Hours before Tuesday’s game was rained out, several veterans faced off in a game of pool in a corner of the clubhouse.
On the other side, several players were firing baskets into the hoop that Francisco Lindor helped popularize.
If the fans were nervous, the players were relaxed.
The Mets’ mostly veteran club is accustomed to the fickle nature of baseball. The team goes through runs and ruts.
The fact that the Mets are off to a slow start (still looking for their first win in Game 5 of the season, but that search is expected to be extended by at least a day) has been noticed, but not appreciated. , yet there was no trace of panic.
“I’m sure no one is happy,” Adam Ottavino said before the Mets-Tigers game at Citi Field was called because of the unrelenting storm. “But at the same time, there are a lot of baseball games, so I don’t think I have to worry too much. I have to forget about that.”
This is the sixth time in franchise history that the Mets have lost the first four games of a season, and the first time since 2005, when the Mets actually finished 83-79. The Mets lost at least the first four games of each season from 1962-64, all of which were 100-loss years.
As the 2023 0-4 Phillies (advanced to the NLCS) and 2021 0-4 Braves (World Series championship) show, a bad start isn’t necessarily a bad omen.
But after a disappointing 2023 season that led to manager Buck Showalter’s firing and regime change, the Mets were hoping to start the David Stearns/Carlos Mendoza era on a better note, or at least with a win. .
Instead, the offense was almost nonexistent, scoring one or no points in three of the first four games.
The starting pitchers, with the exception of Sean Manaea, did not have much of an impact. The defense, which was supposed to be strong, slumped, and the bullpen was unable to make up for defensive mistakes in Monday’s loss.
From late March to early April, every aspect of the Mets was disappointing.
“You hate to go through that. You hate to see that, especially the way we play,” Mendoza said. “They know, they know we’re better than that. But at the same time, this isn’t the first time they’ve done something like this. [have gone] Through it. That just happened to be the first four games of the season.
“I’m pretty confident that my guys in that room are going to turn things around quickly.”
But not immediately, with rain expected to hit many parts of the Northeast on Tuesday and continue into Wednesday. The Mets may have to wait until Thursday to play the Tigers again, but it’s a team they aren’t scheduled to play for the remainder of the season, so a make-up day would be difficult.
This Mets team should be used to ups and downs.
The average age of Mets batters through four games was 29.7 years old, making them the second-oldest in MLB during that span. The average age of Mets pitchers through four games was 31.8 years old, also the second-oldest.
The young team will probably struggle with a slow start, but veteran leaders like Lindor, Pete Alonso and Brandon Nimmo have been here before.
“We’re relying on everyone,” said Zach Short, a first-year Met and fourth-year major leaguer. “We’re not at the bottom, but there’s clearly a sense of crisis. If we don’t get off to a good start in April, things could turn into a downward spiral.
“But there are a lot of veterans in this clubhouse who have been through much worse. … We’re going to get it.”
Showalter’s 23-year-old Mets won their first game and got off to a 13-7 start before injuries and poor performance began to spread.
Shortstop spent his first three seasons with the Tigers, hitting below .500 in each of them.
The backup infielder felt like he was accepting defeat. Expectations are higher for the Mets, so now he sees the team not panicking, but not complacent either.
“Last year we lost nine in a row in Detroit, but we can’t get discouraged. It only makes things worse,” Short said. “I’m not running away from reality. But it’s a new day. I’ve got a new game.
“Especially losing the first four games in a row was tough. But we won four games in a row and came right back.”
