Ex-Mets Zack Wheeler, Noah Syndergaard took long route to 2022 World Series with Phillies

HOUSTON — Once upon a time, they were two of the Mets’ so-called Five Aces, the quintet destined to pitch them to perennial prominence, a dream that proved to be just that.

They began as headliner prospects in the trades of boldfaced names early in Sandy Alderson’s rebuild a decade ago. They finished as symbols of that era’s unfulfilled promise.

But here they are reunited, Zack Wheeler, the ace, and Noah Syndergaard, the back-end starter, their roles reversed from their early-career norms, accomplishing with the Phillies what they did not together with the Mets: going to the World Series, which opens with Game 1 against the Astros on Friday.

Like life, baseball is full of these wild, unpredictable, silly twists. Theirs made them teammates again, then thrust them onto the sport’s biggest stage.

“It’s funny how things work,” said Wheeler, who will start Game 2 on Saturday.

Added Syndergaard, who pitched in the 2015 World Series (Wheeler was injured): “Wheeler is not the kind of guy to show a whole lot of emotion, but I think deep down he’s super-excited to be here.”

Individually, their stories are happy comeback tales of perseverance and determination.

Each missed two seasons because of Tommy John surgery, rendering merely pitching again an accomplishment.

But the pitcher that Wheeler has become, which is the pitcher the Mets for so long thought he would be, is worth acknowledgment and appreciation.

Remember that when he signed his five-year, $118 million deal with the Phillies in December 2019, then-general manager Brodie Van Wagenen said the Mets determined he was not worth that money, so they didn’t come close to making a similar offer. The next spring training, after Wheeler criticized the Mets, Van Wagenen said the Mets had “helped him parlay two good half-seasons in the last five years into” a huge contract.

Since then, Wheeler has rated among the major-league leaders in all the key stats, posting a 2.82 ERA and 1.05 WHIP in 69 starts.

“He always had great stuff. It was an uncomfortable at-bat,” said J.T. Realmuto, his current catcher and former NL East opponent. “But being able to see him to evolve from just a guy with great stuff into the pitcher that he is now, who is able to change speeds, work both sides of the plate, he’s always on the attack, throws strikes. It’s been fun to be a part of that evolving process with him.”

The best part of being in the playoffs, Wheeler said, is sharing it with his wife, Dominique, who he said “wasn’t the biggest baseball fan” when they met, and their two young kids.

“Every year I’ve played, my team has gotten a little bit better,” he said. “We finally made it to the playoffs. She’s like, ‘Man, it’s fun when we win.’ Yeah, it is a lot more fun when we win. So she’s having a good time right now.”

This is Wheeler’s first postseason experience. During the Mets’ run in 2015, he asked to tag along for the experience, even though he was injured and hadn’t been with the team all year. They said no. When he asked for tickets so he could sit in the stands for the World Series, they suggested he buy his own. He did not.

“I wanted to go so if I ever did go back, I would know the atmosphere and all that kind of stuff,” he said. “That’s mainly the reason why I wanted to go. That’s why I was cool with just sitting in the stands, not even with my teammates. It is what it is and that’s in the past. I’m glad I’m here playing now where I can actually contribute.”

Syndergaard was there — as a flamethrowing, perhaps hotheaded rookie with a superhero nickname and a physique to match, far from this softer-tossing, soft-spoken (if still jacked) version of himself.

His signature moment that fall came in Game 3 of that World Series, when he threw up and in to the first batter, Alcides Escobar, and afterward said, “If the Royals have a problem with me throwing inside, then they can meet me 60 feet, 6 inches away.”

Syndergaard left the Mets last fall — in part, he said, because they had no general manager and no manager at the time — when he signed with the Angels as a free agent. They traded him to the Phillies in August. He had a 3.94 ERA in 25 games this season and is a candidate to start Game 4 against Houston.

His fastball averaged 94 mph, far from his 99-mph peak with the Mets, and part of him wishes he still was the Thor of yesteryear.

“In 2015, I was just really raw and naive and would say and do stupid [stuff] a lot, like what I did in Game 3, what I said before, what I said after,” Syndergaard said. “I didn’t really think about things all that much. I just did them. Sometimes I still wish I had that naive nature to myself, but I guess that’s what happens when you get older.”

By Tim Healey

timothy.healey@newsday.com@timbhealey

Tim Healey is the Mets beat writer for Newsday. Born on Long Island and raised in Connecticut, Tim has previously worked for the South Florida Sun Sentinel, the Boston Globe and MLB.com. He is also the author of “Hometown Hardball,” a book about minor league baseball in the northeast.