While the Mets can and should be thrilled about the development and emergence of Nolan McLean and Jonah Tong, with Brandon Sproat perhaps to follow, there is at least a piece of this that should worry them in the short term.
We don’t know whether McLean and Tong would be in the postseason rotation, assuming the Mets land the plane and make it into October. In Tong’s case, all we know is that he will get a second start.
What we do know is that a) the Mets are almost shockingly dependent on their rookie starting pitching for a team with their level of financial resources; and b) there are exceedingly few examples of teams going into the postseason with two rookie starters, and fewer examples of teams having success doing so.
One, as you already know, is the 2015 Mets, who had Noah Syndergaard and Steven Matz as part of their rotation on their way to the National League pennant.
