PORT ST. LUCIE — It’s go time.
After a 107-day hiatus, following a painful ninth inning and loss to the Royals in Game 5 of the World Series, the Mets officially return to the business of baseball on Wednesday, when pitchers and catchers report to spring training.
The vast majority of players have arrived in camp and begun workouts already, making the report date more symbolic than functional, but the defending National League champions will treat each of these calendar markers with some level of reverence.
“Coming off last season makes repeating it exciting,” manager Terry Collins said Tuesday. “I can’t wait to get everyone here.”
The Mets haven’t won consecutive pennants — or even division titles — in their history, leaving these players with an obvious goal as they revert to square one. And just returning to the World Series won’t be enough.
“I think there is more expectation this year,” Jacob deGrom said. “We expect to make it back to the World Series and win it this time. That’s everybody’s goal here.
“We’ll be a team to beat. We have a great pitching staff and we made some nice additions to the field. We’ve got David [Wright] back healthy and Travis [d’Arnaud] hopefully will be there the whole year because he was injured a lot. I think teams are going to be after us.’’
The last month certainly has helped improve perceptions. After treading cautiously in the free-agent and trade markets for most of the winter, general manager Sandy Alderson made tsunami-size waves by signing Yoenis Cespedes to a three-year deal worth $75 million — the contract includes an opt-out clause after this season — ensuring the return of a big presence to the lineup. The deal came days after Alderson caved and handed lefty reliever Antonio Bastardo a two-year contract worth $12 million.
Neil Walker, Asdrubal Cabrera and Alejandro De Aza join the ranks of new additions, and for the first time in eight years a Mets spring training won’t include Daniel Murphy and Jon Niese.
Murphy was extended a qualifying offer by the Mets, but declined and ultimately received a three-year deal from the Nationals. The veteran lefty Niese was used as a trade chip to acquire Murphy’s replacement, Walker, from the Pirates. In addition, Michael Cuddyer retired — he was due $12.5 million this season — creating extra payroll flexibility.
“So far from what I’ve seen we are picking up right where we left off,” d’Arnaud said.
“Everybody is having fun, cracking jokes, basically being little kids in old man’s bodies, so it’s going to be a fun and exciting time in a couple of days when pitchers and catchers are all here, and a week after that when everyone is here. I’m looking forward to it.’’
Pitchers and catchers are scheduled to undergo physicals Thursday and then participate in their first mandated workouts Friday. Position players report on Feb. 24. Already, more than 50 players have arrived.
“I think everybody is excited to get back out there and play,” deGrom said. “We played late into the year, and for everybody to be out here this early ready to go is pretty impressive. It just shows you that everybody is ready to get this season started and looking forward to getting out there and playing.
“Everybody gets along here and are really good friends. We are close enough where if somebody is getting out of line, they’ll say something. We keep each other in check. It’s a lot easier when you have one common goal and everybody is on board with that.’’
Additional reporting by Kevin Kernan