The Mets wish they weren’t so bad, but the National League is awful.
In most seasons, even talking about a pipe dream playoff run for a team that’s 11 games below .500 in June would be a mix of folly and delusion, and the way the Mets are playing, that probably rings true for them.
But in an era where six teams per league make the playoffs and only five teams will have a winning percentage above .500 in the National League in 2024, if you squint your eyes, the Mets might see more than just a relentless countdown to the trade deadline.
The patron saint of that belief system was in the opposing dugout at Citi Field last weekend. The Diamondbacks won the championship despite being two games under .500 on Aug. 11 last year and finishing as the sixth-best seed with just 84 wins. Arizona manager Torey Lovullo said the team was an “inspiring presence,” helping struggling teams visualize the possibilities.
That includes his own team, which sits in the NL quagmire of sub-mediocrity and wants to believe its best baseball is yet to come. Despite a 5-4 win on Sunday, the Diamondbacks were 27-32. But that’s the same record the Phillies had through 59 games last season, a point Lovullo made. And the Phillies finished as the top wild-card seed and played Arizona in seven games in the NL Championship Series.
This is what troubled teams turn to this time of year. It’s too early to give up, but too late to declare a bad start. The Mets can look down and see their team closer to the weak Rockies and Marlins (the only teams with the worst records in the National League) than to the pile of inferior wild cards ahead of them. The Cubs and Giants are currently tied at 29-31 for the final wild card spot.
But Adam Ottavino, for example, is trying to play the mind game of whether the Mets, having performed poorly for the first two months, can play just as well for the next two months to get to a .500 winning percentage and have a puncher’s chance in the final quarter of the season.
But at some point, no matter how bad things get league-wide, the Mets can’t lose sight of the path to a better tomorrow.
They are 3-7 in their 10 home games and their 21 home losses are tied with the White Sox, Angels and Marlins for the most in MLB.
“We have to play better, especially at home,” Carlos Mendoza said. “We have a road trip coming up and we need to get some wins.”
They traveled to two nation’s capitals – three games in Washington against the Nationals and two in London against the Phillies – and still couldn’t rely on any element of the game to elevate their play or their belief system.
The offense is looking lively, with J.D. Martinez and Mark Vientos adding depth and length to the lineup. But the Mets had a strange outing on Sunday. They scored four runs in the third inning to overcome an early 3-0 deficit. As part of that momentum, the team, which entered the game with an MLB-worst two triples, smashed back-to-back triples: Brandon Nimmo’s tying single with two runners on base and Martinez’s triple to give them the lead.
But the Mets managed just one hit and no runs over the remaining eight innings.
José Quintana gave up home runs to two of his first three batters and drew one boo from the City crowd of 31,059, while also allowing three walks and two hits, pitching just 84 pitches in four innings. Another short start forced a worn-out relief corps into big innings, with Dedniel Núñez, Danny Young, Reid Garrett and Ottavino responding with four scoreless innings and nine strikeouts.
But the Mets couldn’t win. Jake Diekman’s weaknesses were exposed when he gave up a pinch-hit double to Gabriel Moreno in the ninth inning, followed by a two-run homer to Ketel Marte to give the team the lead. The boos continued. Four games to a draw. The Mets were winless for seven straight series.
It’s a run that’s come with a record (24-35) that feels more like a punchline than a playoff contender. The NL depth isn’t great, but the Mets’ current situation is one of miserable defense (first baseman Pete Alonso, especially, and the Bermuda Triangle of missed outs from second baseman Jeff McNeil and right fielder Starling Marte), an offense still thirsting for a big-money player to emerge, and a pitching staff already slumping under a reliever who seems out of gas.
Ultimately, the strength of a playoff team isn’t just a function of the weaknesses of the league it plays in.
