2022 New York Mets

2022 New York Mets / Franchise: New York Mets / BR Team Page

Record: 101-59, Finished 1st (t) in NL Eastern Division (2022 NL) Wild Card

Clinched Wild Card: October 4, 2022, vs. 2022 Washington Nationals

Managed by Buck Showalter

Coaches: Danny Barnes, Jeremy Barnes, Craig Bjornson, Eric Chavez, Joey Cora, Jeremy Hefner, Wayne Kirby, Ricky Meinhold, Brian Schneider and Glenn Sherlock

Ballpark: Citi Field

History, Comments, Contributions

After a turbulent and disappointing season in 2021, the 2022 New York Mets got out of the gate like gangbusters. After 20 games, they had the best record in the majors at 14-6, and in game 21 pulled off a feat only seen once before in the team's six-decade history as five pitchers combined to no-hit the Philadelphia Phillies, 3-0. Tylor Megill started things off with 5 innings to pick up his 4th win of the season, bu had to leave after having throw 88 pitches, having reached his pitch count limit. He had walked three batters during his stint, and there would be three more walks issued, for a total of 159 pitches, before the feat was completed. Succeeding Megill on the mound were Drew Smith, with 1 1/3 innings, Joely Rodríguez with 1, Seth Lugo with two-thirds, and closer Edwin Diaz who struck out the side in the 9th. Only Johan Santana in 2012 had ever pitched a no-hitter for the Mets, although his was of the complete game variety.

The Mets had been very busy during the off-season, first dismissing manager Luis Rojas and most of his coaching staff. They hired veteran manager Buck Showalter, who had been retired for a few years, to replace him, and were very active on the transaction front, both before and after the 2021-2022 lockout. They first signed P Max Scherzer for three years and $130 million, and followed that with signing OFs Mark Canha and Starling Marte. When spring training started, they traded for P Chris Bassitt, acquired from the Oakland Athletics, and 2B Robinson Canó returned after serving a year's suspension for PED usage. The addition of two starting pitchers was particularly welcome as ace Jacob deGrom, who had missed the second half of 2021 with an injury, was once again injured in spring training, putting him on the shelf for another extended period. When it came time to trim rosters from 28 to 26 players on May 2nd, the Mets bit the bullet and decided to have Canó designated for assignment in spite of the fact he was still due almost $45 million on the contract he had originally signed with the Seattle Mariners.

The Mets set a modern major league record on September 21st when three batters were hit by pitch in a 6-0 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers. That gave them 106 for the season, one more than the 2021 Cincinnati Reds. Canha, who was plunked twice in the game, led the majors at that point with 24 HBP, and five more players were in double figures. The mark was for the post-1900 period: the all-time record of 160 by the 1898 Baltimore Orioles was still safe.

The Mets led the NL East for most of the season, with a lead that reached 10 1/2 games on June 1st, but were first caught by the Atlanta Braves on September 6th. They managed to stay ahead of the Braves for most of the rest of the month, although always by a sliver. It came crashing down when they had to travel to Truist Park for a three-game series starting September 30th. By then both teams had clinched a postseason slot, but at stake was first place in the division and a bye for the Wild Card Series. The Braves won all three games, even though the Mets sent their three best starting pitchers to the mound in Scherzer, deGrom and Bassitt. As a result, the Mets left Atlanta two games back with both teams having three games left to play - and needing a miracle to win a division title that seems theirs for almost all season. The miracle never came as in spite of a doubleheader sweep of the Washington Nationals on October 4th, they lost the division to the Braves who were 2-1 winners over the Miami Marlins: the three-game sweep had meant that the Braves had won the season series between the two teams, 10 to 9, meaning that the Mets would have needed to finish one game in front of Atlanta, which was no longer possible. So in spite of a 100-win season, they had to content themselves with hosting one of the two Wild Card Series. As a footnote, in the second of the wins against Washington, an 8-0 beatdown, the Mets' first three hitters in the bottom of the 1st - Brandon Nimmo, Francisco Lindor and Jeff McNeil - all homered off Paolo Espino, the first time the Mets had ever done this. They scored 7 runs in that inning to run away with the game. They won their final game and the Braves lost theirs, so the two teams ended up with the same record - 101-61 - but the Braves were credited with the division title and the precious first-round postseason bye.

Awards and Honors

• All-Stars: Pete Alonso, Edwin Diaz, Starling Marte and Jeff McNeil
• NL Silver Slugger Award: Jeff McNeil (2B)
• Trevor Hoffman Award: Edwin Díaz
• NL Manager of the Year: Buck Showalter

Further Reading

• Associated Press: "New York Mets set MLB record with 106 hit batters in 2022", ESPN.com, September 21, 2022. [1]
• Zach Crizer: "101 and done: How will the 2022 Mets' soaring summer and crushing wild-card exit be remembered?", Yahoo! Sports, October 10, 2022. [2]
• Anthony DiComo: "Marte, Canha, Escobar deals made official", mlb.com, December 1, 2021. [3]
• Anthony DiComo: "Mets in rare air with 'unicorn' of a no-hitter", mlb.com, April 30, 2022. [4]
• Anthony DiComo: "Mets punch ticket to October with grander goals ahead", mlb.com, September 20, 2022. [5]
• Anthony DiComo: "Mets win 100th game -- but must settle for 2nd place", mlb.com, October 5, 2022. [6]
• Anthony DiComo: "Mets frustrated by finish to 101-win campaign: Scherzer: 'Our goal was to win the World Series ... we had a ballclub that could do it'", mlb.com, October 10, 2022. [7]
• Mike Fitzpatrick (Associated Press): "Aces up: Mets make money pitch with Scherzer-deGrom duo", Yahoo! News, March 30, 2022. [8]
• Benjamin Hoffman: "Wild Cards: The Mets Are Officially Eliminated in the N.L. East", New York Times, October 4, 2022
• Gabe Lacques: "How the 2022 New York Mets built a historic NL East lead by June 1", USA Today, June 1, 2022. [9]
• Tom Maloney (Bloomberg): "Steve Cohen Hired the Best Mets Money Could Buy. They Were Still the Mets.", Yahoo! Finance, October 10, 2022. [10]
• Mike Petriello: "5 reasons the Mets offense is succeeding without slugging: Team is tied for most runs scored despite 29th-best hard hit rate", mlb.com, May 6, 2022. [11]
• Manny Randhawa and Sarah Langs: "9 remarkable stats from Mets' no-no", mlb.com, April 30, 2022. [12]
• Andrew Tredinnick (NorthJersey.com): "'We're going to need some help now': Mets' lost weekend in Atlanta can't mean a lost season", Yahoo! News, October 3, 2022. [13]

2022 MLB season by team