Mets hurler cites 'getting lucky' as reason for recent success

New York Mets ace Kodai Senga shares an interesting sentiment about his start to the 2025 season.

Apr 13, 2025; West Sacramento, California, USA; New York Mets starting pitcher Kodai Senga (34) gestures before the game against the Athletics at Sutter Health Park. Mandatory Credit: Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images / Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images

New York Mets ace Kodai Senga improved his record to 4-2 and lowered his ERA to 1.16 (which is the second-best among qualified starters in all of baseball) after pitching six shutout innings against the Arizona Diamondbacks on May 7.

Anybody who has watched Senga pitch this season can see just how elite he has been. And while ERA isn't always a perfect indicator of a pitcher's success, it does just about as good of a job as any other metric.

Kodai Senga, Disappearing 84mph Ghost Fork. 👻🍴 pic.twitter.com/HZNgvbMwmJ

— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) May 7, 2025

However, Senga doesn't think his success so far this season tells the entire story. In fact, in a May 10 article from Dan Martin of the New York Post, the Japanese star asserted that his statistics and what he's actually doing on the mound aren't aligning.

“I look at all the numbers. There’s not a single number or stat I take for granted. They’re all important. But right now, my results and stats are not really reflective of what I feel I’m putting out there on the mound," Senga is quoted as saying in the article.

Read more: Scott Boras reveals 'key' to Pete Alonso's Mets hitting success

“I feel like I’m getting lucky on a lot of plays,” he continued. “I think throughout the season, if I can fill in the gap with my performance as much as possible, I can be closer to my true form.”

Kodai Senga attributes ‘lucky’ run as reason Mets ace sports NL-best ERA https://t.co/wc4mtWhj4T pic.twitter.com/RoUAiOWaAc

— New York Post (@nypost) May 10, 2025

There is certainly some truth to Senga's sentiment. For example, Senga allowed five walks during the aforementioned scoreless outing against the Diamondbacks. However, one wouldn't necessarily attribute that to luck as opposed to Senga stepping up and executing when he needed to.

Even if luck has played a role in Senga's impressive success this season, he has also performed like one of the league's best pitchers — regardless of whether he wants to admit it.

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