The walks are killing the Mets!

11 walks led to their demise against the A's on Wednesday, a game they had in the bank

NY Post

What’s Up with the Mets? ⚾️

• The Mets’ pitching couldn’t hold a big lead against Oakland and ultimately lost 7-6 (box)

• The Mets pitching staff issued eleven walks and hit a better in the finale against Oakland

• LHP José Quintana got the start and was not great. His final line was 4.0 IP, 7 H, 4 ER, 4 BB, and a K. It was his shortest outing since June 28 and was the fifth time in 24 starts that he has failed to pitch into the fifth inning

• 3B Mark Vientos blasted two home runs while batting in the two-hole. He is sporting a .908 OPS over his last 44 games

• C Luis Torrens doubled home two runs with the bases loaded. He is batting .455 with 24 RBI with the bases loaded for his career

• It was their first series loss at home since they dropped two of three to the Astros in June

• They are now 6-3 in rubber games this season and 21-13 in one-run games

• They are 2-8 in their last 10 interleague games

• The game lasted 3 hours and forty-five minutes, the longest game in the pitch clock era

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Playoff Race 🏁

The Mets remained two games behind the Braves for the final Wild Card spot after the Braves lost to the Giants.

There are 41 games remaining.

Per FanGraphs, the Mets have an 18.6% chance of making the postseason.

New York has the 10th most difficult 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)

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Walk this way… 🚶

• The Mets have issued 468 walks, the most in the National League and second in the majors behind the White Sox (485)

• They’re averaging 3.9 walks per nine innings, the most in the NL and second most in MLB behind only the White Sox (4.09)

• The Mets have issued ten walks or more twice in a game, eight walks or more five times, seven walks or more 14 times, and six walks or more 24 times

• The Mets have hit two or more batters 14 times this season and have hit 78 batters this season, the most in MLB

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Mets offense, since the All-Star Game… 🏟️

• Team average: .248 (16th in MLB)

• .322 OBP (12th)

• .409 SLG (19th)

• .730 OPS (15th)

• 115 runs (13th)

• 30 home runs (18th)

• 109 wRC+ (10th)

• -2.6 BsR (base running metric, 27th)

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Mets pitching, since the All-Star Game… 🏟️

• 4.04 ERA (15th)

• 106 walks (29th)

• 253 strikeouts (4th)

• 194 hits allowed (10th)

• 30 home runs allowed (14th)

• 20 HBP (30th)

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Injury Updates 🏥

• LF Brandon Nimmo (stomach bug) did not play in the finale against the A’s

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Down on the Farm 🌾

• OF Drew Gilbert (No. 3 prospect, Triple-A): 1-for-3, 2 RBI, BB, K

• OF Ryan Clifford (No. 4 prospect, Double-A): 2-for-4, R, K

• DH Carson Benge (No. 5 prospect, Single-A): 1-for-2, R, 3 BB, K (debut)

BOX SCORES

Single-A STL | High-A BRK | Double-A BNG | Triple-A SYR

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Today’s Game 🗓

Match-up: Mets (62-59) vs. Marlins (45-76)

Where: Citi Field — Flushing, NY

Starters: LHP Sean Manaea (8-5, 3.44 ERA) vs. RHP Muñoz, Rod (2-6, 5.67 ERA)

When: 7:10 PM EDT

Where to Watch: SNY

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The walks are leading to the Mets demise… ✍️

As the season starts inching towards the home stretch of September, every game is critical which is why the Mets need to take advantage of second division teams on their schedule.

Granted, this is Major League Baseball and any team can win at any time but the goal is to hand games to the opposition along the way - especially to the bottom feeders in the league - which is exactly what the Mets did in their 7-6 loss to the A’s to close what turned out to be a very disappointing series to the A’s.

After jumping out to a 5-0 lead the team should have been in cruise control to win both the game and the series.

But that is not what happened because they. could. not. stop. walking. batters.

They issued eleven walks while also hitting a batter, blowing a 5-0 lead in the process and ultimately losing to the A’s 7-6.

Simply put, a team cannot keep giving free passes and hitting batters and expect to win the game no matter who they’re facing. Every single pitcher walked at least one batter and Carlos Mendoza used six different pitchers in the game. José Quintana walked four in four innings and gave up four runs. Huascar Brazobán relieved Quintana and walked two while giving up a run. Reed Garrett followed Brazobán and only walked one but gave up two runs including the go-ahead run.

Phil Maton, Ryne Stanek, and Edwin Díaz all walked batters but kept Oakland off the board but the damage had already been done.

The Mets walked 21 batters and hit two batters in their three-game series against the A’s. They gave up 17 runs in the process.

It’s not hard to figure out why they lost this series, is it?

The Mets’ staff trails only the woeful White Sox in BB/9. The White Sox are issuing 4.09 BB/9 for worst in the league and the Mets are right behind them with a BB/9 of 3.84. The Mets starters, however, claim the top spot of 3.70 BB/9 ahead of Chicago’s rate of 3.62. The relievers drop to fourth worst in the league with a walk rate of 4.05 trailing just the White Sox, Texas, and Colorado for a stat nobody wants.

So obviously, no matter starter or reliever this is a team-wide problem and is one of the culprits for why they are out of a Wild Card spot right now.

The high walk rate was originally attributed to the loss of Francisco Álvarez who was known for his elite framing capability and credited with helping to keep the pitching staff afloat. However, even with Álvarez, the problem has persisted.

The Mets are having a tough enough time winning ballgames and staying in the Wild Card race thanks to both the Diamondbacks and Padres essentially winning every day. They desperately need to figure out a way to stop making it harder on themselves by always having traffic on the base paths.

Otherwise, the show will be over sooner rather than later in 2024.

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Around the League 🚩

• Major League Baseball is reportedly weighing the idea of making six-inning starts mandatory for pitchers

• The 2025 spring training schedules were released with the first game scheduled for February 20 between the Cubs and Dodgers

• Weston Wilson hit for the cycle in the Phillies 13-3 win over the Nationals

• Christian Yelich will undergo back surgery ending his season

• The Twins placed Byron Buxton on the IL with right hip inflammation