By Alfredo Echenique Lugo
01 Oct 2024, 15:37 PM EDT
Despite the ups and downs in the regular season, the New York Mets managed to get their ticket to the Major League playoffs. With a record of 89-73, they won one of the three Wild Card spots and will face the Milwaukee Brewers in a three-game series to qualify for the Division Series.
One of the great architects of this achievement is undoubtedly his manager Carlos Mendoza. The Venezuelan arrived this season making his debut as a helmsman in the Major Leagues and to a franchise in total restructuring after the terrible 2023 campaign they had.
The Venezuelan achieved the unthinkable and put the Mets in the postseason. He also made history, becoming the first rookie manager in the history of the Queens franchise to qualify for the playoffs.
“We can write a book with everything that happened this season. “No one imagined we would be here,” Mendoza told SNY in the midst of the team’s celebration of its place in the playoffs.
This incredible year as a debut manager for Mendoza is beginning to be noticed in the Major Leagues. Even some experts are already postulating him as a serious candidate for Manager of the Year in the National League.
And what the Venezuelan helmsman has done is admirable. Well, the Mets were not in the cards to compete in 2024, however Mendoza and his team managed to get among the 12 postseason franchises.
It is also to applaud the great dedication of the team that started the season by losing its first five games. And they had a negative record of 11 games, however after the All-Star Game the New York team began a winning streak to finish second in the National League East Division and thus qualify for the playoffs.
Mendoza’s rivals for the Manager of the Year award will be the experienced Pat Murphy of the Brewers. Rob Thomson of the Phillies, who had one of the best records in the league and of course Dave Roberts of the Dodgers.
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