It's time for the Mets to start over
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It's time for the Mets to start over
The Mets lose their third straight game to the Phillies. Plus, how the organization has to move forward after being eliminated from postseason contention.
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What’s Up with the Mets? ⚾️
The Mets lost to the Phillies for the third straight night, this time by a 7-5 score (box)
LHP José Quintana had his first rough start in a Mets uniform, allowing six runs (five earned) over six innings with 10 strikeouts
CF Brandon Nimmo continued his hot hitting with a two-run triple in the loss
3B Brett Baty went 2-for-4 at the plate with a run scored, and is hitting .313 in four games since returning from injury
The Mets are now 10-11 in September, 3-74 when trailing after 8 innings, 21-24 against the NL East, 57-29 when scoring four or more runs, 11-58 when allowing five or more runs, and 29-36 since the All-Star Game
The start time of tonight’s game has been pushed back to 6:05 PM EDT due to rain in the forecast
Who’s Hot🔥
Over his last 40 games, Brandon Nimmo is hitting .319/.393/.577 with 11 doubles, two triples, nine home runs, 19 RBI, 52 total hits and 19 walks
Prospect Watch 🔎
RHP Justin Jarvis (No. 15 prospect, Triple-A): 3.1 IP, 9 H, 5 ER, 2 BB, 3 K (loss)
Today’s Game 🗓
Match-up: Mets (71-84) at Phillies (86-69)
Where: Citizens Bank Park – Philadelphia, PA
Starting pitchers: RHP José Butto (3-5, 3.02 ERA) vs. LHP Cristopher Sánchez(2-5, 3.55 ERA)
When: 6:05 PM EDT
Where to Watch: WPIX, MLB Network
Eliminated from postseason contention, the Mets must avoid a repeat of 2023… ✍️
The fact that the Mets being eliminated from postseason contention on Friday flew under the radar only underscores how massive a disappoint this organization was this season.
Coming off a 101-win season with a lot of exciting moments up until the final few weeks, big things were expected from these Mets once again heading into the 2023 season. But as you all know by now, things just never felt right for this team. They lost Edwin Díaz for the year and both Justin Verlander and José Quintana to injuries before a meaningful pitch was ever even thrown, dealt with the age-related regressions of Max Scherzer and Starling Marte, and had underperformance spread across the roster as if it were a plague.
Before you knew it the team was 10 games under the .500 mark, a place that they have struggled to escape from ever since. It became clear that even if the Mets had kept the band together, things were just never going to click into place this year. So, they made the prudent choice and sold-off their talented veterans (plus some major cash) in order to reload a farm system that was in need for more high-end talent.
Since then, fans have been pretty disengaged – and who could blame them? The team had been out of it long before they decided to sell, waived the white flag and was playing a who’s who of “who?” for several weeks after the trade deadline before calling up any additional prospects to the big leagues.
So, when the club was mercifully officially eliminated from postseason contention after their loss in Philadelphia on Friday, it finally closed the book on what is likely the greatest disappointment in Mets history.
It didn’t feel that way in the moment because there was no grande moment of failure, no Game 162 defeat, no shock to be had. But that’s because this season died slowly long ago, and no fan in their right mind had any designs on anything happening for the remainder of this season that involved winning baseball games in a meaningful way.
There may still be a handful of games remaining this season, but for all intents and purposes it’s time for the Mets to set their sights on 2024. The front office is set-up better than it ever has been in the Steve Cohen era after reportedly hiring David Stearns to act as the club’s President of Baseball Operations, and there will still be money available to spend even if it won’t be exactly the same as it was in the past two offseasons.
This franchise has their work cut out for them, as they will need to rebuild a starting rotation that doesn’t have much after Kodai Senga and José Quintana. Perhaps one of José Butto, David Peterson or Tylor Megill can put themselves in a position to win a rotation spot next spring, but none of them should be written into this starting five in ink. Maybe the team will be all-in on Shohei Ohtani even though he won’t be able to pitch until 2025 or another Japanese phenom in Yoshinobu Yamamoto. New York will also need to remake their bullpen and could still use another bopper in a lineup that had some major hot and cold moments early in this season.
The 2023 season is all-but in the books now for the Mets, and they will need to do a lot of work to avoid another major disappointment next season.
Around the League 🚩
Orioles LHP John Means flirted with a no-hitter in the club’s 2-1 win over the Guardians, reducing their magic number in the AL East to five
The Rangers defeated the Mariners for the second straight night and increased their lead in the AL West to 1.5 games
The Pirates pulled off their greatest comeback in franchise history, rallying back from a 9-0 deficit to deliver a crushing 13-12 loss to the Reds
Rays 2B Brandon Lowe connected on a walk-off single to beat the Blue Jays 7-6 and clinch at least a top Wild Card spot
