Ronald Acuña’s presence at the top of the Atlanta Braves lineup has haunted me and my ridiculously vested Mets fandom ever since he entered the league back in 2018. Since then, all he and the Braves have done is win the division year after year, with the Venezuelan star providing “hair-pulling”, frustratingly great, moments against my favorite baseball team. Unfortunately for the Braves and the increasingly dull and boring MLB, its brightest, and possibly most charismatic, star has been on the shelf for most of 2024. His younger brother has not.
The younger Acuña, 22-year-old infielder Luisangel, is on the Mets now. Not only that, but he is good. Like good-good. Maybe one day Ronald level good. Maybe. I know what you are thinking. Brian – he’s been in the major leagues for less than a week. You, like you always do, are overreacting to a slight spark of hope that is bound to turn into a flaming inferno that blows up in your face. Maybe. But just look at this swing…
In complete honesty I know I’m being a tad hyperbolic about this rookie who was in A-ball around this time last year. I do wholeheartedly believe he can, and will, become an important part of the Mets moving forward but at least for the sake of this season’s run, he is destined for greatness., and here is why. The 2022 New York Mets were one of the most dominant versions of the Orange and Blue I have ever seen. Jacob Degrom, Max Scherzer, and Chris Bassitt led a rotation that paired “amazin'”-ly (oof) with a lineup that scored runs at will. Then, in classic Mets fashion, it all went “ka-boom”.
So what does that have to do with the year 2024? Well, part of the reason that season ended in such turmoil was Max Scherzer’s 38-year-old arm turning into some ancient, terribly made version of play-dough that could have been created by a 38-month-old. That “play-dough arm” version of “Mad Max” krept into an abysmal 2023 season, ultimately leading New York to trade Scherzer to the Texas Rangers for…drumroll please… Luisangel Acuña.
Scherzer’s 2022 collapse, and the 2023 trade that followed, generate a redemption arc of sorts by themselves, but it’s a further look into how the end of 2022 unfolded that give me an even bigger indication Luisangel is due for a massive September, October, and dare I say, November. Max Scherzer’s last two starts of the 2022 season came in a loss in Atlanta and a loss to the Padres in the postseason. The New York Mets, as it currently stands, are slated to travel to Atlanta for what could be a “win and get in” series against the Braves later next week. The winner of that series is likely going to be the No. 5 seed in the postseason. Who will that 5-seed face? The San Diego Padres.
This is a script that could only be written for the 2024 gay, Grimace, OMG, hawk-tua, power of friendship Mets. In a season that has been led by should-be 2024 Most Valuable Player Francisco Lindor, why not bring up the brother of a Met-killer, who was traded for a former Met-Killer that joined the Mets just to kill them one last time, to take his place. This is just another great story in a season that has possessed a billion of them already. Now New York just has to finish the job.
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