Fast-starting Mets still have room to improve, plus Popovich steps aside

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Good morning! Keep your nose out in front today.

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Amazement: The Mets shouldn’t be this good yet 

As baseball moments on April 18 go, this one was inspiring: Juan Soto stepped to the dish with one out in the fifth inning against the Cardinals, his Mets trailing 2-1 at Citi Field. Mets fans, seeking to give their downtrodden $765 million slugger an emotional lift, gave him a rousing standing ovation. Then Soto delivered, tying the score with a single. New York won, 5-4.

What a relief it must have been for Soto. Surely, he had been hitting terribly up to that point for all of Flushing to have felt the need to lift him up. Well, no. He had played three weeks of merely above-average ball, with a 118 wRC+ in his first 83 Mets plate appearances. For Soto, this was what qualified as a pretty lousy stretch of ball.

Soto still hasn’t revved it all the way up. The Mets are still missing 40 percent of their planned starting rotation. Prized closer Edwin Díaz has been up and down. It’s very possible that you, a reader of this newsletter, will be tagged in to play center field at some point.

And yet! The Mets are 22-11, a half-game behind the Dodgers for MLB’s best record. Up 3.5 games in the NL East, New York currently has the most breathing room of any division leader. How are the Mets this good? A few things:

• Pete Alonso spent the winter at a rather ugly contract impasse with owner Steve Cohen, who’s usually the spendiest man in baseball. But Cohen got Alonso back on a two-year deal, and now the Polar Bear is tearing the cover off the ball. “Best I’ve ever seen him,” one evaluator said.
• Francisco Lindor remains Francisco Lindor.
• Second baseman Luisangel Acuña — the 23-year-old brother of Ronald and once a trade return for Max Scherzer — has come on nicely. Next to Lindor, 31 but still good, the Mets have an ideal middle infield.

Most importantly, the ramshackle rotation has been lights out, leading the majors in ERA, FIP, and FanGraphs’ WAR. The big breakout has been 29-year-old Tylor Megill, who has always had a high-extension delivery and a heavy fastball. This season, though, opposing hitters have lost the ability to square Megill up. Barrel rates against him are falling to Great Depression levels. He’s got a 1.74 ERA in six starts as he prepares to pitch in St. Louis this afternoon.

Is the Regression Monster lurking? Maybe. If so, it’s nice to pitch for a team that is overdue for some bounces in a more positive direction but is already stacking wins anyway. Last year’s Mets made it to the NLCS but had to scratch and claw there after a 40-41 start. This year’s Amazins seem intent on having a more relaxing stroll into October.

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News to Know

Popovich steps down

Gregg Popovich is standing aside as head coach of the Spurs after a legendary 29-year career. The winningest coach in NBA history will become the team’s president of basketball operations, while interim coach Mitch Johnson will take over head-coaching duties. Popovich had not coached since suffering a mild stroke on Nov. 2. More here on Pop’s indelible leadership and legacy.

More Game 7s

Steve Kerr let his starters get some rest in a blowout Game 5 loss on Wednesday. Even when Golden State clawed back, Kerr had already made up his mind: His focus was on Game 6. Well, the Warriors had no answer for the Rockets in Game 6, either. Once down 3-1 in this series, the Rockets look like they might have finally figured out the Warriors.

There will be a Game 7 in Houston tomorrow. Rockets fans are just hoping their team doesn’t miss 27 straight 3s this time around.

On the ice, the Blues left no doubt in a 5-2 win over the Jets to force Game 7 in Winnipeg. Connor Hellebuyck was pulled after allowing four goals in the second period alone, the third consecutive time he’s been pulled in St. Louis this series. The Presidents’ Trophy winners are officially on the ropes.

We’re now up to four Game 7s this weekend. More on today’s pair shortly.

More news:

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What to Watch

📺 The 151st Kentucky Derby 

6:57 p.m. ET on NBC

That’s the post time. Coverage runs more or less all day on NBC and Peacock. Journalism, for the first time in many years, has the public’s trust — the horse by that name is the betting favorite. Infamous trainer Bob Baffert is back on the scene after a three-year suspension, telling Dana O’Neil he “just wants to move forward.” You and the horses both, Bob. Download our party props sheet to have some fun with with friends and family throughout the Derby festivities.

📺 NBA: Clippers at Nuggets, Game 7 

7:30 p.m. ET on TNT

Bizarre stat for you from Game 6: James Harden (10-of-20), Kawhi Leonard (11-of-22), Nikola Jokić (also 11-of-22) and Russell Westbrook (5-of-10) shot exactly 50 percent from the field as the Clippers avoided elimination. The Pulse predicts that four future Hall of Famers will never again produce such a symmetrical box score in the same game.

📺 NHL: Avalanche at Stars, Game 7 

8 p.m. ET on ABC

Nathan MacKinnon has scored six times in this series (sometimes with a healthy bit of puck luck to beat Jake Oettinger) and is giving off an unmistakable won’t-let-Colorado-bow-out-yet vibe, but this will be a brutal road test. In a stat that I’m not sure means anything but that will be repeated all night, Stars coach Peter DeBoer is 8-0 in Game 7s.

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Pulse Picks

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(Top photo: David Berding / Getty Images)

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