The New York Mets should call Expedia or Hotels.com and start talking about a promotions deal. There must be something about hotels, plane rides and late morning arrivals that the Mets seem to have fallen in love with.
The season so far for the Mets has been somewhat expected as they are currently in fourth place with a 40-48 record. But, something has happened to them when they play outside of Citi Field that has been both awesome and stunning all at the same time.
While at home they are a horrid 17-27, good for worst in the National League, the Mets on the road are 23-21. That road record is good for 3rd best in the National League and the only winning road record in the NL East.
I don’t think any of you would have bet, no matter the odds, that the Mets road record this season would be as good it has been up to this point.
When you factor in the embarrassing fact that they are 1-5 in Miami this year, the road record for the Mets could be even better than it is.
When playing outside of Miami on the road this season, they are 22-16.
Wow.
The slash lines between the home and road splits, which is a perfect 44 games a piece, help to explain one of the reasons why this team does so much better away from Citi Field.
Home: .220/.296/.358/.654
Road: .249/.311/.398/.709
It is across the board better. The only things they do better at Citi Field offensively are triples, which is 9-8, and caught stealing, where they have been caught five times at home and 16 times on the road.
One of the things they do more of on the road is that they hit into more double plays, a 35-18 count. This is obviously a negative, but since they get on base more on the road, double plays have a better possibility of happening.
The pitching splits between home and road seem to be on par with the narrative that Citi Field, no matter the new configuration, is still very much a pitchers ball park.
Home: 421.0 IP, 3.66 ERA, 1.27 WHIP, 192 R, 171 ER, 404 Hits, 360 K’s, 131 BB, 2.76 K/BB, 43 HR with a slash line against of .252/.312/.387/.699
Road: 392.2 IP, 4.19 ERA, 1.38 WHIP, 202 R, 183 ER, 407 Hits, 302 K’s, 135 BB, 2.38 K/BB, 35 HR with a slash line against of .270/.331/.406/.737
These numbers shouldn’t shock anyone really. The Mets are a half a run worse on the road than at home and that has something to do with the spaciousness of Citi Field. The slash line also shows what is normally true in baseball, teams hit better at home than on the road.
Well unless you are the Mets of course.
I have always felt, and Ron Darling on the post game the other night also mentioned this, that the Mets put pressure on themselves at home constantly. This is especially true under Terry Collins.
The past three seasons, the Mets are a combined 87-119 (.422 winning percentage) at home which works out to an average home record of 34-47 based on the winning percentage.
In comparison, the past three seasons, the Mets are 104-102 (.505 winning percentage) on the road which works out to an average road record of 41-40 based on the winning percentage.
To be on average, a .500 team on the road normally means winning 50 home games will get you a wild card spot in the National League.
For example, in 2012 the Cardinals earned a spot with 88 wins. A 47-34 home record for the Mets if they kept up being a .500 road team last year gets them into the playoffs.
Only six teams in the NL last year won 47 or more games at home and five of them made the playoffs. The Brewers won 49 games at home, but only 34 on the road and missed the playoffs. If they had finished 40-41, they go to the playoffs and the Cardinals do not.
The surprising success of the Mets on the road gives you hope in the future that if they keep it up and improve at home they can make a run at the playoffs.
The Mets have been road warriors this season and now the hope is that it starts to carry over to games at Citi Field sooner rather than later.
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