New York Mets' bullpen off to second-best start in franchise history

The New York Mets' bullpen, which has been re-tooled dramatically over the past year, is off to its second-best start in franchise history in one key statistic.

Mar 28, 2025; Houston, TX, USA; New York Mets relief pitcher Edwin Diaz (39) delivers a pitch during the ninth inning against the Houston Astros at Daikin Park. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-Imagn Images | Troy Taormina-Imagn Images

The New York Mets' bullpen hasn't always been a strength over the years.

Finding reliable relievers isn't easy since relief pitching is often highly volatile, with success one year often failing to presage future success, making the task of building a unit capable of getting big outs in the late innings a difficult one.

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Bullpen building, however, has been a noted strength of president of baseball operations David Stearns dating back to his tenure with the Milwaukee Brewers, who often field elite relief corps. Stearns did a good job patching the Mets' bullpen together late in the 2024 season, and appears to have assembled a deeper unit to begin the 2025 campaign.

The Mets' offense was unable to jump out to a strong start as they lost two of three in their opening series against the Astros, but the bullpen was lights out 💪 pic.twitter.com/LW1xGO6RL7

— SNY Mets (@SNY_Mets) March 30, 2025

MLB.com's Anthony DiComo noted that the Mets have put together 9.2 scoreless innings out of their bullpen to begin the season, which is the second-longest scoreless run from the team's relief corps to start a year in franchise history. The previous record holders were the 2007 Mets, who spun 12.2 scoreless frames before allowing a run.

The impressive part of this start, as DiComo mentioned in his story, is that this performance isn't being carried by a dominant turn from Edwin Diaz or any single reliever. All eight relievers that made the Opening Day bullpen have pitched exactly once, piling up strong statistical starts in average fastball velocity (third in the league), whiff rate (fifth), and expected slugging percentage against (first) entering play on Sunday.

Edwin Díaz, Wipeout 92mph Slider. 🌊 pic.twitter.com/UVjdZ0zDha

— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) March 29, 2025

A.J. Minter throws a scoreless 7th in his Mets debut!

(via @AppleTV) pic.twitter.com/1dKZc1JlOa

— SNY (@SNYtv) March 29, 2025

The bullpen has also inherited some messy situations early on, receiving the third-most inherited runners in the league and allowing none to score. That figure is also extremely impressive since the allowing runs that way would count against a starter's ERA, not the reliever's, so this run of scoreless innings is a complete shutdown effort from the Mets' relief corps.

Stearns has done a good job building a deep unit of relief pitchers who throw hard and with spin, making it difficult for the opposition to make contact to start rallies. The unit isn't even at full strength yet; the Mets previously opted to assign Dedniel Núñez, who could be one of their most important set-up men, to Triple-A Syracuse to build up properly after missing the end of last season due to injury.

The unit's balance could also be valuable, since the Mets may have a tough time getting early innings from their starters while Sean Manaea and Frankie Montas are on the shelf. If Carlos Mendoza is able to avoid overworking the team's key relievers, the Mets will be in an excellent position to sustain bullpen excellence over the course of a season.