Crumminess Again and Again (and Again)

[G-Fafif]

Does this season's crumminess as its midpoint rapidly approaches feel disturbingly familiar? It should. The Mets are under .500 after 74 games for a third consecutive season, the first time the Mets have strung together these kinds of doldrums at this precise juncture of the schedule three straight years since 1994 through 1996 (actually 1992 through 1996).



2017: 33-41

2018: 31-43

2019: 35-39



There's not necessarily a speck of significance to the 74-game mark that couldn't be attributed to, say, the 75-game mark, other than that's how many games the Mets have played up to this moment, yet it surely signifies that it's no longer so early that you can slough off results to date to a small sample size. If you're of an optimistic bent, you're still scrounging around the GB column in both the division and Wild Card races and telling yourself it's not too late, particularly if you fancy the Mets just one decent hot spell from getting back to .500. And, of course, that's true -- we even have a primo example in our own family album, from 1973, to tell us not to give up despite a blahful record that seems to get a little more blah every week (we were 33-41 after 74 games that year).



Nevertheless, we recognize a going-nowhere late-June vibe when we feel it. And when we feel it literally year after year after year, well, it weighs on the collective fandom. That this particular run has ensued with three distinct GM/Mgr combos -- Alderson-Collins; Alderson-Callaway (which became Ricco/Minaya/Ricciardi-Callaway); Van Wagenen-Callaway -- makes it all the more vexing, because you can't lay the blame for the whole thing at the feet of a given entity in the traditional "fire this guy" sense. Yes, you can rail all day and all night at the organizational fungus that grows from the ownership suite, but unless you've got a whole lot of green, it's gonna be tough to dislodge those gentlemen.



The 74-game mark is not destiny, but only a few outliers haven't really announced their intentions across Met history by now. Only the 1973 and 2001 clubs below .500 at this point finished above .500. The 1991, 2002 and 2010 Mets were the only ones above .500 who finished below it. Five teams were at exactly .500; four (1976, 2005, 2008 and 2015) would rise above; the other, 2009, was about to drop below for good.



I guess as long as there's a 1973 embedded in my consciousness, as long as there remain a handful of players from the 2015 team who I remember seeing in an actual World Series, and as long as 88 games remain, I'll buy a little into the outside chance that this season isn't already what it's going to down as. But probably not that much.

[kcmets]

organizational fungus that grows from the ownership suite

"That's gold, Jerry, gold!"

[whippoorwill]

In 1973 we had starters that also ended, and tug McGraw if they couldn't.

Big difference

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

Faint praise for the 19 squad but I'm not nearly as hopeless as last year on this date. That said I see no catalyst, and am sobered by the notion that the guys who are performing now are playing out of their minds

[Centerfield]

Exactly right. It's the same thing over and over again. And we know the reason why. And if there's any silver lining it's that the truth is becoming more and more evident.



But there are still a contingent of those who turn a blind eye and insist nothing is wrong. "It's just bad luck that we keep losing every year. Let's try the same thing in 2020."



The Wilpons love those fans.

[Benjamin Grimm]

My hope is that when Fred dies that Jeff decides that he'd rather have $2 billion than a perpetually mediocre baseball team with a fan base that largely despises him.



We haven't seen any evidence that that's the case, but it's my hope.

[Centerfield]

Wouldn't it be funny if Jeff never really wanted any of this and he was just doing it because his dad made him? One can hope.

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

Wouldn't it be funny if Jeff never really wanted any of this and he was just doing it because his dad made him? One can hope.

Hi, I'm Bradley Wilpon, the 3rd generation owner of the Mets. I'm a Penn graduate working on Wall Street now but when my grandfather passes away expect my dad Jeff to overlook lots of more qualified candidates and install me as COO before I'm out of my 20s. With any luck, I'll be Wilponning this club through the 100th anniversary of the 1969 club!



https://pennathletics.com/images/2016/6/14//20160614162212_ocvadxwlzdvoebo_20140916200803.jpg>

[Centerfield]

That's the face of hope.



In ten years, Bradley will Tyrion his father while he's on the toilet and run the Mets like the big market team they were destined to be.



Or we'll all get torched by dragons.

[G-Fafif]

Mets lead Pirates, Giants and Marlins in Wild Card standings.

[Centerfield]

If things hold form, all sorts of cool stuff:



*It will be the seventh time the Mets have finished fourth in the last 11 years.



*9 out of 11 losing seasons.



*in the last 13 seasons, the Mets have won 90 games exactly once. (2015, 90 wins). They have not exceeded the 90 win mark since 2006, 13 years ago. They are 0 for their last 13. By comparison, the Cubs have won 90+ the last four seasons, and are in first place again. The Dodgers have done it 6 straight years, and in this, their 7th year, they are putting up their best win percentage yet. The Red Sox have done it three straight years, the Yankees have done it the last two, Cleveland has three straight 90+ seasons, and Houston is on pace to finish over 100 wins for the third straight year. It's comical.



*In the 17 years since the Wilpons took full control, the Mets have made the playoffs three times, including the one game playoff in 2016.



Despite this, there are those that think we are "just a hot streak away" or that we've been victims of "an unfortunate run of injuries". The process is broken guys.

[batmagadanleadoff]

=Centerfield post_id=13760 time=1561127904 user_id=65]


*In the 17 years since the Wilpons took full control, the Mets have made the playoffs three times, including the one game playoff in 2016.