A promising season opener is worth virtually nothing. One out of 162 is the equivalent of about 17.8 seconds of an NBA game. The Mets will not score 11 runs per game and knock out every opposing starter in the first inning.
The manner in which the Mets won Thursday, though, is what the team can find encouraging. Lengthy at-bats, many against maybe the best pitcher in the world, and a deep lineup filled with a combination of stars and grinders is how David Stearns envisioned this overhauled group.
Among the not-sustainable happenings from what became a party at Citi Field: Bo Bichette’s first four Mets at-bats came with seven runners on base.
Among the heartening signs for the Mets: Bichette is supposed to be stepping up to the plate with runners on base. This is what he and the Mets signed up for.
One of the most accomplished players in baseball at hitting with runners in scoring position is batting behind Francisco Lindor and Juan Soto. When Bichette landed with the Mets as a free agent, did he wonder what his RBI totals would look like?
“Well, I know I’m going to have a ton of opportunities,” Bichette said with a smile. “So I just got to be ready for those opportunities.”
In his Mets debut, Bichette authored what might be the most hopeful 0-for-4-with-three-K’s-and-a-sac-fly days in baseball history and immediately reminded everyone why the longtime Blue Jay became the immediate fallback when Kyle Tucker chose the Dodgers.
The memorable first inning might have looked much different if Paul Skenes could have put Bichette away. After Lindor and Soto reached, the Pirates ace reached into the upper 90s to get ahead, 0-2. Bichette, protecting, fouled off a hard four-seamer.
“Two strikes, he gets behind in the count,” manager Carlos Mendoza said. “We talk about the importance of getting guys in once we get in scoring position.”
Which is what Bichette did, staying with a diving changeup and lofting a sacrifice fly to right for the first run of the Mets season.
Coming through in the clutch, either with hits or just putting bat to ball, is what Bichette is known for. Since he broke into the majors in 2019 through 2025, Bichette hit .330 with runners in scoring position. In the span, 360 hitters logged at least 300 plate appearances in such situations, and Bichette’s average ranked fourth.
“I think it’s just competing,” Bichette said about his approach in those situations. “… I would love to have that focus all the time.”
It is surely part mental but also part physical. Last season, Bichette’s average bat speed for a swing registered at 69.1 mph. With two strikes, that average tightened to 67.6 mph. He shortens up to maximize his chance at making contact.
Which he did in the fifth inning, when he stepped to the plate with the bases loaded, one out and the Mets ahead, 7-4. At some point, Bichette’s battle with righty Isaac Mattson graduated into a melee, a 13-pitch duel in which Bichette fouled off eight consecutive pitches with two strikes.
“I know he probably wants a strikeout there,” Bichette said. “Trying to compete, see the ball as long as I can, try and outlast him. But I didn’t.”
Mattson won, finally — Bichette swung through a slider — but the Mets may have won, too.
A reliever who had expended 26 pitches already in the inning and 13 consecutive to one batter then threw four straight balls to Jorge Polanco for a bases-loaded walk.
“I wrote that down,” Mendoza said. “Because even though [Bichette] struck out, then we see a four-pitch walk right away to Polanco, right behind him.
“He’s going to make them work,” said Mendoza. We got a lot of guys that are going to grind at-bats, and that was the perfect example.”
It is less a small sample size and more a speck of a sample size. But the first look at Bichette the Met hinted that his career high of 102 RBIs in a season could be in jeopardy this year.