This version of Luis Severino is exactly what the Mets need after years of hype surrounding the Yankees

He spent the summer constantly reminding us of what was, what once was. It’s sometimes impossible to believe that Luis Severino is 30 years old. It’s never easy watching our sports idols remind us that they’re just like the rest of us and that they can’t stay 23 forever either.

However, this is even more the case with young pitchers. Despite all the numbers and analysis now woven into baseball’s DNA, there’s still something exciting about a kid with gas in his arms, blowing smoke, throwing dirty fastballs and mind-boggling sliders past the best hitters in the world.

“One thing I know,” Joe Girardi said late in the 2017 season. “I’m glad I’m not a hitter, looking at what Sevy does out there some nights.”

That was the year Severino arrived, making the Yankees from Tampa for the first time, one of the leaders of the Baby Bombers, who wanted to plant a series of championship flags in the Bronx.

There was Gary Sanchez, who nearly won Rookie of the Year a year earlier in just 53 games by hitting a home run in 10 of his 201 at-bats. There was Greg Bird with a swing set custom-made for Yankee Stadium; He would play first base for the next 10 or 12 years. Clint Frazier came. Gleyber Torres came.

At the helm were Luis Severino and Aaron Judge. They would be the Whitey and Mickey of this new generation of pinstripes, Guidry and Reggie.

The only reason Judge got more attention was because that’s what happens when a rookie hits 52 home runs. But on the days Severino pitched, no one in the stadium provided as much energy as he did. He won 14 games. He posted an ERA of 2.98. He struck out 10.7 men per nine innings and had a WHIP of just over 1. He finished third in the Cy Young Award voting.

“Those were good times,” Severino said a few weeks ago. “But baseball is a fun game. And sometimes things happen.”

Judge is the one still in the hunt for the elusive championship in the Bronx. Within two years something happened to Severino. His arm gave him away: his rotator cuff, then his elbow, requiring Tommy John surgery. From 2019 to 2021, he threw a total of 18 innings. He had a 6.65 ERA with the Yankees last year.

He was no longer a baby and soon he was no longer a bomber. The Mets signed him on December 1st: one year, $13 million. Place this in the folder labeled “What the hell?” It was the first of a series of quiet, shrewd acquisitions from David Stearns that formed the backbone of this roster, and Severino helped make it look smart: 11-7, 3.91.

He no longer turns down the world. His radar data can still crackle, but no one writes breathless poems about pitchers in their early 30s like they do in their early 20s. But for this Mets team this Mets season, Severino was the anchor of a starting rotation that took them to Game 3 of the National League Championship Series.

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Sean Manaea has become an ace and has had one stunning start after another since the All-Star break. Jose Quintana has been his equal lately. If you look at David Peterson now, you see someone who may be getting Cy Young votes next season. This trio of lefties were great.

Severino was the right-handed hitter. He had excellent trips. He had some that amazed you. But he took the ball every fifth day, 31 times total, plus two more in the postseason. If he pitches six innings in Game 3 on Wednesday night, as he did against both Milwaukee and Philadelphia, he will reach 200 for the year.

In April, that number seemed unlikely.

Now just add it to the list of this unlikely Mets season.

“I don’t think it matters if I stay in my routine if we’re in the playoffs. When we come here, it’s the first game of the season,” Severino said of his perseverance. “So I’m not worried about how many innings I have. Just worry about what I need to do to feel good. I think my arm feels the same way at the moment, it feels good. I just have to stick to my routine.”

Severino’s playoff history is patchy, dating back to his first start after the great 2017 season, when he lasted just a third of an inning in the wild-card round against the Twins. A year later, he was also bombed by Boston in the decisive third game of the ALDS. That’s on the record, but so is Manaea’s postseason strife up until the last two weeks.

“I just watch some video, watch the matchups and watch how they take part in the at-bats,” he said. “And then I’ll just forget everything, go to my house, probably play video games and that would be it. Don’t worry about tomorrow.”

Just as good. If you’ve reached that side of 30, what’s the point of thinking about yesterday?