Three reasons why the Mets might just be getting started: 'We raised the bar'

The magic ran out, but the movement has just begun.

It's different for the New York Mets to say the season didn't end in a total collapse with players and staff alike proud of what they delivered across 175 games — and for the fan base to be right there with them, believing it. 

After all, the 2024 Mets advanced to the playoffs for the first time in eight years and vanquished the Braves, the Brewers, and the Phillies on the way. They took the superteam Dodgers to Game 6 of the National League Championship Series, despite projection systems giving them a 5% chance to win the NLDS, let alone come within two wins of the World Series.

Once their unexpected and iconic season finally ended in Los Angeles on Sunday night, there remained a handful of legitimate reasons for the Mets to look ahead with optimism and hope. Let's take a moment to examine how this season's heroics have set the Mets up to be consistent contenders, with a new standard for success to achieve annually. 

1. Mark Vientos is a ‘bona fide big-leaguer'

That's how first baseman Pete Alonso described the 24-year-old Vientos, who was left off the Opening Day roster and fought his way to the starting third base job by the middle of May. Once Vientos was in the majors for good this year, he never let his OPS drop under .837 across 111 regular-season games. He was solid on defense at a tough position in which he had only 21 games of MLB experience before this year. Then he raised his own level this October, crushing five home runs, collecting 24 RBIs, batting .327 and posting a .998 OPS across 13 playoff games. 

"When I'm talking about some of our younger players and the way they develop, he's right there at the top," manager Carlos Mendoz told reporters of