Mets in Rare And Unfortunate Territory in These Two Areas

The New York Mets and the phrases “postseason contention” or “wild-card contention” were mentioned quite a bit this weekend, and none of it was for good reasons.

First, it was wild-card contention and how the St. Louis Cardinals’ incredible winning streak — coupled with the Mets’ ability to lose consistently — officially eliminated New York from that postseason chase. The following day, a win by the Philadelphia Phillies eliminated the Mets from the NL East race, ending any hopes of October baseball in Queens for the first time since 2016.

None of this is a surprise, but it still stings. You know, especially since this club managed to stay in first place for three months and couldn’t take advantage of everyone else in the NL East losing to build up any kind of legitimate divisional lead. In the first half, the Mets appeared to be masters at minimizing the damage. In the second half, they’ve become masters of making it as terrible as possible. The last few months have been a little torturous, but what’s the worst collapse in franchise history? The immediate answer to that question is likely 2007, which is valid. However, as if what we’ve been watching can’t get much worse, it actually can.

While New York got swept out of Milwaukee and helped the Brewers secure the NL Central title over the weekend, our old friend Ryan Finkelstein shared this little nugget on the Twitter machine:

In the second half of 2007, Philly went 45-29. As much as the Mets lost it, the Phillies won it.

This year, the Mets have gone 25-40 since the break.

Doesn't look as bad as a blown seven-game lead with 17 to play, but it's still a far larger sample of bad baseball.

— Ryan Finkelstein (@FinkelsteinRyan) September 25, 2021

Ryan got me thinking about some of the areas New York has really struggled in as a team in 2021. When looking at various win-loss splits, the two areas that stick out the quickest are the lack of results away from Citi Field and following the All-Star break.

While the club rests on Monday ahead of its final home series against the Miami Marlins, they own a 29-49 record on the road and have gone just 25-42 since the midsummer classic. That is…terrible, and since I hate myself, I decided to look at the Mets’ results in these areas back to 2000 to see how terrible it is.

Just as I suspected, it’s uniquely terrible. Here’s a look at the Mets’ win-loss record and winning percentages each year on the road since 2000:

Let’s put these numbers into perspective. Since 2000, the Mets have finished with a road winning percentage below .400 three times (2003, 2009, 2010). New York’s current .372 winning percentage as the visiting team is set to be the second-lowest since the turn of the millennium. They finish the season with three games in Atlanta, and if manager Luis Rojas‘ team gets swept (which, let’s be honest, is very much in the range of possibilities), their winning percentage in this category will be tied for the lowest over the past 22 seasons.

And then there’s New York’s dismal second-half performance. Here’s a look at how this year has stacked up to others since the 2000 campaign. Again, it’s not great (although, maybe slightly better?):

During this period of time, the Mets have finished with a second-half winning percentage lower than .400 on four different occasions (2003, 2004, 2009, 2012). The 2021 club needs to win five of its final seven games to not become the fifth. New York’s current .373 winning percentage is tied for the third-lowest mark over the past 22 seasons, and it’s the lowest since Terry Collins watched his team post a .368 winning percentage after the 2012 All-Star Game.

That 2012 season serves as an interesting parallel to 2021, too. Before the bottom fell out in the second half nine years ago and they finished 74-88, the Mets entered the midseason break with a 46-40 record. This year’s version of the Mets were 48-40 at the break, and we’ll see how close to that 74-88 mark they get over the next week.

Right after Thanksgiving this past year, I wrote about how new owner Steve Cohen and his organization were entering a critically important platform year. After all, Cohen mentioned wanting to become the East Coast version of the Los Angeles Dodgers, and that he’d be disappointed if New York didn’t win a World Series within the next three to five years. The 2021 season hasn’t served as the type of springboard we were all hoping for, and there’s a lot of work that needs to be done this winter, both to the roster and inside the front office.

Let’s also not forget that Rome wasn’t built in a day. Completely undoing everything the Wilpons did can’t just immediately happen. Would it be nice if the Mets played October baseball this year to get some fast positive results? Well, yes, but this isn’t the end. With the last ownership group, it felt as if mediocrity was an acceptable outcome. It doesn’t feel that way anymore, and the next test of that will be what happens during the offseason.

Hopefully, within the next two to four years, we can look back on these struggles from the Mets and talk about how it all feels like it was ages ago.

The post Mets in Rare And Unfortunate Territory in These Two Areas first appeared on Metsmerized Online.