After a successful home series, the Mets now head out on the road for seven games through St. Louis and San Francisco. It will be a test to see how much pitching they really have, and whether the Opening Day offensive production, or their Saturday/Sunday offensive production, is more indicative of what’s to come from the lineup.

Here are three observations heading into the Mets’ first road trip of the season.

RESILIENCE AND LEADERSHIP

The Mets managed to come from behind twice, including late in Saturday’s extra-inning win against the Pittsburgh Pirates. They had a response nearly every time the Pirates put runs on the board, which was good to see after they wilted so often in late-game situations last year.

Though much of the core remains the same, manager Carlos Mendoza noted that it’s a different group this season. Veteran players like Marcus Semien and Jorge Polanco have been added to a group that was already led by Francisco Lindor. Bo Bichette has long been known as a great clubhouse presence as well. Left-hander David Peterson has become more of a leader, an evolution that was evident over the last few seasons. He mentioned that the way the team came back Saturday was something he was encouraged to see so early in the season after his Saturday start.

Catcher Francisco Alvarez has long displayed leadership potential and has always been vocal. The 24-year-old was a supportive, encouraging teammate well before he became a Major Leaguer, and can often be seen putting an arm around a teammate after a bad play or a strikeout.

If Alvarez can stay healthy, he could grow into a key team leader this season.

“We’ve seen that. I’ve seen that since in my first year,” Mendoza said. “But it’s hard to see who you truly are when you’re not playing. The biggest thing with Alvy is he’s got to be healthy. Last year was a struggle for him after he got back from the hamate surgery, and we sent him down [to Triple-A]. But the personality, his leadership ability, his ability to control or lead a pitching staff — he’s just a guy that brings so much joy, so much energy, and we’ve seen it with a lot of the guys. He’s got that in him, so it’s fun, but we’ve just got to keep him healthy.”

DECISION-MAKING

A decision to send Francisco Lindor from first base all the way home in the bottom of the 10th inning in Sunday’s loss proved costly. There were no outs, and the center fielder hit the cutoff man, who then hit the catcher at the plate right as Lindor came sliding into him.

The Mets owned the decision. Mendoza said the team had identified the Pirates as one they wanted to be aggressive with in their decision-making. They were probably correct in their assessment of the team. The Bucco defense was shaky all weekend. Even Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid posted on X about how center fielder O’Neil Cruz should learn to DH.

Francisco Lindor said he trusted third base coach Tim Leiper’s decision to wave him around third, and blamed the route instead of blaming the coach.

The margin for error was thin with the cold weather and two low-scoring games. For the most part, the Mets were able to capitalize on Pittsburgh’s defensive miscues, but had the Pirates been more defensively sound, those second two games could have gone either way. Even so, the Mets showed protected their top relievers. Devin Williams isn’t going to pitch in back-to-back games early in the season, and they opted not to use left-hander Brooks Raley in two straight games either.

Baseball can sometimes be about decisions as much as it can be about execution. Throughout the course of the season, a winning team will likely make more good ones than bad, but even the best teams will make decisions that don’t work out. In explaining their plan to be aggressive against Pittsburgh, the Mets showed they will own their decisions, even when they don’t work as intended, and will stay accountable by explaining them to the fans.

BULLPEN QUESTIONS

Throughout the season, the bullpen always has more turnover than any other position group. But it’s also the position group for the Mets that you could argue lacks the most depth. Left-hander Richard Lovelady didn’t look great on Sunday. Right-hander Luis Garcia looked fine, but not exactly dominant.

Once again, it looks as though the Mets will rely heavily on right-hander Huascar Brazobán in the middle innings. He was up and down last season, so the Mets will have to monitor his workload to make sure he stays effective.

The Cardinals scored 22 runs in their first three games against the Tampa Bay Rays, though to be fair, there was plenty of offense to go around, with the Rays scoring 19 in the series. These first three games could give the Mets a good idea of just how strong their bullpen is.

The Mets could get a reprieve in San Francisco. The Giants managed only a single run against the Yankees in their season-opening series, and Oracle Park is a notoriously pitcher-friendly place to play.