BY MIKE RIFKIN
Since April 5th the Mets held a playoff spot, on Sunday that evaporated. By virtue of the Mets losing to the Nationals and the Reds beating the Cubs, Cincinnati now controls the final wild card spot in the National League entering the final week of the season. If you had said the Mets would have a chance to miss the playoffs during spring training, I’d ask you what happened? This was not supposed to happen when the Mets signed Juan Soto, the goal is to win the World Series, so what has happened?
Well, there’s a lot of blame to go around. People will blame Soto for his slow start, but at the end of the year he has put up his MVP like numbers including a career high in home runs. Pete Alonso also has had an MVP-esque season, and has probably been the most consistent Met all season. Francisco Lindor, the team MVP last season has had a good year, but it’s hard to put the blame on him. So if the stars were the stars, what happened? Well, Mark Vientos who a lot of people thought would take another step in his development, didn’t realize the season started until after the All-Star break, and has been marred with inconsistencies. Francisco Alvarez has had an injury plagued season. Those two were guys the Mets were hoping took the next step.
Where the Mets really failed this season was in the pitching department. Yes, Nolan McLean, Jonah Tong, and Brandon Sproat have all made their debuts in the second half, but that’s because the guys the Mets were counting on have not done their job. Kodai Senga has not been the same since he injured his hamstring in June, Sean Manea has also struggled mightily. Now we don’t know how much the loose bodies in his elbow are bothering him, but he’s not the guy who helped lead this team to the NLCS last season. David Peterson has struggled since the break as well. So the top three in the rotation have struggled, Griffin Canning, who was a massive surprise early, tore his Achilles. Clay Holmes made 30 plus starts, in his first season starting after spending years in the bullpen. The biggest problem with the Mets pitching, which shockingly was awesome in the first half, is that they don’t go deep into games and they’ve worn out the bullpen. The Mets have used a record 46 pitchers this season, not a recipe for success. Now, while I like David Stearns and how he utilizes his “pitching lab” the Mets need a true number one this Winter (more on that later).
But what’s most unacceptable is this, they play down to their competition, very similar to their collapse in 2022. The Mets are currently 5-5 against the Marlins (one series left), 7-6 vs the Nationals, 5-8 against the Braves, 2-4 against the Pirates, and 1-2 against the Orioles. Good teams beat bad teams, well the Mets struggled with that this season.
Steve Cohen challenged the fans to come support the team before the season, well the Mets’ fans did by breaking the Citi Field attendance record this season. This is how the fans get repaid, by having another late season meltdown, like 2007,08 and 2022. This isn’t on Cohen or David Stearns, even though his trade deadline didn’t work out. This is on the players, Carlos Mendoza and Jeremy Hefner. If the Mets miss the playoffs, there will be something going down, because Steve Cohen and the fans will not tolerate this.
The Sports Insanity Network 