Oct 7, 2022; New York City, New York, USA; New York Mets starting pitcher Max Scherzer (21) hands the ball to manager Buck Showalter (11) in the fifth inning during game one of the Wild Card series for the 2022 MLB Playoffs at Citi Field. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports
The Mets season is over.
Now, what the hell am I going to talk to my dad about for the next five months?
A season that seemed destined for greatness crashed and burned in a way only the Mets can muster.
The Kafkaesque franchise built for moments like the last two weekends managed to come away with nothing. And in their final game, they added one hit, one ear massage, one uninspired playing of Narco, and no World Series victory for the 36th year in a row.
It’s a disaster. All they had to do was not get swept by Atlanta. All they had to do was not lose with the two best pitchers of a generation starting. All they had to do…
Another offseason of questions approaches us. They spent $313 million on a team that couldn’t advance past the Wild Card. That couldn’t win the division. That couldn’t put up more than one hit in an elimination game. Where do they go from here?
The Mets won 101 games this season yet this year still feels like another failure. Steve Cohen’s five-year timeline to win the World Series is closing and the reality is this could’ve been the team with the best chance to do it. Now they’ll approach an offseason with the possibility Jacob deGrom, Brandon Nimmo, and Edwin Diaz aren’t on this team next season.
It hurts. They went all in and it was all for nothing.
So get out your same-old Mets jokes because at the end of the day it sure seems like they’re the same old Mets.
The Mets get to sit at home and watch their two division rivals battle it out in the NLDS when it should be them. But they didn’t show up. They proved they didn’t deserve to be there. The performance throughout the Wild Card round was unacceptable.
Who had the putrid performances? Max Scherzer – the man you pay $43.3 million a season to pitch in that moment -, Chris Bassitt – who you traded for to be the best No. 3 option in baseball -, Starling Marte – who you signed to a four-year deal -, then two other guys you brought in with Mark Canha and Daniel Vogelbach went hitless. All of them will be Mets next season.
You can’t base all your judgment on those players because of a three-game series. Yet someone needs to take blame for the collapse of a 10.5 divisional lead and losses in the two most important series of the season.
It’s frustrating. Nothing ever seems to come easy with the franchise. Yet we still pay attention to 162 games in the regular season and maybe once every eight seasons we get to watch them in the postseason. But we still love them.
You and I will still tune in. We learn nothing from our trauma. And that’s what makes baseball and this loss hurt so much. Now we wait until pitchers and catchers report. We will get out hopes up again. We will cheer for the Mets once again. And inevitably we will get our hearts broken. But one day when the Mets raise that trophy we’ll say it was worth it.
Until next season. Let’s go Mets.
