Over this last week, I’ve broken down down the things that have to go right for the Mets this year if they want to make the playoffs.

Thus far, I’ve discussed the 5th spot in the rotation, Maine and Perez, Pedro, and the bullpen.

Note: All of this is done assuming we do not make any significant acquisitions of any sort, be it through trade or a free agent signing.

Today, we’ll be discussing Jose Reyes.

So many times I’ve heard (or something along the lines of): The Mets’ offense lives and dies with Jose Reyes.

Lets take a closer look at that:

Before the all-star break, Jose Reyes was batting .307 with 46 SBs, an On Base Percentage of .387, 4 HRs and 35 RBIs. Before the all-star break, the Mets as a team had a .286 batting average, while scoring 394 runs as a team, 21st in the MLB.

After the all-star break, Reyes had his well chronicled struggles. He bat .251 with 32 SBs, 22 RBIs, 8 HRs and worst of all, a .316 OBP. Capping off his abysmal second half, Reyes bat .205 in September while only being safe on 5/9 stealing attempts. However, the Mets offense boomed in the second half. The Mets bat .284 after the all-star break, while coming 5th in the majors with 410 runs. Even more astonishing, was despite Reyes’ struggles, the Mets were 4th in the majors with 157 runs and they bat .284 as a team.

So in terms of hitting, the offense clearly did not just do what Reyes did, so I really hope nobody ever tells me again, “The Mets’ offense lives and dies with Jose Reyes.” But, was Reyes’ offense more of an influence on the team’s pitching?

I already read off Reyes’ stats, so I won’t repeat them; let’s look at the pitching numbers. Before the all-star break, the Mets ERA was 3.91, 5th in the league, while holding batters to a mere .241. After the all-star break, the Mets ERA was 19th in the league at 4.66, while batters hit .270 against the team. While Reyes hit his low, so did the pitching; in September they had the 5th worst ERA at 5.11, while batters hit .275.

So if somebody does want to tell me that the Mets pitching lives and dies with Reyes, I’d have a tougher time arguing.

So what do we need from Reyes this year?

Consistent production. He has to keep his batting average around .300 the whole season, rather than failing the team down the stretch when they need him. He also has to stop worrying about hitting the long ball. With somebody as talented as him, the HRs will come, and he need not worry about forcing them. Reyes clearly has talent but he has to work on his mental game.

He has to stop putting so much pressure on himself, because it’s making him crack. Between all the pop-ups and poor production, Reyes seemed very worn down by the end of the year. Beyond taking pressure of himself this year, he has to learn to deal with pressure. He’s a budding star, playing SS in New York City. It is unacceptable, to bat .259 with runners in scoring position, and even worse to bat .195 with runners in scoring position and 2 outs.

As we saw between The Collapse and our other losing streaks throughout the year, we have to be more consistent as a team, and consistency begins with the first pitch thrown, and the first at bat of every game.