The Mets came home to Citi Field on Monday to start a series against the Cardinals, carrying a little momentum and a record that still left plenty to prove. New York was 29-36 when it returned home, while St. Louis arrived at 35-28.
For readers searching cardinals vs mets now, the reason is simple: this is the next test after New York finished a 3-3 road trip and took two of three from the Padres. The Mets won 5-0 on Friday, lost 3-2 on Saturday and then closed the trip with a 7-3 win on Sunday, leaving them with three wins in their last four games and seven in their last ten dating to the final game of their series with the Reds.
That recent run has given the Mets a better feel than they had earlier in the year, and it has been built on a stronger stretch at home and away. They had gone 4-2 on their most recent homestand after a 9-3 run over their previous two homestands in May, including a 5-1 showing against the Tigers and Yankees and a 4-2 mark against the Reds and Marlins. It was a sharp contrast to the 1-5 homestand they endured earlier in April and the 3-6 stretch that closed that month.
Sunday also brought a milestone for Carson Benge, who became the fourth Mets rookie to record a five-hit game that included a home run. He joined Pete Alonso, Alex Ochoa and John Milner in that club, a reminder that the Mets have gotten more than one kind of lift during this recent uptick.
Still, the numbers at Citi Field keep the story from being too neat. The Mets entered the series with a 15-15 home record, so even after the better play of the last two weeks, they were only average in the place where they now needed to turn that momentum into wins. St. Louis, meanwhile, already had some evidence it could handle New York, because the teams had met earlier in the season and the Cardinals had taken two of three, winning 3-0 and 2-1 after the Mets opened that set with a 4-2 victory.
That is what makes this series matter now. The Mets are trying to show that the stronger recent results were not just a burst tied to one road trip, while the Cardinals arrived with a better overall record and the edge from the first meeting. The next answer comes quickly at Citi Field: whether New York can turn a modest surge into something more lasting against a team it has already split with on the road to this point.
