Surging Mets & Tigers, title-hungry Harper and more fascinations

There’s always something fascinating going on in the world of baseball—and there’s always something new. Every Friday morning throughout the season, heading into the weekend, inspired by Zack Lowe’s terrific “10 Things I Like” NBA column for ESPN, we present the Five Fascinations, five fun things going on in the baseball world. Also, we’d like to shout out the always excellent Ben Clemens at FanGraphs, another progenitor of a similar format. Submit your personal fascinations to will.leitch@mlb.com, or just yell at me about mine.

1. So, what happens when the Mets make the playoffs?

Mets fever! Mets fever! I’ve got it. How can you not? Remember, this is a team that was left for dead earlier this year. I was at the game back in May when the Giants’ Matt Chapman made a truly incredible play to end a wild game, and the Mets and their fans looked like they were ready for this season to be over with already. Since then, though, this team has ridden Grimace fever (and also an MVP-level season from Francisco Lindor) to what is starting to look like a legitimate playoff berth. I know talking about this as if it is settled feels like jinxing the Mets, but honestly, the Mets have historically done a fine job of that themselves. I can’t take the hit on this one.

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So, now that we’ve established that the Mets are 100% making the playoffs, let’s ask a fun question: What in the world does this rotation look like once they get there? A year removed from fronting their rotation with two legendary Hall of Fame-caliber pitchers in Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer, the Mets now have … five guys! That’s selling it a little bit short: Sean Manaea has been a happy surprise, as have Luis Severino and David Peterson. But peak Verlander and Scherzer they’re not. That the Mets might make the playoffs with those guys, plus Tylor Megill and Jose Quintana, after failing to do so last year with JV and Mad Max, is some thick irony, but that’s baseball.

It’s still difficult to find a team the Mets might (will!) face in the playoffs that won’t have a rotation advantage over them. (It does make you think we’ll be seeing a lot of José Buttó.) The Mets will be so excited to make the playoffs, if (when!) they do, that the rotation might seem like a secondary concern. But it won’t feel that way when they actually start.

2. What do the Tigers do next?

The other coming-out-of-nowhere-to-fight-for-a-playoff-spot team that hasn’t won a World Series in 40 years or so, the Tigers are playing like hungry predators. But whether they make it to October or not, this late-season surge augurs very well for them moving forward. They’re young, they’ve got tons of team-controlled talent and, oh yeah, they have the AL Cy Young Award winner-in-waiting.

If they don’t make it this year (or even if they do), are the Tigers the AL Central favorites for 2025? The young Royals will have something to say about that, as obviously will the other two AL Central teams who are in the playoff chase this year, the Guardians and the Twins. But none of them have young core the Tigers can boast. Check out all these guys: Riley Greene, Colt Keith, Parker Meadows, Kerry Carpenter, Wenceel Pérez, Dillon Dingler, Justyn-Henry Malloy, Spencer Torkelson, Jace Jung and Trey Sweeney. You can do big things with that many guys on the cusp.

But do they need to do more? MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand looked at the Tigers’ upcoming offseason this week, making a solid case that they should bring in another bat. He (and some anonymous executives) suggested Pete Alonso, but I don’t know if I’d be ready to give up on Torkelson just yet as the franchise first baseman. You know who makes a ton of sense for the Tigers? Willy Adames. He’s exactly the sort of veteran they need to push these young guys over the top, a guy who has been there before, fills a need they have. It’s the perfect fit. The Tigers may have something special. Now’s the time to floor it.

3. Who needs their first title the most?

This week, I looked at the 10 best players who still haven’t won a World Series ring but have a chance to do so this year. As I was writing it, I was wondering: Who needs one the most? Whose career would feel incomplete without a ring but is old enough now that they might not get a better chance than right now?

I think the answer here is Bryce Harper. Not only did the Nationals win one right after he departed for Philly, but he has been on teams the last two years that came awfully close. He also is probably on the best team of his career right now … one that’s getting older and may not have an opportunity this juicy again for a long time. Harper is the type of player (an inner-tier superstar, a two-time MVP and obvious future Hall of Famer), who is as starving for a World Series as anyone in the sport. Just look how the guy plays. There are many players with a lot on the line as they go for their first ring. But the biggest story, with his best chance, is Harper.

4. Will we get a new first-time champion?

One of the most thrilling aspects of the World Series last year was that not just that the Texas Rangers won, but that they had never won before … despite coming oh-so-close. Every fanbase deserves, at some point, at least one World Series. There are people who had been cheering for the Rangers for their entire lives whose fandom paid off big time last October. There is nothing quite like that first title.

There are only five teams left in baseball who have never won a World Series: the Rays, Rockies, Mariners, Brewers and Padres. This isn’t going to be the year for those first two. The Mariners have a huge uphill climb just to reach the playoffs, though it’s still possible. But we will definitely see the Brewers (who just clinched the NL Central) and Padres this October, and they’re legitimate title contenders. You certainly can make an argument they’ve got as a good chance as anybody thought the Rangers had heading into last October.

If you’re looking for a pick, though, I’d have to go with the Brewers. They have gone a long way this year simply by being good at everything -- not spectacular, not loaded with superstars, but just above average at nearly all of the things you do on a baseball field. The Brewers have made only one World Series, back in 1982, so long ago that the team that beat them (the Cardinals) is now in their division. Can you imagine how happy legendary announcer Bob Uecker (now 90 years old) is going to be if the Brewers win the World Series? Is there anyone in baseball who could possibly deserve it more?

5. The last remnants of title teams

On Tuesday night, Lance Lynn pitched his 100th game at Busch Stadium, and he did well enough to earn his 143rd career victory. Lynn hasn’t announced any career plans or anything, but it at least seems possible that the two-time All-Star, now 37 years old, might hang them up in the offseason. (The day after his start, the Cardinals ended his season by putting him on the IL.) The same goes for his teammate Matt Carpenter, who has done a very-Cardinals farewell tour with the team this year. If they do both retire, they will be the final two members of the 2011 Cardinals, who won one of the greatest World Series of all time, to play in the Majors. They’re the last ones left.

As the years go by, I like to see how many players there are from old championship teams, how many guys can keep the memories of those title winners alive. Rosters turn over a lot faster than you think, and careers can wind down quickly. When the Cardinals cut Brandon Crawford earlier this year, that eliminated the only guy left from the 2012 Giants. There are only two guys left from the 2013 Red Sox: Xander Bogaerts and Daniel Bard. The 2015 Royals have only one: Current Royal Salvador Perez. The 2016 Cubs actually have quite a few guys left: Anthony Rizzo, Kris Bryant, Jorge Soler, Jason Heyward, Javier Báez, Willson Contreras, Kyle Schwarber, Kyle Hendricks and Aroldis Chapman. The 2017 Astros have 10. The 2018 Red Sox had 10 until the Orioles designated Craig Kimbrel for assignment on Wednesday.

How far back can you go and still have an active player? Alas, only to 2009. Rangers reliever David Robertson was on that Yankees team. Had the 2006 Tigers beaten the Cardinals that year, we’d have one there, too: That was Verlander’s rookie year.

Fun Series of the Weekend: Phillies at Mets

If the Phillies finish strong, they’re going to end up with the top overall seed and potentially have home-field advantage through the World Series. If the Mets finish strong, well, they’re going to make the playoffs in a year when no one, perhaps including themselves, reasonably expected them to. But that closing kick includes three games at Atlanta next week, which means New York would do well to pad their NL Wild Card cushion now. With any luck, we’ll get this matchup again in October. The Mets and Phillies have never faced each other in the postseason. It seems like such a series might be sort of intense.