ST. LOUIS — The fans wanted splashy names, such as Kris Bryant and Kyle Schwarber. The Mets front office chose Eduardo Escobar, Starling Marte and Mark Canha.

In some ways those free-agent additions have come to embody the Mets, who lead MLB in victories after Tuesday’s 3-0 shutout of the Cardinals. That’s to say these Mets appear smart, athletic, determined and disciplined — attributes that might not have been as pronounced within the clubhouse in recent seasons.

In some ways, it’s a throwback team. We saw some of that Monday night, when the Mets were down to their final strike in the ninth inning and rallied to score five runs and beat the Cardinals. Normally April wins are forgotten. But that one Monday has a chance to live on. If the Mets advance deep into October, it will become woven into the narrative of when we knew this team was special.

“I still think it’s going to take time to see what our identity ultimately is, but right now the best I can tell you is I just see a lot of grit in these guys and very fierce competitors that don’t give up,” Brandon Nimmo said Tuesday.

It’s a team that hasn’t gotten a pitch from Jacob deGrom this season, as the ace right-hander has just received clearance to begin strengthening his right shoulder after a month of a rest. But Max Scherzer has been every bit the horse the Mets thought they were getting for $130 million, and the other starting pitchers have fallen into line behind him.

Such quality from the rotation on a daily basis has kept the Mets in every game. And the wins have hardly followed a script.

“I feel like we have won games in a different fashion every single night,” Pete Alonso said. “It’s not just one thing. It’s something that people have to watch, experience and then appreciate differently every day. … There’s a certain thing when you have a special team, you don’t know what it is, but there is something there. You can call it ‘the X factor, gumption, moxie, swagger,’ there are a ton of different things. It’s just something interesting and that’s the beautiful thing: you can’t really put a finger on it because it’s a lot of different things.”

It’s one thing to hire a manager in Buck Showalter who cares about the details, but without talented players willing to buy in, would it make a difference?

There was Showalter last weekend in the visitor’s clubhouse at Arizona, spending several minutes explaining a rule to Alonso and Francisco Lindor. Both players were engaged, asking questions and presenting the manager with various scenarios.

Jeff McNeil’s tantrums of past years have vanished. That might largely be a product of his solid start at the plate, but don’t underestimate the presence of Showalter and a veteran clubhouse that has let McNeil know the law.

Players aren’t pressing, according to Nimmo, which is a different feeling than he has experienced in recent seasons. Nimmo also stopped to credit general manager Billy Eppler and team president Sandy Alderson for the quality players they recruited to the Mets.

“Escobar is one of the greatest guys I have ever been around and he brings such a positive attitude every day and he’s such a veteran and a professional the way he goes about his business,” Nimmo said. “These are intangible things that aren’t always measured on the field. The guys they have brought in have been nothing but amazing. That’s big in a clubhouse, to be able to get that cohesiveness.”

The caveat is it’s only April, and this is hardly a perfect team. The bullpen is still evolving, and as well as Tylor Megill, Carlos Carrasco and David Peterson have pitched, let’s see more of it before determining if they can be dependable pieces as the season progresses.

But just the fact the Mets are off to a fast start and showing an intelligent will to win is something to celebrate. These throwback Mets might be a team fans of all ages can embrace.