Worst Season Ever (Split from World Series IST)

[Centerfield]

I selected every year.

I didn't realize the Yankees were so key to your argument. The Mets can't really control that much about what happens with the Yankees except for the last 15 years or so, six head-to-head games and, in 2000, by chance, the World Series.

Maybe they should put out a highlight film: "2009: No Gang Rapes!"[/quote:2tklaj9l]

Oh I realize it's out of their control. It's just that if the Mets are giving me nothing that year, I root for my second favorite team, which is "anyone who can beat the MFY's".

[Centerfield]

One thing I think I can say objectively, 2009 was unique in my experience as a season which just kept piling on. The team got worse and worse, players kept going down with very few returning, the embarrassments on and off the field mounted, and it was all topped off by a postseason which was a worst-case scenario in just about every way. It was an avalanche of shit, and it was utterly relentless. If there was ever a season that made me wonder about my karma, it was 2009.[/quote:27v9u4gt]

Yes, this exactly.

[Guest metsguyinmichigan]

One thing I think I can say objectively, 2009 was unique in my experience as a season which just kept piling on. The team got worse and worse, players kept going down with very few returning, the embarrassments on and off the field mounted, and it was all topped off by a postseason which was a worst-case scenario in just about every way. It was an avalanche of shit, and it was utterly relentless. If there was ever a season that made me wonder about my karma, it was 2009.[/quote:4iivryxh]

Yes, this exactly.[/quote:4iivryxh]


Agreed, and summed up brilliantly.

But as much as this sucked, 1977, to me, was more painful. That was absolute betrayal and a sign that the team was about to careen off the cliff while the bastard MFYs won the series and here heading upward.

There's a reason why, years later, I had Dick Young's obit taped to my fridge. One a bad day, I'd see it and say, "On the bright side, the bastard Dick Young is dead." Conspired to banish my idol and destroy my team.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Yeah, gun to my head, I go with 1977 also. Also ended in a Yankee championship, for those who mark that on their scorecards.

Funny thing is that's the year I committed to fanhood. The pain grown men were walking around with was so compelling, I had to enter into it, for some bizzarre reason. It seemed so real.

[bmfc1]

There may have been worse seasons but this one stings and burns and since it just happened, it gets my vote. That doesn't mean that the others weren't worse, but that they didn't just end. The fact that the Mets contributed to the MFYs #9 moment of the season, according to [u:34ri7y2f]New York[/u:34ri7y2f] magazine, the fact that we ended up having to root for our divisional rival to WIN the WS, the fact that they still lost to our most hated team (again, subjective--hate is in the eyes of the beholder) in the WS, and fact that the season was so bad that we don't look ahead with hope or any faith in the team's management, makes it King Worst to me.

[Guest themetfairy]

I agree that the cumulative effect of every possible thing that could go wrong actually going wrong this season made this the worst ever. Everything from the injury parade to the MFY parade simply sucked.

[bmfc1]

TMF: "the injury parade to the MFY parade"--excellent!

[Guest Edgy DC]

If I posted that list for any reason, it was to suggest that every possible thing didn't go really go wrong at all.

[Vic Sage]

worst. ever. by far. not even close.

In 1977, we already had sucked for a number of years, and there was little expectation of winning anything. That we also lost Seaver was painful but, being Mets fans, we at least could be optimistic about the "potential" of Dan Norman.

And any season that ends up with big games in October doesn't qualify in top 5 worst seasons. It can certainly be disappointing to go far, and then fall just short. And that pain is acute. But as a season, i can go to games all year with hope in my heart.

This year? After a post-season in 2006 and 2 close calls in 07 and 08, we were expected to take it to the wire in 09. Instead, the season was over in June. It wasn't just injuries... it was the quality of play. The games became literally UNWATCHABLE. I shared a season plan and gave away most of my 2nd half tickets. I have never done that before. NEVER, in 40 years of attending Mets games on a semi-regular basis.

And then the ultimate insult added to the slew of injuries. Having the phukking phils and the MFYs in the WS. I didn't watch 1 inning of the WS this year. not one single inning. And today, i have to share my train this morning with Yankme fans, decked out in full regalia, going to a parade that is paid for by tax dollars.

This is not just a top 5 worst season... this is not top 3... this is the single worst season of baseball i've ever had to endure.
period.
full stop.

And the fact that nobody raped anybody, or threw firecrackers, nor was anybody traded that i cared much about, doesn't actually effect that reality one iota.

[G-Fafif]

TMF: "the injury parade to the MFY parade"--excellent![/quote:32r51ifh]

Agreed. Made me picture a parade of injured MFYs, limping and bandaged. Wish I could say that image didn't make me smile.

[G-Fafif]

If I posted that list for any reason, it was to suggest that every possible thing didn't go really go wrong at all.[/quote:dqkog49r]

1986 lacked a Met 20-game winner. No Met was voted National League MVP in 1986. Not every Met stayed out of jail in Houston in 1986. Yet I will feel comfortable, within the boundaries of reasonable baseball hyperbole, saying every possible thing went right in 1986.

[Guest Edgy DC]

worst. ever. by far. not even close.

In 1977, we already had sucked for a number of years, and there was little expectation of winning anything. That we also lost Seaver was painful but, being Mets fans, we at least could be optimistic about the "potential" of Dan Norman.[/quote:21cqwknl]

This just gets more and more puzzling. I realize this all subjective and emotional, but plain facts are being tossed over.

In 1975, the Mets were 82-80 and finished in third. In 1976, the Mets were 86-76, and again finished in third. And the idea that what happened in 1977 was tempered in any way by Dan Norman is a-historical.

[Benjamin Grimm]

I had high hopes after 1976. It was, to date, their second-best season (in terms of wins) ever.

I was pretty rattled by the Seaver trade. I remember gloomily sitting on a curb with my friends, thinking the Mets would never have a player like that again. But kids are resilient, and, while I wasn't all that excited about Dan Norman, I saw Steve Henderson as that next big star we were craving. (I remember Joe Torre on TV saying that he wouldn't trade Steve Henderson even-up for Tom Seaver. What a bullshitter.)

If I had been older and wiser, I would have perhaps seen 1977 for what it was, the beginning of a steep decline. I didn't understand at the time that Mrs. Payson's death left the Mets in the hands of people who didn't care about winning, only about cost-cutting.

I'll still say 2009 was the worst, because it wasn't one bad event, it was a whole shitstorm. One thing after another. I'm glad there wasn't a season like this when I was 15. I might have become permanently demoralized.

[metirish]

All we are missing here is narration by Daniel Stern.

[G-Fafif]

Mets were considered possible contenders entering '77, though hindsight suggests that was a misdiagnosis. They had been rotting from within for a few years, to be sure, but on the surface, with their pitching, they didn't seem particularly doomed after 1976, not doomed in the way they became. They'd been finishing in the neighborhood of third place for so long, it seemed likely they'd just stick around and maybe get lucky.

The late '70s were suck without borders. The final three years were just one monstrous pit. I choose '79 as the standout (or flopout) among them for it seemed like the culmination of the disaster; all that had been sown in the way of bad management was being reaped. At least there was a speck of hope entering '77 and, yeah, Steve Henderson (if not Dan Norman) gave off a flicker of potential for a few weeks. '79 was just so empty, figuratively and literally. I'll take dashed hope over no hope if that's the choice. (The '78 club, as bad as its brethren by the end, was actually decent for the first two months, 23-24 on Memorial Day -- it didn't take much to sate me.)

If '09 is an aberration, somehow, and we rebound in '10, we'll look back on this as a rogue season. If it was a turning point, then I don't want to know what we've turned toward.

[metsmarathon]

y'know, at least we din't have to listen to fran healy this year...

i'm willing to nominate this year as a candidate for "worst met year ever"

i think my choice comes down to this and 1993, with a wink at 2003.
both '93 and '03 felt hopeless, like the mets had dug themselves a deep, deep hole of embarrasment and shittyness out of which they might never climb. this team still has some silver linings out there. they're scratched up silver linings with lots of question marks and other mixed metaphors, but they're there nonetheless. where were the same in '93? in '03?

sure, this season featured a new, unique, and relentless brand of suck, but i think '93 was worse. yeah... i think '93 was worse.

i wasn't really around for the '77 season, and and don't have much perspective on it, but after i was born they were a 0.500 team...

[Guest metsguyinmichigan]

"In 1977, we already had sucked for a number of years, and there was little expectation of winning anything. That we also lost Seaver was painful but, being Mets fans, we at least could be optimistic about the "potential" of Dan Norman."


This is just my perspective. But you have to understand. I was just 13 and Seaver was EVERYTHING. Wore my hair like his, aspired to grow up to be 6-1, 205 -- fell short on the former, over-exceeded on the latter (but not anymore ) -- and would defend to the death anyone who dared disparage him or my team. Completely stupid, looking back. But that's where I was.

And I was one of those kids who read the papers every day and saw the talk that it might happen, and was in complete denial.

And when the bastards actually went and did it, well, I was like Charlton Heston pounding away at the sand in front of the wreckage of the Statue of Liberty. Absolutely shattered. MY team did this to ME?

This season was obviously horrible, but it terms of actually affecting my life, it doesn't come close to 1977. I can't fault them for the injuries, but I can for trading my hero. I big difference between something that happens to them and something they do.

Looking back, it was silly and probably a good life lesson for a kid. Also made seeing the 300th win in person years later a cathartic event.