Matt Harvey. The name will bring about an emotional stimulation of some sort for almost all New Yorkers. But the thoughts and images that are conceived when they hear the name will most definitely vary from person to person. A polarizing sports persona, he has a swagger unmatched by most MLB pitchers. With a giant wad of chewing tobacco in his mouth, he slowly struts off the field after a strikeout– a purposeful, unswerving look in his eye. Off the field, he dates supermodels and has been ridiculed for missing the occasional team workout. This may entice many to conjure up an image of an arrogant jerk when his name is caught by their eardrums. But for Met fans, the name brings about a splash of joy in the waters of the temporal lobe.

Nicknamed “The Dark Knight,” he was the savior of the palpable Gotham– an ailing team in Queens. He is the face of the current-day best pitching rotation in baseball, and possibly the best rotation of all time, and the era of dynamite Met pitching can be traced back to him. In his second year in the majors in 2013, he became one of the best pitchers in baseball and the cool new guy in town. But then, as one would expect after something good finally happens to the Mets, it was announced that he needed Tommy John surgery and would miss an entire season. A crushing blow for the Mets, fans could only await his return. But when he returned healthy a year later, he wasn’t undoubtedly the best pitcher on the Mets any longer– new ace phenoms had taken his throne. With a plethora of young pitching talent including the likes of Jacob DeGrom, Noah Syndergaard, Zack Wheeler, and Steven Matz, the once-meager Mets were suddenly a threat in the National league. To the surprise (and delight) of many, they weren’t only a threat in the National League– they had transformed from the pasquinade of New York (especially when compared to the the Bronx Bombers) to a powerhouse that no team in baseball wanted to face.

With a newly-found offensive spark in the second half of the 2015 season, coupled with the best staff in baseball, the Mets went to their first World Series since 2000. They lost, but Met fans couldn’t be disappointed. The compass of the future is pointing up for the Mets. With a great bounceback season after surgery (that only got better as the season went on for Harvey), Matt Harvey remains the face of a sickeningly talented pitching rotation for years to come. But is he really the face of the Mets staff anymore? Thus far in the 2016 season, Harvey has looked anything but sharp, as his ERA (earned run average) is sitting at an unappealing 4.93, more than two runs higher than his career average of 2.76. Mets fans had high hopes for him coming into this season, but are beginning to wonder if the old Matt Harvey will ever return again; optimists will say he’s simply off to a slow start and will get back in rhythm soon enough. Either way, Steven Matz is on the rise, Bartolo Colon continues to be a fan favorite, and Degrom has been his usual consistent self despite seeing a dip in velocity. The man they call Thor, though, has taken the league by storm (no pun intended) and is putting up Cy Young Award worthy numbers. His fastball regularly sits around triple digits, and he arguably has the most electric stuff in all of baseball.

So Met fans– don’t panic about Harvey’s slow start. Either way, you still have a dominating top 5 pitcher in baseball in Syndergaard– and oh yeah, he’s only 23 years old– as well as a guy in Degrom who has been touted as the Mets ace for the past 2 seasons (don’t forget about last year’s All Star game when Degrom struck out the side in 10 pitches!). And I almost forgot– they also have a young and refreshed Zach Wheeler coming back from Tommy John surgery in early July who happens to have been their best pitcher in 2014. That’s a pretty nice bonus to an already loaded staff. Could Met fans be any more spoiled? I think I make myself clear when I say that this Mets rotation will be good for a long time regardless of whether Harvey bounces back to his 2013 All Star form or not.