Curtis Granderson was really good in the last month of the regular season

Coming into the 2016 season, Mets outfielder Curtis Granderson was expected to be the team’s leadoff hitter following his huge success in the role last season. After a bit of a rough start, he seemed to find his footing for a while, but he struggled mightily in May and was soon moved to the middle of the order once Jose Reyes came aboard.

Once September rolled around, Granderson caught fire. The lefty knocked eight home runs after the first of the month and scored 25 runs, and he led the the Mets in both categories. In fact, Granderson’s September/October numbers were among the best single-month splits of his 13-year career, as he posted a .615 slugging percentage, 1.028 OPS, and 174 wRC+. Thanks to his hot hitting, he even managed to post his first 30 home run season as a Met and his first since 2012 with the Yankees.

Even though he finished tied for the lowest RBI total in major league history for a 30+ home run season with 59, his 21 RBIs after September 1 were easily his highest total of any month. In fact, September/October was the only monthly period were he reached double-digit RBIs. As a metric, those don’t matter much, but they indicate that 2016 was a really weird season for Grandy.

Now come the playoffs, where Granderson thrived last season. He led the Mets with three home runs in the World Series and batted .283 overall in the postseason. Without Daniel Murphy this year, Granderson may be the position player that steps up if the Mets go on another pennant run.