If you think this New York Mets season has been particularly chaotic, there’s good reason.
The team has essentially been on a roller coaster of drama since early April. After a 7-3 start, the team seems to be mired in a constant state of disarray and a day seldom goes by without something negative happening. Presented below is a comprehensive list of the turmoil that has engulfed the team the last five weeks.
April 14: Loss on walk-off to Marlins.
After being locked at a 2-2 stalemate, lefty Josh Edgin entered the game for the Mets in the ninth inning and recorded two outs after a walk to lead-off man Miguel Rojas, but J.T. Realmuto made him pay, driving in the winning run with a double to right.
April 15: Jacob deGrom strikes out 13, but bullpen implodes in eighth.
DeGrom turned in seven strong innings and exited the game in line for the win, but Fernando Salas was tagged for three runs in the eighth to give the Fish a dramatic win for the second straight game.
April 16: Loss on walk-off home run after Asdrubal Cabrera‘s ninth inning heroics.
After being down 2-0 going into the ninth, Cabrera knotted the game up for the Mets, but in the bottom half of the frame, the Marlins sent the Mets home with their tails between their legs when J.T. Riddle hit his first career a home run, a walk-off against Addison Reed.
April 18: Jose Reyes pulls a Luis Castillo.
With a 2-1 lead in the eighth inning, Reyes drops a routine pop fly enabling the Phillies to tie up the game and win it in extras.
April 19: Lucas Duda hurt, Travis d’Arnaud hurt.
While the Mets were able to stop their skid by defeating Philadelphia 5-4, it would prove to be bittersweet as Duda left the game with a hyperextended wrist and d’Arnaud a right wrist contusion.
Duda would be placed on the disabled list several days later before returning May 12, while d’Arnaud continues to rehab at Triple-A Las Vegas.
April 20: Yoenis Cespedes exits game with hamstring pain.
“I felt a shock,” Cespedes said after departing the Mets 6-4 loss against the Phillies. On April 28, Cespedes was placed on the 10-day disabled list with a left hamstring sprain and has been sidelined since.
April 21: Loss on Jeurys Familia walk, Wilmer Flores to disabled list.
Opening a three-game weekend series against the Washington Nationals, The Mets were able to match the Nats pitch-for-pitch before Familia walked in the winning run in the eleventh inning.
As icing on the cake, Flores landed himself on the DL with a knee infection.
April 22: Two hit vs. Nationals.
DeGrom turned in another solid performance, notching 10 strikeouts, but the Nationals stymied the beleaguered Mets who fell to a then 8-10.
April 23: Max Scherzer solidifies series sweep.
The Nationals put up a four spot in the first inning en route to a 6-3 victory over New York.
April 26: Noah Syndergaard scratched with biceps injury, Braves tee off against Robert Gsellman.
After Syndergaard was pushed back a day, Gsellman got the nod but served up a five run first, leading to a 8-2 Atlanta victory.
April 27: Matt Harvey forced to start with little notice, Cespedes re-aggravates hamstring.
Harvey surrendered six runs and issued a career high five walks in just 4 1/3 innings after finding out three hours before first pitch he would be starting in place of a late scratch of Syndergaard.
The next day, Cespedes was placed on the disabled list.
April 28: Familia meltdown, but Edgin plays hero.
With a 7-5 lead, Familia came on for the save but got himself into a mess by loading the bases with no out.
Familia struck out the next batter, but was replaced by Edgin who pulled a Houdini, getting Bryce Harper to roll into a double play to seal the win.
April 30: Syndergaard has lat issue, Mets give up a whopping 23 runs.
After Syndergaard was touched up for five runs in just 1 1/3 innings, Sean Gilmartin, Salas and Josh Smoker allowed a combined 14 runs before handing the ball over to backup catcher Kevin Plawecki who gutted out the final two innings, allowing four more runs.
May 3: Syndergaard officially out for the foreseeable future.
After being placed on the disabled list with a partially torn lat on May 1, the projected amount of time the righty would miss was determined to be in the several months range.
May 4: Mets are winning — game gets rained out.
Jay Bruce smacked what would have been his then team leading 10th home run, but after a subsequent two hour rain delay, the game was called after four innings with the Mets leading 3-1.
May 5: d’Arnaud joins the long list of Mets on the disabled list.
After a lingering bone bruise on his right wrist, d’Arnaud is placed on the disabled list.
May 6: Cabrera injures thumb.
While the Mets were victorious, all eyes were on Cabrera, who injured his thumb on a diving play in the third inning.
May 7: Harvey suspended by team; Adam Wilk pounded for six runs in spot start.
Hours before the 1:10 p.m. start, the Mets announced that Harvey would not make his scheduled start and had been suspended three games without pay by the team, which later revealed to be his Cinco de Mayo festivities and golf outings that led to him skipping the previous game altogether.
Left-hander Adam Wilk was called upon from Triple-A to make a spot start and surrendered three home runs in 3 2/3 innings to sour the day even further.
May 9: Harvey apologizes during press conference.
With welled-up eyes, Harvey apologized to his teammates and faced the media as not Batman, but an embarrassed shell of himself.
May 10: Another Familia meltdown.
With a 3-2 lead going into the ninth, Familia was called upon to record the save, but failed to do so, instead allowing four runs as the Giants went on to salvage the final game of the three-game series.
May 11: Familia has arterial blood clot in shoulder.
After his poor outing the day prior, it was announced that Familia was suffering from a clot in his right shoulder, jeopardizing the future of his season.
May 12: Familia has surgery, Harvey flat against Brewers.
Familia underwent surgery to remove the blood clot in his pitching shoulder, likely ending the all-star closer’s 2017 campaign.
That night after being reinstated by the Mets, Harvey had another brutal performance, allowing five runs on seven hits in five innings against Milwaukee.
May 13: Mets give up eight runs in fifth inning.
With a 4-2 lead in the fifth inning, the Brewers batted around and sent 12 batters to the dish, scoring eight runs off Gsellman and Hansel Robles, topped off by a three-run shot off the bat of Travis Shaw.
May 14: Mets blow 9-1 lead, lose 11-9.
If everyone thought things couldn’t be as bad as the night prior, they were wrong as the Brewers came down from being on the opposite end of a 9-1 game to win.
May 15: Mets give up six runs in eighth inning.
With the Mets and Diamonbacks knotted up at one going into the eighth, Arizona teed off against the Mets bullpen, hitting three big flies in the inning to bury the Mets in the dirt.
May 16: Cabrera to disabled list.
After injuring his thumb 10 days prior, Cabrera is finally put on the disabled list.
May 17: Rafael Montero gives up walk-off home run.
After tying the ballgame in the seventh inning, Rafael Montero toed the rubber for the eleventh and almost like clockwork served up a walk-off home run to Chris Herrmann to extend the Mets losing streak to seven games.
May 20: David Wright suffers setback.
After suffering a setback in his throwing program, Wright’s status for the rest of the season is up in the air. There is no definitive date for the slugger to begin rehabbing again.
May 21: Tommy Milone gives up eight runs in 1 1/3 IP.
C.J. Cron slugged a grand slam in the first inning to seal Milone and the Mets fate very early on, leaving the Mets with a bitter end to a series victory yet again.
With Michael Conforto stepping up to the plate and Reyes backing him up in the No. 2 spot, in addition to Matz, Lugo, d’Arnaud and Cespedes all set to return sooner rather than later, the Mets could be turning a corner.
It would be a blessing, as the Mets have encountered enough bad juju for one season — or 10.
