It doesn’t seem like an exaggeration to say that Mets Suddenly it looks like a dead team walking.
And yet, almost as incredible as their futility at the plate this week, these same Mets could still clinch a wild card spot as soon as Sunday.
That is, if they are ever going to hit again like the team that for so long had the best record in the majors after June 1. And at this point, surely no one who has seen them play this week would bet on that. .
But the momentum in baseball can change quickly, as these 2024 Mets have proven themselves this season.
So do they have another change of course?
It doesn’t seem like it, that’s for sure, after the Mets have lost three crucial games in a row without even putting up much of a fight.
Yes, after such an enjoyable season, this team has brought up all the old history of heartbreak that makes Mets fans feel like their team is cursed, whether it’s 1998, 2007, ’22 or any other fatal ending in the story. years.
It just didn’t seem possible for these Mets to tank with all the money on the table. They were playing too well. Overflowing with confidence. Playing their best baseball against the best teams in both leagues.
And now this.
They have lost three games in a row, including Saturday night’s 6-0 loss to the Brewers in Milwaukeebut the most alarming thing is the way they have lost.
They haven’t hit at all, looking like a team feeling the pressure of the big game in this final week of the season.
You can say that the moment seemed too big for them or you can say it more harshly: that it seems like they are drowning again.
It’s a bad word in sports and shouldn’t be used lightly, but is there any other way to frame it? Especially with at least some of the same key players, Francisco Lindor, Brandon Nimmoand Pete Alonsowho were on the team that failed so badly at the end of season 22.
And if you didn’t think all of this was sinister enough, consider how the Atlanta Braves won their game on Saturday: with none other than Travis d’Arnaud he hit a home run to defeat the Kansas City Royals, putting them one game ahead of the Mets in the National League wild card standings.
How come the Braves always seem to find ways to win games this time of year? What is your secret sauce? Will the Mets ever find their own?
Look, there are many reasons to believe that Steve Cohen/David Stearns The Mets have a promising future, building an organization with a solid farm system with the intention of having a sustainable winner like the Dodgers for years to come.
In that sense, this is an extra year, generally speaking.
And yet, that doesn’t soften the blow after these Mets played at such a high level for months, especially in a season where a championship seems completely on the line, with nothing resembling a superteam in either league. .
It just wasn’t supposed to fall apart like that. luis severino He got off to a so-so start in Atlanta. Sean Maneaas confident as any pitcher in baseball in the past two months, he couldn’t meet the moment Friday night in Milwaukee.
and even Jose Quintanawho was very good against the Brewers on Saturday, still struggled with two walks in the fourth inning that led to a two-run comeback and a fifth-inning outing for the left-hander.
However, the story has obviously been mostly about the lack of offense. And what has to hurt Mets fans the most is seeing The Core, which has become an unflattering term applied to the Mets in recent years, failing miserably again.
That means Alonso, Nimmo and Lindor, since Jeff McNeill He is hurt. They didn’t hit enough two years ago, when the Mets were swept by the Braves and lost the division and lost two of three to the San Diego Padres in the wild-card round.
And now they are not hitting.
Lindor has a legitimate excuse, playing through the pain of his back injury that is significant enough to limit him to designated hitter duties tonight. Still, after getting two singles on Friday, there were hopes he was finding his MVP form, but he went 0 for 4 on Saturday with two strikeouts.
Nimmo has been quiet during these three losses, while playing a horrible second half that has him hitting under .200 since the All-Star break. It’s hard to explain what happened to him after taking so many clutch hits in the first half that he should have been an All-Star.
And then there is Alonso. It was supposed to have a Aaron judge-Like walking for a year and forcing Cohen to make him a Met for life with a mega deal. Instead, he has cost himself God knows how many millions of dollars with a mediocre season that has featured few, if any, truly memorable moments.
In fact, it seems that Alonso’s season has been defined by chasing sliders outside the strike zone, especially in critical situations, and at this point he seems almost incapable of changing the pattern.
There is still time, of course. It’s time for any of them. It’s time for these Mets to fool us all, like they did in June when they stopped playing like losers and somehow became what looked like a very good baseball team.
The D-backs are giving the Mets a chance to rewrite the script once again. It’s hard, after not showing up this week, to see how they’ll do it.