The reason this is happening never should have happened.

The trade that has helped lead the New York Mets to so much recent good fortune was one the team’s front office was not even considering until circumstances pushed it toward alternatives.

The Mets thought they had their outfield trade acquisition just before the July 31 non-waiver deadline, but it was not Yoenis Cespedes.

As has been chronicled through the saga between the Mets and Milwaukee Brewers and the tears of Wilmer Flores, the Mets had agreed to acquire Brewers center fielder Carlos Gomez. The trade ultimately fell through, Gomez eventually ended up in Houston and the Mets were forced to scramble for another outfielder who could hit around the middle of their lineup as they made their playoff push.

Luckily, the Detroit Tigers had decided to sell. And they held just the kind of piece the Mets wanted in Cespedes. The deal was agreed to just before the deadline, and it would be the catalyst for the Mets putting away the National League East championship less than six weeks later.

Cespedes has been a godsend for New York, and he again proved why in the top of the eighth inning Wednesday night by hitting a go-ahead two-run home run to push the Mets to their sixth victory over the Washington Nationals—with zero defeats—since the trade went down. This win put the Mets seven games ahead of the Nationals, virtually ensuring their division title; they are now 26-11 since the Cespedes deal.

“When guys with this much talent get on these kinds of rolls, it’s unbelievable,” Mets teammate Kelly Johnson told reporters. “It’s so much fun to watch. It really does kind of remind you of some throwback player, like your dad used to tell you about Clemente or Mantle.”

Or how about Carlos Beltran circa 2004? That was the year the Houston Astros acquired him, and Beltran hit 23 home runs and posted a 135 OPS+ in 90 regular-season games. He then went ballistic in the postseason, hitting .435/.536/1.022 with eight home runs in 12 games.

We’ll have to wait to see what Cespedes does in October, but as of now, his regular-season numbers with his new club are outstanding. He was 2-for-4 with that home run Wednesday, and going into that game he was hitting .307/.354/.660 with a 1.014 OPS and 13 home runs in the previous 35 games.

“I’m not sure how it works, but [Cespedes] should be in the discussion for National League MVP,” Mets third baseman David Wright told reporters. “It just seems like he puts himself in scoring position every time he walks to the plate.”

That is just silly. Cespedes is not—repeat, not—a National League MVP candidate. It would be absurd to even consider it, especially with what Bryce Harper has done the entire season—he hit his 35th and 36th homers of the season in the same game Wednesday.

The underlying point Wright was making with that statement should not be lost in the hyperbolic way he said it. He is saying Cespedes has meant so much to the Mets’ run over the last five-plus weeks that he has easily been the team’s MVP since his arrival on Aug. 1.

However, this forgets to note that the Mets got healthier in that time or that their rotation was wonderful in August and has mostly continued to be so in September, as FanGraphs outlines.

But Cespedes has been a significant part of all of this for the Mets. And it was his shot Wednesday night that ensured the Nationals would be the most disappointing team in baseball this season.

“It’s pretty devastating,” Nationals shortstop Ian Desmond told reporters, stating the completely obvious. Their deficit is great, time is not on their side and neither is Cespedes nor his production.

“We’re ready to fight until the last out—we never give up,” Cespedes told reporters. “We know we’re going to come back and put together good at-bats, and we think we can do it all the way.”

That might require Cespedes to have a Beltran-like postseason, because right now he is the team’s most intimidating, feared and powerful offensive force.

This team already has the pitching, and Cespedes has solidified the lineup. Those things have helped the Mets overtake Washington and separate in dramatic fashion over the six games the teams have played since the Cespedes trade.

“At this point in the season, two or three weeks left, you’re looking pretty good if you have a six- or seven-game lead,” Johnson told reporters. “Hopefully those games we play them in New York [the final weekend] won’t matter and we can celebrate early.”

Thanks to the trade that was never supposed to be, they might as well start now.

 

All quotes, unless otherwise specified, have been acquired firsthand by Anthony Witrado. Follow Anthony on Twitter @awitrado and talk baseball here.

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