Last night, the Atlanta Braves completed a three-game sweep of the New York Mets, who’d had their three best starters go in the series (Jacob deGrom, Max Scherzer, and Chris Bassitt). It was a pivotal series in the season, and the Braves handled their business against the best the Mets could throw at them.
The sweep pushed the Mets two games back of the Braves, and set them up for a brutal start to the postseason:
Oof.
Hey, congrats on counting those chickens back on August 2, Mets.
It’s not like I’m saying a better Trade Deadline would’ve resulted in a different outcome in this particular series, or even a derailing of the hard-charging Braves. We can’t know. But that’s kinda the whole problem: the Mets treated this year’s team like a sure thing that needed no significant additions at the deadline. They couldn’t know what might be coming, and they acted like having extra chances to win in 2023 and 2024 were more valuable than having the best possible chance this year. So I am voraciously consuming any and every bit of struggle that befalls them.
For example, when the Cubs swept the Mets earlier this month, it was extra delicious to me:
I just don’t like the Mets. I like some of their players. I like some of their fans. But overall, I have no interest in seeing the organization succeed.
That feeling was made all the more strong at this year’s trade deadline, when the Mets – seemingly a perfect fit in so many ways to trade with the Cubs – decided to go the cheap route, perhaps feeling burned by last year’s Báez-Pete-Crow-Armstrong swap. It was a cowardly move that potentially hurt the Cubs (long-term TBD), but it also just bothered me as a baseball fan. When you have a roster like the Mets, with so much concentrated talent and older impact pitching, and a huge lead in your division like they did at the time, that’s when you put the foot on the gas and really make significant additions for the postseason. The Mets didn’t, and it made me so annoyed.
The fall from the highest heights of their odds of winning the NL East – peaking right around the Trade Deadline – has been extreme:
Now, there certainly is one bit of fairness to point out. It’s not like the Mets have crumbled completely, and the story of the East is mostly about the Braves going absolutely nuts in the second half. That said, the Mets are just 25-22 since August 10. (The Chicago Cubs are 29-21 in that same period. EXTRA HARD TEA-SIP.)
Looking ahead, and ultimately circling back to the whole point of why I get so petty about what the Mets chose NOT to do at the deadline, all the Mets will be able to do from here is just keep spending more money:
Hey, if that’s what the Mets do – if Steve Cohen wants to push his already enormous payroll up toward $400 million, then so be it. But even doing that, just to keep this group together, is not going to guarantee them as good of a shot next year as they had this year. And that’s all it is: a shot. The Mets had an ALREADY-ESTABLISHED chance this year come August 2, and they proceeded like cowards.
I feel bad for some of the fans, but you better believe I’ll be rooting for an early playoff exit for the Mets against the Padres. And then if I have to root for the Dodgers from there, well, I’ll just do what I have to do as a Professionally Petty Fan.