Before we jump into some semi-negative content, it’s important to note:
· The Mets are in first place in the NL East
· This sweep at the hands of the Rays was preceded by 7 straight wins
· There are 128 games left
Now that the “I’m not an obnoxious Yankee Fan who hates my team if they don’t win 115 games” disclaimer is out of the way, let’s dig in and figure out what is off this time with our beloved Metsies.
Since 2006 when the Mets led the division from April 6th onward en-route to winning 97 games, nothing has gone “smoothly” from start to finish in a season for the Mets. In recent history, I’d argue that the Mets were “supposed” to be contenders from 2005-2009 and 2015-present. 2015 obviously featured an incredible latter part of the season and was a pleasant surprise after a solid 79-83 campaign in 2014, but was certainly not smooth from start-finish. Let’s take a look at Bleacher Report’s projections for the Mets every season since 2010 to get a sense of the national expectations surrounding the team (I’m not a fan of Bleacher Report but it’s harder than you’d think to find one single publication with 10 years of Power Rankings):
2010: 72-90
2011: 75-87
2012: 71-91
2013: 67-95
2014: 82-80
2015: 82-80
2016: 92-70
2017: 86-76
2018: 80-82
2019: 87-75
2020: 85-77 (Pre-Covid)
2021: Looks like Bleacher Report didn’t put out projected standings this year but they do have the Mets winning the NL East.
The Mets have consistently underperformed their expectations and it does get frustrating, even for a fan who considers himself extremely optimistic. This year was supposed to be different than the last few where the Mets were supposed to have a good team and hopefully be in the thick of things/sneak into the playoffs or be GREAT if everything went right. The 2021 Mets were supposed to be GREAT and destroy people featuring a star studded lineup, a starting pitching staff anchored by the best pitcher in baseball and a bullpen that had some serious firepower. Yet here we are in Mid-May and while the Mets are clinging to the top spot in the NL East, the team is completely depleted with the expected important contributors : Jacob deGrom, Michael Conforto, Jeff McNeil, J.D Davis, Brandon Nimmo, Luis Guillorme, Albert Almora, Jose Martinez, Dellin Betances, Set Lugo, Carlos Carrasco and Noah Syndergaard.
The offense hasn’t clicked when healthy despite excellent starting pitching and the whole aura of the season feels down despite the recent 7-game winning streak and solid 18-16 record. I still think the Mets are going to have success this year and that it’s almost inevitable the team clicks when these guys come back from injury, but at some point it becomes repetitive and gets incredibly frustrating. In my opinion the Mets have built some really formidable teams over the past 5-6 years (none as formidable as the current iteration) but for one reason or another things haven’t worked out, (I wrote about this a couple of weeks ago: NYM MIKE's Survival Guide to not Overreacting to the Mets Slow Start With RISP (scooterbigman.com)).
At the end of the day you just want to see your team go out there and be whole and do the things that you know they can do - the things you talked smack to friends about all offseason - and I feel robbed of that opportunity for years and years. My coping mechanism will be to sue Michael Conforto and Jeff McNeil’s hamstrings for emotional distress.
Thank You for reading