It took 9 years, however we lastly know what the New York Mets would have seemed like in 2016 in the event that they’d re-signed Daniel Murphy as an alternative of letting their 2015 postseason star stroll to the division rival Washington Nationals — the place he promptly delivered the season of his life and single-handedly shifted the steadiness of energy within the NL East.
Pete Alonso is doing a reasonably good Murphy impression proper now — besides he’s doing it in a Mets uniform.
Alonso continued his career-best marketing campaign Sunday afternoon by homering twice and driving in 4 runs because the red-hot Mets routed the Colorado Rockies 13-5 to finish a three-game sweep.
The Mets are 6-2 this month, a stretch that’s opened up a 4 1/2-game lead over the Philadelphia Phillies within the NL East whereas boosting their division title odds to 94.6 p.c, in keeping with Baseball-Reference.
The surge has been sparked by Alonso, who’s hitting a video game-like .382 with six homers and 18 RBIs since June 1. His two homers Sunday vaulted him previous David Wright into second place on the franchise’s all-time dwelling run listing — now simply 9 behind Darryl Strawberry.
Total, Alonso is batting .301 — 52 factors greater than his profession common getting into the season — with 20 doubles, simply 11 shy of the profession excessive he set final 12 months. He’s on tempo for a team-record 49 doubles in addition to 150 RBIs, which might shatter his franchise single-season report of 131 set in 2022.
Alonso’s age-30 profession season, approaching the heels of an iconic postseason efficiency, is unfolding very similar to Murphy’s 2016 breakout at age 31.
Alonso blasted one of the memorable homers in group historical past to stave off elimination in Recreation 3 of the wild-card collection towards the Milwaukee Brewers and completed the playoffs with 4 homers, 10 RBIs and a .999 OPS.
For a lot of the winter, it seemed like these can be his ultimate acts in a Mets uniform. Alonso remained unsigned till the eve of spring coaching, when he agreed to a two-year, $54 million take care of an opt-out after this season (spoiler alert: he’s going to make use of it).
However a minimum of the Mets made certain to deliver him again. Murphy solely acquired a qualifying supply after his sensible 2015 postseason, when he confirmed early indicators of changing into an entire hitter by going deep in six straight playoff video games and ending with seven homers, 11 RBIs and a 1.115 OPS.
Murphy hit .288 throughout his regular-season Mets profession and topped 30 doubles 5 occasions in six full seasons, however by no means hit greater than 14 homers in a 12 months. After signing with the Nationals in January, Murphy exploded for an NL-leading .347 common, 47 doubles, a .985 OPS, 25 homers and 104 RBIs.
Washington, which missed the playoffs in 2015, received the division by eight video games over the wild-card Mets as Murphy completed second in NL MVP voting behind the Cubs’ Kris Bryant. In 2019, former basic supervisor Sandy Alderson admitted the group ought to have re-signed Murphy.
With no clear-cut NL MVP front-runner and the Mets holding the largest division lead within the Nationwide League, Alonso has a official shot at changing into the primary MVP in franchise historical past. Simply what he wants — somewhat further leverage heading into one other potential contract standoff with president of baseball operations David Stearns after a season that’s proven the Mets precisely what life with out him would possibly seem like.