It shouldn’t be this way. A baseball team shouldn’t languish for two-plus months with no chance to dramatically turn things around. Generally speaking, eight games under .500 in the first 64 games is a good indicator of where a team is, where they’re going, and what the season is going to look like.
And that could be the case for the 2024 Mets.
But there’s certainly a sense that Opening Day 2.0 will also be in the works when the Mets host the Marlins at Citi Field on Tuesday night for the first of a three-game series.
Despite a ninth-inning nightmare, a lengthy offensive brownout and one starting pitcher not being hit for several innings before pitching another, the Mets remain just three games out of the wild card, a testament to the terrible performance of National League baseball thus far: the Cubs, Reds, Giants (32-34) and Cardinals (31-33) are currently tied for the final playoff spot.
Charles Wenzelberg/New York Post
But the fact is, deserved or not, the Mets have a chance here, and it seems realistic not only because they’re on a decent record (4-1 in their last five, including Sunday’s game against the Phillies in London) but also because they’re scheduled to play 35 games after the All-Star break, and exactly two of those games (against the Yankees on June 25 and 26) are against teams that had a winning percentage over .500 as of Monday’s start of play.
Of course, there is a caveat to this. Them Teams are also looking at the upcoming matchup with the Mets as a chance to get on a roll, which is no surprise with their 28-36 record.
But it’s a pretty simple calculation: If the Mets don’t reverse their fortunes and upend the National League standings by the close of business on Monday, July 25, the flea market will begin in earnest. If they don’t take advantage of this slack period in the schedule, they might not even have to wait until July 25 to gather players in their front yards and start bidding like it’s a baseball garage sale.
“Right now, we’re just focused on winning games,” Mets owner Steve Cohen said before the Mets’ crazy 6-5 win over the Phillies on Sunday in London. “The trade deadline is seven weeks away, we’ve got 45-50 games to play, a lot of things can happen, so right now we’re just focused on the season and winning games and not worrying about it.” [the trade deadline] When the time is right.”
Cohen is serious about this, and one gets the impression he was upset by the backlash he received when the Mets went into sell-off mode last season, even though it was almost certainly the right thing to do. For someone as competitive as Cohen, it’s counter-intuitive to wave the white flag like that, and it was especially painful when the Phillies turned around a poor start last year to come nine innings away from reaching a second consecutive World Series.
After all, the Phillies are a reminder of just how long a baseball season really is. Two years ago, they had their worst record at 21-29, but five months later they were leading the World Series 2-1. Last year, they were 25-32. Both times, they had a strong June that got them back in contention for the championship: 15-2 two years ago, 13-2 last year.
Can the Mets replicate that streak, especially with Francisco Alvarez and Edwin Diaz expected to return to the team?
Let me put it this way: if it doesn’t happen now, it won’t happen, that’s it.
If that doesn’t happen in those 35 games, which include seven games against the Marlins (22-43), seven games against the Nationals (30-35), four games against the Pirates (31-34) and three games each against the Padres (34-35), Rangers (31-34), Cubs (32-34), Astros (30-36) and Rockies (23-42), that’s a season worth selling all of that for.
The Mets say every day that they don’t want that to happen. No doubt the owners would love to see a 35-game winning streak like the 23-12 one, that might get them over .500 and give them a legitimate hope of restoring the old staple of “meaningful September games.”
If that’s going to happen, it has to start now. 35 meaningful games. Time is officially up for the Mets.
