Inside The Mets

New York Mets can improve their standing with slate of opponents this week

The New York Mets have a perfect opportunity to improve their NL East lead with their slate of opponents on tap this week.

Troy Brock

Apr 13, 2025; West Sacramento, California, USA; New York Mets fans cheer as pitcher Kodai Senga (34) walks to the dugout after the end of the seventh inning against the Athletics at Sutter Health Park.
Apr 13, 2025; West Sacramento, California, USA; New York Mets fans cheer as pitcher Kodai Senga (34) walks to the dugout after the end of the seventh inning against the Athletics at Sutter Health Park. / Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images
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The New York Mets have not had the toughest of schedules to begin their 2025 campaign. To their credit, they have performed as expected against those opponents.

Entering the week with a 10-5 record on the year, New York holds a one-game lead over the Philadelphia Phillies in the loaded National League East. The Mets can build on that with the two opponents they have coming up.

For the first half of the week, the Mets will travel to Minnesota to take on the Twins. While they are certainly no Chicago White Sox, they enter the week with a 5-11 record, and only three teams in MLB have had a worse start to the year.

After the Twins, the Mets come back to Queens to host the St. Louis Cardinals. They currently hold a 7-8 record and are in the midst of a rebuild that they refuse to admit to.

You can only play the teams that are put on the field across from you, and schedule changes since 2023 allow all 30 teams to play each other in a season. But to this point, this week will add even more fuel to the fire of the Mets' weak schedule to start the year.

The combined record of New York's previous opponents sits at 30-32, with two of the four opponents holding records sub-.500, and one, the Miami Marlins, uncharacteristically above .500 for now. It has helped the Mets so far as their offense has struggled to get things going at the plate, currently tied for 21st in MLB with a team OPS+ of 88, or 12% worse than league average.

Surprisingly, it has been the rotation that has stepped up and taken charge, despite being depleted by injuries in Spring Training, and with only Kodai Senga standing out as a proven commodity. The unit has pitched to a 2.55 ERA, leading the majors to this point in the year.

Read more: Kodai Senga delivers Mets' best outing of the season in win over Athletics

The bullpen has not been far behind in that matter, either. That unit holds a 1.95 ERA, good enough for third in MLB. The pitching staff as a whole has allowed only 41 total runs (34 earned) across 15 games, keeping the team in striking distance while the offense has only scored 61 runs, ranking 18th in baseball.

Again, the Mets can't be faulted for beating the teams that are put in front of them, especially when all 30 teams play each other at some point in the year.

It is not very often, however, that a team is given such a nice start to the season. And to their credit, the Mets have done exactly what they are supposed to do. They can continue that success and build a bigger lead in the division against even more weak competition this week.

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Troy Brock
TROY BROCK

Troy Brock is an up and comer in the sports journalism landscape. After starting on Medium, he quickly made his way to online publications Last Word on Sports and Athlon before bringing his work to the esteemed Sports Illustrated. You can find Troy on Twitter/X @TroyBBaseball

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