The New York Mets have had some dark years in their 64 years of existence. Nearly every decade is marred by underwhelming rosters and pure depression.
The early 60s, 80’s and 90’s brought some serious misery. The early 2000s and 2010’s are the teams that put hair on my chest and showed me that life is actually cruel and often unfair. The late 2010’s would have been the most boring teams in MLB history if Jacob deGrom didn’t exist, and the early 2020’s were no different.
But then came the 2024 season.
The 2024 Mets were the most magical, magnificent, unstoppable force the city of New York had seen in a long time. The unlikely surge that team experienced with an even more unlikely cast of heroes at the helm made them the talk of the town even in a year where the Yankees LITERALLY MADE THE WORLD SERIES. After falling short, we then poached the Yankees star outfielder who is a generational talent named Juan Soto. June-December in 2024 was unprecedented territory for generations of Mets fans.
Everything that has followed this time span has been complete and utter dog poo. 2025 was an unrelenting roller coaster ride that saw the Mets getting eliminated on the last day of the season in the most cursed place imaginable…Miami. The offseason that ensued was even more cursed and could go down as the biggest dumpster fire in the history of the city and arguably the sport. With immense amounts of pain, Mets fans were forced to say goodbye to franchise legends in Brandon Nimmo, Pete Alonso and Edwin Diaz while saying hello to irrelevant garbage in Luis Robert, Bo Bichette and Jorge Polanco.
Pete Alonso was deemed “too expensive” for David Stearns’ liking because he is not the best defender in the world. He ignored the offensive output and made his decision solely based on his average to mediocre defensive play. So, in turn, Stearns enlisted Jorge Polanco, a second baseman, to be our starting first basemen and Bo Bichette, a shortstop and second baseman, to be our starting third baseman.
Mark Vientos, a third baseman who sucks at hitting, was chosen as the primary DH and backup first baseman. Brett Baty, who cannot even see baseballs at the dish but is a decent third baseman, was chosen to be the backup third baseman. Marcus Semien, who is an old piece of trash but is decent in the field, was brought in to play 2nd base and has been horrendous so far. Luis Robert, who has seemingly not played baseball since Nixon was president, was made the starting center fielder. Oh and he moved Juan Soto to LF after he played 157 games in RF last season.
Sounds like a nicely strung-together roster if you are into disasters and horrible things. It could not have gone any more wrong than it has at this point. Polanco missed 3 months, Luis Robert may not even exist anymore at this point, Bo Bichette is underwhelming, at best, and Pete Alonso is on track for 35+ HR and 120+ RBI (you know – what he always does).
The Mets are currently 38-54 which is a great record if you also happen to think being the 3rd worst team in baseball (with the second highest payroll) is good.
Here is a quick surface-level look into how electric the offense and lethal the pitching staff have been:
- 22nd in Runs scored
- 23rd in Hits
- 25th in Walks
- 26th in Avg
- 29th in OBP
- 28th in SLG
- 29th in BABIP
- 21st in ERA
- 16th in WHIP
Stats these great are the primary reason that they are still only a mere 15 games out of first place. It’s within reach! Ya Gotta Believe, right?
Heck, here are some more fun facts for you about the star-studded offensive unit this year:
- One player is hitting over .262. The 4th highest avg on the team is .218 (Baty).
- One player has an OBP higher than .322
- One player has a SLG higher than .408
- One player has hit more than 11 HR
The “one player” here is obviously Juan Soto, who has only played in the 5th most games for the Mets so far. He is smashing baseballs with a .299 avg, .410OBP, .985 OPS and 20 homers. Without him, they realistically are bottom 2 in all offensive categories, which again is a great thing if you love bad things and/or work for David Stearns.
Sarcasm aside, there are very few positives to take from this disaster of a season so far. The obvious is Juan Soto who continues to play at an MVP-caliber level and proves to be worth every cent of his massive contract. The other positive is the mini-core of youngsters who have shown that they have a seat at the table (and NO – I am NEVER REFERRING to Brett Baty or Mark Vientos). I am instead talking about the two younger hitters, AJ Ewing and Carson Benge, and the two pitchers, Nolan McLean and Christian Scott, who have actually contributed and shown some serious signs of major league potential in an otherwise lost season.
McLean has been up and down this year but has legitimate ace-level potential while Scott brings a Zack Wheeler kind of energy (Mets Wheeler – heaven knows we are never getting non-Mets Zack Wheeler) and has been impressive in his 11 stars this year. These two are a breath of fresh air compared to Freddy Peralta who very well may have pitched himself out of $200 million so far, Kodai Senga who cannot even throw wiffle balls anymore and David Peterson who has since been kicked out of the city and is on the verge of getting kicked out of Chicago too.
Benge and Ewing are electric, and it sucks it cannot be enjoyed more than it is now. Ewing is a sparkplug who has smacked 48 hits in his first 52 games this year, has swiped 9 bags and bashed out 6 homers. Benge is hitting a modest .262 (would be much higher if not for early season struggles) with 88 hits in 89 games and currently has 11 home runs and 12 stolen bases as he is low key on track for a 20-20 season. Both have been incredible defensively as well and that should be a massive note for the future job status of these two.
Enough with the positives…back to the good stuff.
Things need to massively change in the offseason. The players you can keep essentially boils down to this:
- Hitters: Juan Soto, *Francisco Lindor, AJ Ewing, Carson Benge, Ronny Mauricio (maybe)
- Pitchers: Nolan McLean, Christian Scott, Luke Weaver, Austin Warren, Brooks Raley
*Anyone who wants to trade Lindor is an idiot and their opinions will be ignored
Fire the rest of these schmucks into the Andromeda Galaxy and start from scratch…again.
I feel like I am trapped in a nightmare with this team. I feel like I am in detention but there are no clocks in the room, so the time drags and drags and drags and drags. I feel like I am in a long line at a store with no cashiers. I feel like I am at a red light and it has no plans of ever turning green.
I feel sad. I feel mad. And I feel nothing all at the same time.
I hate watching this team.
I hate following this team.
I have seen some horrible Mets teams in my life, but none more disappointing than this 2026 squad that is loaded with “talent”, overpaid, underperforming, and missing Pete.
Ya Gotta Be- ah screw it.
Knicks in 5.
It was always Knicks in 5. It will always be Knicks in 5.