The Mets have lost their mojo

New York gets shutout for the second straight night in Seattle. Plus, taking a look at how the vibes have changed for the team over the last few weeks.

Rich MacLeod

Aug 11, 2024

What’s Up with the Mets? ⚾️

The Mets lost their second straight game in Seattle, falling to the Mariners by a 4-0 score (box)
New York has now been shutout in back-to-back games and haven’t scored a run over their last 19 consecutive innings – the club had zero plate appearances with a runner in scoring position last night
LHP Sean Manaea was abysmal on Saturday night, pitching just three innings while allowing three runs on five walks and four hits
RHP Reed Garrett made his return from the injured list and looked sharp, striking out the side in one inning of work
After homering twice in Colorado on Thursday, 1B Pete Alonso is now 0-for-his-last-10 at the plate
SS Francisco Lindor went 2-for-4 at the plate and was the only player on the team with multiple hits
The Padres, Dbacks and Braves all won on Saturday night, dropping the Mets out of playoff position
The Mets are now 4-5 on this West Coast road trip, 6-8 over their last 14 games and 12-10 in the second half of the season

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Playoff Race 🏁

The Mets fell out of playoff position after their loss on Saturday night. They now trail the Atlanta Braves by a half-game, are 3.5 games behind the Diamondbacks, and 4.5 games back of the Padres.

There are 45 games remaining.

Per FanGraphs, the Mets have a 35.2 percent chance of making the postseason.

New York has the 18th easiest schedule in MLB the rest of the way.

Tiebreakers:

vs. ATL: 5-5
vs. ARI: 2-2
vs. SD: 3-0
vs. CIN: 2-1
vs. STL: 4-2 (finished)
vs. SF: 2-4 (finished)
vs. PIT: 5-2 (finished)
vs. CHC: 4-3 (finished)

Injury Updates 🏥

RHP Sean Reid-Foley (right shoulder impingement) will pitch multiple innings for the first time later today as he continues his rehab assignment
RHP Dedniel Núñez (right pronator strain) is expected to throw a bullpen session today

Roster Moves 📰

RHP Reed Garrett activated from the 15-day injured list
LHP Alex Young optioned to Triple-A Syracuse

Down on the Farm 🌾

3B Brett Baty (Triple-A): 2-for-8, 2 HR (13), 4 RBI
RHP Mike Vasil (No. 11 prospect, Triple-A): 6 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, BB, 8 K (win)

BOX SCORES

Single-A STL | High-A BRK | Double-A BNG: Gm 1 / Gm 2 | Triple-A SYR: Gm 1 / Gm 2

Today’s Game 🗓

Match-up: Mets (61-56) at Mariners (62-56)

Where: T-Mobile Park — Seattle, WA

Starters: RHP Luis Severino (7-5, 4.06 ERA) vs. RHP Luis Castillo (9-11, 3.48 ERA)

When: 7:10 PM EDT

Where to Watch: ESPN

Where, oh where have the OMG Mets gone? ✍️

It wasn’t all that long ago that the Mets were the most fun team in baseball. The vibes were high, with storyline after storyline any given night. There was Grimace, the “Gay Mets” during Pride Month, José Iglesias and his hit single “OMG,” and plenty of home runs and dancing in the dugout. Not to mention a whole lot of wins.

While you knew the Mets likely couldn’t keep up that significant clip of winning forever, the one thing you did hope for was that they would continue to be a fun team to watch the rest of the way and give you competitive games throughout the remainder of the summer. As they’ve gotten a bit deeper into the second half, however, that hasn’t quite been the case.

After yet another feckless loss in Seattle on Saturday night, the Mets fell to 4-5 on their West Coast road trip, and are now 6-8 over their last 14 games. And with the way this offense is performing lately, the “OMG Mets” could not feel any further away.

After last night, the Mets have been shutout in two straight games and have now gone 19 consecutive games without scoring a run. This stretch is merely a continuation of a pretty major downtrend for this offense in the second half of the season, however, rather than just a tiny blip.

In the first half of the season, the Mets offense averaged 4.9 runs per game. Over their first 22 games in the second half, they’re averaging 4.3 runs. The offense has also seen an uptick in strikeouts, going from 8.1 per nine innings to 9.4 in the second half.

The biggest folly for New York’s offense, though, has been in clutch situations. A far cry from how their offense looked when everything was clicking in June, the Mets have struggled in a major way with runners in scoring position over the last month now.

Since July 14th, the Mets are 39-for-184 (.212) with runners in scoring position – the 4th worst average in the major leagues over that time. And while there have been a handful of games where they’ve broken out a bit – their 15-run outburst vs the Twins two weeks ago certainly did a lot of heavy-lifting – one could argue that the RISP woes has been the biggest issue for this team over the last several weeks.

In addition to their failings in the clutch, the team’s best hitters have all simply gone cold at the same time. Here are how some of New York’s top hitters have been faring recently entering last night…

Francisco Lindor: .233/.281/.250, 0 HR, 18 Ks, .531 OPS since July 26th
J.D. Martínez: .223/.317/.340, 2 HR, 40 Ks, .657 OPS since July 3rd
Brandon Nimmo: .167/.283/.211, 0 HR, 32 Ks, .494 OPS since July 11th
Francisco Álvarez: .218/.269/.299, HR, 29 Ks, .568 OPS since July 2nd

The good news for the Mets is that they are in the exact same playoff position they were when this road trip initially started – a half-game out of the third Wild Card spot. The bad news, of course, is that New York has lost 3.5 games of ground on the Padres and three games on the Diamondbacks during this trip, and wasted a lot of opportunities by going 3-3 vs two of the worst teams in baseball in the Angels and Rockies.

Per Fangraphs, the Mets’ chances at making the postseason have decreased by 11.7 percent over the first nine games of this road trip.

This is not a “sky is falling” newsletter, nor are we forfeiting the remainder of this season, but it’s not reactionary to say that the vibes around this team have not been the same for a few weeks now. We may not need to say the OMG Mets again in order for this team to make the postseason, but we will need to see a level of baseball that’s more inspired than this.

Around the League 🚩

The Padres rallied to win their fourth straight game when trailing in the 8th inning or later and their seventh straight win overall, defeating the Marlins by a 9-8 score
The Dbacks also continued their outrageously hot play, blasting the Phillies thanks to a big game by CF Jake McCarthy
Braves 1B Matt Olson hit two home runs and drove in six runs as Atlanta ended their six-game losing streak with an 11-8 win over the Rockies
Astros RHP Spencer Arrighetti dominated with 13 strikeouts in the club’s 5-4 win over the Red Sox
The Yankees and Rangers split a double-header on Saturday, with Texas winning the first game 9-4 and New York winning game two 8-0
Orioles rookie phenom Jackson Holliday homered for the fourth time in six days as Baltimore outlasted the Rays, 7-5