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.
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That year, the Mets, who had never finished a season with a winning record, were 76-54 at the end of August but still found themselves four and a half games behind the Chicago Cubs in the National League East.
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Tom Seaver pitching against the Cubs in July 1969. His bid for a perfect game ended in the ninth, but the Mets won, 4-0.Credit…Associated Press
From that point on, though, the Mets went 24-8 to reach 100 victories and blow past the Cubs, who finished eight games back.
In that span, Seaver, then 24, and Koosman, 26, made 14 starts, winning 11 of them without help from the bullpen, and losing just once. Of those 11 complete-game victories, five were shutouts.
Seaver’s E.R.A. over that stretch was 0.83. Koosman’s was 2.40, including one start in October.
Of course, this was five years before Tommy John had his pitching elbow repaired in a procedure that is now ubiquitous and bears his name.
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Innings counts were considerably more elastic back then. Seaver, for instance, pitched 2731/3 innings in the 1969 regular season, his third year in the major leagues. The year before, he pitched 278. Even as a rookie, he got to 251.
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Jerry Koosman in 1969. He and Seaver combined for 11 complete-game wins in the final month of the regular season.Credit…Ron Frehm/Associated Press
In contrast, over the last two seasons, no starting pitcher in the majors has exceeded 250 innings in a single year. The top three were David Price (2481/3), Johnny Cueto (2432/3) and Adam Wainwright (2412/3). All are well past their rookie seasons.
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Now consider the Mets’ 2015 numbers.
Jacob deGrom, the ace of the Mets’ staff and the 2014 N.L. rookie of the year, has a solid 13-8 record with an impressive 2.64 E.R.A., but he has staggered of late. In his three September starts, he is 1-1 over 18 innings with a 5.50 E.R.A.
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For the season, deGrom, 27, has worked 181 innings, about the number he compiled last year in Class AAA and the majors combined. At this rate, with up to three starts left in the regular season, he could edge just past 200.
Still, the Mets think he seems weary, and they are probably right. DeGrom is not Seaver or Koosman, at least not yet. So the Mets plan to push back or simply skip his next start, which is scheduled for early this week.
Then there is Matt Harvey, 26, who has had a solid season in his return from Tommy John surgery, with a 12-7 record with a 2.80 E.R.A. But in his two September starts before Sunday’s game — he became exhausted in one and was pounded in the other — he had an 8.49 E.R.A.
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Harvey is also presumed to be closing in on his postsurgery innings limit, although the exact limit is a subject of unending conjecture. On Sunday night against the Yankees, he was limited to five innings, throwing 77 pitches. But he seemed to regain his form, allowing only one hit and striking out seven.
Harvey has one career complete game, in 2013, his breakout season. Rest assured, Mr. Seaver and Mr. Koosman: He is not going to pitch another one anytime soon.
Other Mets starters? Noah Syndergaard, at 23 the youngest of the current Mets starters, has had a successful rookie season, with an 8-7 record and a 3.39 E.R.A. But his numbers for his two September starts are not as good: 0-1 with a 4.15 E.R.A.
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Matt Harvey pitching against the Nationals this month. He is presumed to be nearing an innings limit in his first season since Tommy John surgery.Credit…Greg Fiume/Getty Images
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Syndergaard is at 165 innings for the season, in Class AAA and the majors combined, a bump from the 133 innings he pitched in Class AAA last year. At some point, an innings limit will come into play for him, too. And while he may not be tired at the moment, he has clearly become more inconsistent. Only twice in his last seven starts has he made it through seven innings.
As for Jon Niese, only 28 but already an eight-year veteran, he seems more tapped out than anyone else. He had a nice run early in the summer, but in his three starts in September, he is 0-1 with an 8.16 E.R.A. in just 141/3 innings. He has no innings limits, but if he does not start pitching better soon, he may find himself out of the picture.
Not surprisingly, perhaps, the best starting pitcher for the Mets has been the most rested. The rookie left-hander Steven Matz, 24, recently returned from a two-month layoff for a muscle tear in his back.
As a result, Matz, who had Tommy John surgery in 2010, has pitched just 1351/3 innings this season in Class AAA and the majors, and in his three starts for the Mets in September, he is 2-0 with a 2.20 E.R.A.
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The rookie Noah Syndergaard during a loss to the Yankees on Saturday.Credit…Elsa/Getty Images
Finally, there is the 42-year-old Bartolo Colon, who continues to defy time and logic. He has generally pitched well — 14-12 with a 4.15 E.R.A. — and has the team’s only complete game. But who really knows for sure what he has left in the tank?
Still, Colon is 2-1 in three September starts with a 2.11 E.R.A.
For a while, it was thought that if the Mets reached the postseason, their imposing starting rotation would make them scary in any five- or seven-game series. But that no longer seems to be the case. The rotation has fallen a notch, maybe two.
In 1969, Seaver and Koosman followed up their September tour de force with a lot more work in the postseason.
Neither was untouchable the way he had been that September, but Seaver did have a 10-inning, complete-game 2-1 victory over Baltimore in Game 4 of the World Series, and Koosman had a no-hitter for six innings in Game 2, which the Mets won, 2-1.
And in their Game 5 victory, which gave the Mets their first championship, Koosman pitched all nine innings in a 5-3 triumph.
