Mets are the whipping boy for the Braves, Marlins in our 2003 simulation

In a year with already low expectations, the New York Mets get beaten up by the best regular season team of all-time.

Can you believe it? The New York Mets haven’t been to the postseason since 1990 when they visited the World Series for the third straight time. The club has made some huge additions of the years yet they always come up short.

To make matters worse, the New York Yankees are the defending champions as we head into 2003. Before they won their first since 1961, the Atlanta Braves had won four straight.

Things haven’t gone well for the virtual Mets in recent years. Before we move onto another year, let’s recap what you may have missed:

1962: 52-108
1963: 43-119
1964: 44-118
1965: 50-112
1966: 56-105
1967: 64-98
1968: 74-88
1969: 93-69
1970: 101-61 (NLCS loss 3-2)
1971: 100-62 (World Series Champions)
1972: 80-76
1973: 83-77
1974: 72-90
1975: 75-87
1976: 88-74
1977: 78-84
1978: 68-94
1979: 64-98
1980: 65-97
1981: 34-69
1982: 69-93
1983: 64-98
1984: 83-79
1985: 98-64 (NLCS loss 4-3)
1986: 90-72
1987: 95-67 (NLCS loss 4-3)
1988: 99-63 (World Series Champions)
1989: 110-52 (World Series loss 4-1)
1990: 103-59 (World Series loss 4-0)
1991: 84-77
1992: 76-86
1993: 80-82
1994: 43-70
1995: 74-70
1996: 74-88
1997: 89-73
1998: 88-74
1999: 92-70
2000: 85-77
2001: 76-86
2002: 74-87

Not to rain on anyone’s parade, but I have low expectations for this upcoming simulation. Thankfully, it’s not real.

Preseason Predictions

I’m not the only one with low expectations for the 2003 virtual Mets. The preseason predictions are in and they are expected to go 66-96 in a really tough NL East. The Florida Marlins and Atlanta Braves are both supposed to win 100+ games. Even the Philadelphia Phillies should have a good year with a preseason prediction of 93-69.

The standings didn’t do much to change anyone’s opinion. At 11-19, the Mets had a pitiful showing in the preseason. Although this doesn’t always translate into the 162-game schedule, this year it probably will.

Regular Season Results

We already know what’s coming because of the artificial intelligence in this simulation. The Mets are going to have a summer fire sale and trade a whole lot of players. Maybe, if we’re lucky, they get something back that can actually help them now or in the future during this simulation.

In the era of Mets baseball right before Jose Reyes and David Wright take over, the club got off to an expectedly poor start. They finished the first half of the year buried in the division at 33-60. This has them 35 games out of first place.

Ty Wigginton was one of the first-half’s best hitters but a season-ending injury has put him on the sidelines. Fortunately, the future Captain is there to step in and get everyday at-bats.

The second half of the season wouldn’t have much excitement other than to watch the development of some young players.

The Mets were the whipping boys for the Atlanta Braves and Florida Marlins in their dominant years featuring two incredible records. The Braves went 107-55 while the Marlins set an MLB record by going 123-39! The Marlins would go on to win the World Series over the Boston Red Sox while losing just one game in the postseason.

As for the Mets, they were 54-107. It’s their first 100-loss season since 1966.

Honors

Two Mets made the trip to the 2003 All-Star Game and you can probably guess one of them. Mike Piazza went there as a reserve with a surprising stud from the first half. Pitcher Jae Weong Seo went 6-4 with a 3.23 ERA in the first-half which was good enough to reward him with his first All-Star selection.

Piazza struck out in his one plate appearance and SEO watched from the sidelines as former Mets pitcher Glendon Rusch took the loss for the NL.

There are some major awards to announce. Jose Reyes won the Rookie of the Year. He slashed .287/.328/.377 and stole a whole bunch of bases.

In addition to his Rookie of the Year trophy, Reyes won a Gold Glove for his work at shortstop.

Notable Individual Statistics

We didn’t find too many Mets on the leaderboards. One constant throughout the year was Jose Reyes’ presence among the top stolen base leaders. The young Mets shortstop managed to swipe 51 bags which was the third-most in the league. He hit .287 on the year and seems to have become the full-time leadoff man.

All-Star Jae Weong Seo finished the year 10-11 with a 3.51 ERA which didn’t exactly look like it was All-Star worthy. The rest of the pitchers had even uglier numbers including Steve Trachsel who lost 18 games.

Mike Piazza finally began to show signs of slowing down. His 31 home runs and 94 RBI didn’t help much because he hit just .248.

Finally, there’s David Wright. The future star third baseman slashed .255/.363/.453 with 14 home runs.

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The year was worse than imaginable with the pitching staff coming up empty and the offense underperforming greatly. We should hopefully see a little improvement in 2004. Until then, the virtual fans will have to suffer through a winter of discontent.