winner Justin Verlander, and bolstering the bullpen with David Robertson and signing Edwin Diaz to a massive five-year, $102 million deal makes the Mets even stronger than they were in 2022, a season in which they won 101 games and made the playoffs for the first time since 2016.
The only thing Mets fans wish Steve Cohen and company would've added was another big bat to the lineup. But really, can we complain that much? I will say - and I'm no exception to this next statement - Mets fans have become extremely spoiled since Cohen bought the team. We're so hungry to have a winning team on the field and for the first time in decades we have an owner who cares, and who wants to win just as bad as we do. My point being, this lineup is extremely stacked even without adding a Carlos Correa type bat, and I have no doubt that the front office will be extremely active in the trade market as the season progresses.
Nimmo
Lindor
Marte
Alonso
McNeil
Canha
Escobar
Baty
Vogelbach
Pham
Guillorme
Alvarez
Narvaez
That is an offense that more than half of the league would kill to have.
The NL East is admittedly stacked. The Atlanta Braves stormed back and stole the division title last year, the Philadelphia Phillies won the National League Pennant, and the Miami Marlins have a promising young squad coming up the pipe. However, the Phillies success was a fluke. I'm not afraid of them. Quote me, come back here later in the season if they're doing better than the Mets and roast me, I don't care, I stand by it. The Mets absolutely handled the Phillies all year long, and 2023 will be no different.
The Marlins still have a way to go before they're considered contenders. The only team in the NL East that will make this a dogfight are the Braves, as per usual. The Washington Nationals will be nowhere to be found but that goes without saying.
After spending an astonishing $476.1 million in the offseason, it's World Series or bust for the New York Mets in 2023. The buzz is back in Queens, and there's nothing more magical.
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