Credit: Darren Yamashita-USA TODAY Sports

Another game, another lackluster offensive performance by the New York Mets on Saturday evening. The New York offense, for the most part, has been struggling, outside some single-game explosions, for months. The main culprit of all these struggles can be traced back to a lack of power. Specifically, the home-run ball.

The Mets’ offense has largely been praised by fans and pundits for putting the ball in play. The reason being: you put the ball in play, and good things happen. Well, that may be true, though, to an extent. Sometimes, you put the ball in play and it finds the opposition gloves. Sometimes, you are unable to put the ball in play enough consecutively to generate tangible offense. That is exactly what has been happening lately for the Mets. In doing so, it is also showing that this praised style of offense may not be sustainable in today’s MLB.

Example of this happening was Saturday night. In the game’s first inning, New York tallied two hits and a walk – each hit being a single, but New York was only able to push across a single run. In the fourth inning, the Braves tallied two-straight hits, instantly resulting in a run. The reason why, one of these hits were a double. In the fifth inning, the Mets manufactured three-straight singles, totaling only a single run. In the bottom half, Atlanta only had two hits, though resulting two runs due to a home run blasted by Dansby Swanson.

Atlanta went on to showcase their power once more via a solo home run, an important insurance run. In the game, the Mets actually had a higher expected batting average, though, the Braves utilized their power to create the runs. When it comes to offense, utilizing power does more damage than just putting the ball in play and counting on those balls finding open space. It takes only one powerful swing to generate several runs. Conversely, it takes several singles to generate several runs.

So, what are some examples of just how much power the Mets have lacked in comparison to other top-tier teams in the league? Since June 1, the Braves have hit 177 home runs, the Mets only 115. That 115 figure ranks 15th-best in the MLB, tied with the bottom-dwelling Pittsburgh Pirates. Meanwhile, the Braves’ 177 longballs are tied with the AL-East champion New York Yankees for the highest in the MLB.

These home run struggles date further back than to June 1. Since the beginning of the season, the Mets have only hit 162. That ranks below league average at 16th in MLB. Only three of the 11 other playoff teams have less home runs than the Mets. Only one of those are a division winner, the Cleveland Guardians, who arguably play in the worst division in baseball and far worse American League.

To make the home run issues worse, 25% of the Mets’ longballs this season are from one individual (Pete Alonso). An even more staggering 40% have come from two Mets’ hitters (Alonso and Francisco Lindor). New York only has three players that have hit 20-plus home runs this season, and four that have hit at least 15. Once of which has been on the shelf for the past couple weeks in Starling Marte.

The Tampa Bay Rays have the same amount of 20-plus home run hitters and the San Diego Padres have the same amount of 15-plus home run hitters. Each are playoff teams and each are two of the three playoff teams that have hit fewer home runs than the Mets this season. Several non-playoff teams also surpass New York in these categories.

So, not only are the Mets not hitting the longball a lot in total, they also do not have multiple guys up-and-down the lineup hitting them. When so much home run production is coming from a source or two, less damage as a whole is being done.

The Mets’ current offensive play style is not fatal in the sense of winning ballgames. New York has won ballgames all season long, as evident by the team being on pace to break 100 wins. Breaking the 100-win threshold is something that has not been done by the franchise since 1988, and has only been done three other times in franchise history. Though, as it is showing currently, this type of style may not be sustainable in today’s game. Especially in vital games against the league’s best.

Another point worth discussing is this offense is it is very susceptible to bad luck. Make no mistake about it, the Mets do what they do well very well. Their team expected batting average of .251 is third-highest in the league. Nothing about the Mets’ offense this season has been lucky. However, luck can very well much go the other way. As you saw last night, good defenses can neutralize the “put the ball in play” approach to an extent. Sometimes those balls put in play find mitts. Hitting for power and home runs ensure this does not happen. There is very little luck involved in hitting a home run. Hitting singles, that is a different story. As mentioned above, “It takes only one powerful swing to generate several runs. Conversely, it takes several singles to generate several runs.”

There is nothing New York can do now per se. This other than hope the bats start providing more power or luck starts to sway into their favor. Though, this issue is something that the Mets’ front office should keep in mind entering the offseason. The New York Mets’ lineup needs more power.