It’s odd to see the Mets featured in a national Sunday night telecast on ESPN. But, the series finale against the Phillies in the Little League Classic in Williamsport, Pa., gives us a chance to add context to discussions we have had earlier about both teams.
A while back, we alerted you to the astonishing road success of the Mets’ offense. It took a total of 40 runs in 18 innings at Baltimore and Philadelphia in consecutive games to get anyone else to talk about it.
As bad as 2018 has been for the franchise in general, the Mets have established they can score runs on the road. Barring surprises, the Mets will carry a better per-game road scoring average into September than the Yankees, even though the Yankees use a designated hitter in most of their road games.
Philadelphia has been the opposite story. As we discussed this past Tuesday, the Phillies have a poor road offense (near the bottom of the NL in runs-per-game and slugging percentage). Despite the fact the Phillies have been a surprise contender to win the NL East all season — and the Mets have been a distant also-ran for several weeks — the Mets have a better road record than do the Phillies.
Here’s what has separated the two teams:
- The Phillies play home games in a great home-run park … and seem particularly adept at taking more advantage of that than opponents.
- The Mets play home games in a great pitchers’ park, and their offense seems particularly ill-suited to get anything going in poor hitting conditions.
Through the season, Citizens Bank Park has increased home runs in the neighborhood of 30 percent. Citi Field has reduced home runs by around 20 percent.
We’re not saying the Mets would be instant contenders if the teams somehow flipped ballparks, but it is interesting that the Phillies haven’t impressed in the head-to-head series versus the Mets this season, while sporting the inferior record in “all other” ballparks. In games this season at all parks other than Citi Field and Citizens Bank, the Mets are 26-29 and the Phillies are 25-30.
Food for thought as handicappers consider value betting options Sunday night and through the final six weeks of the regular season.
