The 2024 Mets have fully embraced the ‘Miracle Mets’ aurora.
They’ve had a flair for the dramatic towards the end of the season, winning in theatrical ways against the Braves, followed by a 9th inning home run by Pete Alonso in the Wild Card Series against the Brewers, and topping it off with a Francisco Lindor grand slam against the Phillies to propel them to the National League Championship Series. This team has no quit. They believe in themselves. They believe they are going to win. This Statistical Spotlight is going to highlight which Mets to watch for in the NLCS series against the Dodgers.
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Mark Vientos. He has truly made the most of his opportunity at 3rd base in the regular season, and that is carrying over to the postseason. Vientos is slashing .429/.467/.714 with an outstanding OPS of 1.181 in the playoffs with two doubles, two home runs, and 7 RBIs. He also has accounted for five runs produced.
In the NLDS alone, Vientos batted .563 with an OPS of 1.674. He has been using the full field during his plate appearances, both pushing and pulling the ball. The one caveat to his postseason game has been his strikeouts. Vientos has struck out ten times over the course of the Wild Card and Division Series. Look for Vientos to limit his strikeouts to make his bats even more productive during the NLCS.
Jose Iglesias. The pop star has been a spark for the Mets the entire year. He has performed brilliantly in the field, has exceeded expectations at the plate, and has brought a lot of personality to this Mets roster during the regular season.
Iglesias has hit a rough patch at the start of this postseason. He is slashing only .207/.233/ .207 with an OPS of .440, which is drastically down from his regular season numbers. What’s more alarming is that his K% is up significantly from the regular season. During the regular season, his K% was 13.4%, and in the postseason it rose to 23.3%. From the naked eye, it looks like Iglesias is trying to do too much at the plate. He is taking much bigger cuts compared to his short, compact swing. Iglesias has already made his mark on this team for the season, all he needs to do now is get back to the basics. Rely on what got him to this spot, making contact. Look for Iglesias to shorten his swing to produce some pivotal hits during the NLCS.
The Mets will be traveling across the country to face the Dodgers for the NLCS. The Dodgers have a fearsome lineup with Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman, and many others who have postseason experience. Another eye-catching player will be Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who elected the Dodgers over the Mets in the offseason. Hopefully, the Mets got some rest instead of rust while awaiting the start of the NLCS. The first game is set for Sunday at 8:15 pm EST.
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