As the Mets try to win their first division title since 2006, their pitchers appear to be struggling physically down the stretch. A starting rotation that once seemed overpowering is looking a little gassed.
In an era when pitchers rarely finish the games they start and do not operate by the endurance standards of earlier eras — however unwise some of those standards might have been — none of this is exactly startling.
Still, the pitching difficulties the Mets are encountering stand in stark contrast to what happened 46 years ago. The 1969 Mets captured the first division title in franchise history on the strength of 11 complete-game victories — count ’em, 11 — by Tom Seaver and Jerry Koosman in the final month of the regular season.