The New York Mets are making their move with the strength of the Niagara Falls

Empire Writes Back writer Joe Noa gives his unique take on the sudden New York Mets resurgence in the National League playoff picture.

Hey, New York Mets fans, I started my road trip to Buffalo and crossed into Canada and saw the marvels of the majestic Niagara Falls. My very first time there.

As I marvel at the beauty and the strength of the Falls, I realize how this force of nature started with a drop of water cascading down from the mountains. A trickle of H2O going left and right, finding the path of least resistance, working with gravity to form a rush of water everyone in the world knows about and millions long to see.

The Mets have become the Niagra Falls of baseball. Powering through the Wild Card card and the National League East division races, the Mets have won eight in a row, 15 of their last 17, and are six games behind the Atlanta Braves. That’s right, six games out!

Who woke up this team? It is like Jesus calling Lazarus out of the grave. This team was left for dead at the All-Star break. Sure, we had three all-stars representing the Orange and Blue with Jacob deGrom, Pete Alonso, and Jeff McNeil. One is the 2018 Cy Young Award winner. Another is just a rookie that smashed the Mets rookie homerun record held for over 30 years. And the latter had a questionable defense and injury issues but has led the Majors in batting average.

But the Mets was spinning its wheels, not going anywhere. Speculation was the Mets were would-be sellers by the end of July trading deadline. Jason Vargas, Noah Syndergaard, and Zack Wheeler being the likeliest players to be moved.

But the Mets fooled the pundits, fans. Even me! Many were shaking their heads. Typical Mets, many fans said.

The Mets picked up Marcus Stroman from the Toronto Blue Jays for a couple of minor league prospects, most notably, Anthony Kay. We have traded Jason Vargas to Philadephia to make room for Stroman in the rotation.

Mets fans were angry that the Mets gave up more prospects since they are not going anywhere!

Good thing the Mets front office do not pay attention or let their decision-making be made based on social media. That is why Brodie Van Wagenen gets paid the big bucks.

So the Mets took full advantage playing against the Chicago White Sox, Miami Marlins, Washington Nationals. If the Mets had any chance, these are the teams to beat.

With the injury to Robinson Cano, the Mets were able to pick up former All-Star, former World Series Champion, and local boy; Joe Panik takes over his spot.

Mets also signed former All-Star reliever, Brad Brach, to strengthen the bullpen.

Past performances by these two don’t necessarily predict positive future results, but the bell curve gives the Mets hope they can regain some of their recent success.

That said, the Mets have their toughest challenge yet against the first-place Atlanta Braves. The Braves are extremely tough at Sun Trust Field, but they have issues with their pitching, notably their bullpen ranked one of the lowest in the National League.

So can the Mets continue to build from the initial drops of wins much like water increases and rages in force to create Niagra Falls? Or do the Mets allow the Braves to build in a dam to stop their energy into the Wild Card race?

We will see beginning this Tuesday.