Anatomy Of A Disaster: How The Mets Reached 11 Games Without A Win

The New York Mets are 7-15 as of the week of April 20, good for a .318 winning percentage. That’s the worst record in the league, tied with the Kansas City Royals. To think that they were 7-4 on April 7 and have lost 11 games in a row is particularly painful for fans.

New York is already eight games out of first place in the NL East, and we haven’t even played one month of baseball. It’s truly baffling how difficult it has been for this team to win ball games in the last couple of weeks.

The Mets have been in a total free fall since then. There’s no other way around it: this has been a brutal stretch, one that could potentially prove costly in late September. You can’t win a division or secure a postseason spot in March and April, but you can certainly lose them.

Losing Juan Soto Hurt, But The Mets' Offensive Issues Don’t End There

What exactly has happened? Well, many things, as you probably can expect. Since April 8, the day on which the 11-game losing streak started, they have had the worst offense in the league with a horrific 51 wRC+. In contrast, the best unit, the Atlanta Braves, is sporting a 138 mark.

It’s hard to consistently win games when the entire offense is so incompetent. This is where the loss of Juan Soto to a calf injury hurts a lot. People were prematurely celebrating the fact that the Mets were 4-0 since the superstar’s injury, but now that the sample is bigger, they are 4-11, and the losses keep coming.

Carson Benge is sporting a 31 wRC+ throughout the full season to this point, the same as Brett Baty. Two newcomers, Bo Bichette and Jorge Polanco, both have a 54 mark. Marcus Semien is at 76, and Mark Vientos came crashing back down to earth after a hot start and is now at 71.

Only four players with regular or semi-regular playing time have been above-average offensively, and two of them are injured: Francisco Alvarez (152 wRC+), Luis Robert Jr. (118), Soto (160), and Jared Young (137), who recently suffered a meniscus tear.

Yes, the Mets have faced some particularly difficult pitchers, but that shouldn’t be an excuse. Since April 8, they rank 28th out of 30 teams with seven home runs, but that’s not even the most concerning part. They are next-to-last in walk percentage with a ghastly 4.7-percent mark. You may win some games without hitting home runs, but you at least have to get people on base failing that. The (not so) Amazins are doing neither right now.

Mets' Pitching Has Been Subpar

If you thought the pitching outlook over the course of the streak would be better, think again. Since that fateful April 8, the Mets have the second-highest ERA in the league at 5.70. Only the Houston Astros have a worse mark.

Nolan McLean and Clay Holmes have been rock-solid as starters, but the rest of the rotation has fallen short of expectations. The Mets’ main problem has been Kodai Senga and his 8.83 ERA for the season. 

Basically, Senga was excellent in his first two starts and horrible in the last two, so it might be just a blip. It’s worth noting that his average fastball and sinker velocity has been fluctuating a bit, and that might have something to do with his recent struggles.

Since the Mets’ skid started, their bullpen boasts a 6.05 ERA, the fourth-worst in the major leagues. Devin Williams and Luke Weaver, the new faces and anchors of the unit, have been inconsistent in recent outings.

The Mets have been fairly average in defensive stats across the board during their stunning collapse, but other factors have come into play, such as bad managerial decisions, baserunning gaffes, and mounting pressure.

Is There Hope For The Mets?

Soto is expected to return during the upcoming homestand, which is excellent news. The Mets, however, need to get their offense going beyond their superstar. Some of these struggling hitters could be on the verge of enjoying better outcomes, such as Bichette (.245 wOBA vs. .313 xwOBA) and Francisco Lindor (.279 vs. .323), but others, such as Benge, Vientos, and Baty, might need a serious overhaul in their mechanics and/or plate approach.

Likewise, the Mets’ pitching minds and available talent suggest things should be better moving forward, but the Senga situation should be closely monitored with so many viable rotation options waiting in the wings in Triple-A.

This is a team with enough talent to overcome most of its recent issues, and there’s also a strong farm system that could offer short-term solutions and ammunition for potential trades. Some roster construction decisions, however, are starting to be questioned, such as the infield corners and the lack of better and more reliable outfield depth.

The Mets aren’t as bad as their 7-15 record indicates. But when you lose 11 straight games at any point, there are going to be serious doubts about your ability to contend for the World Series title as currently constructed.