NY Mets playoff hopes sinking because of these key areas

Injuries, busts, and immaterial trades ultimately sank the New York Mets season. But who specifically is to blame for their mediocre 2020 campaign?

The New York Mets season was rocky from the start, following their exciting Opening Day win at home against the Atlanta Braves. The very next afternoon, closer Edwin Díaz was brought into the top of the ninth to preserve a 2-1 Mets lead. After recording the first two outs, he proceeded to give up a game-tying home run to Braves outfielder, Marcell Ozuna on a 3-2 pitch.

Although Díaz was just simply beat on the pitch, the Mets would still lose in extra innings, 5-3. The rest of the season spiraled from there, as the team experienced the trials of a weakened rotation, taxed bullpen, and bounce-back candidates that didn’t bounce back.

Was it all doom and gloom? No. Jacob deGrom, Michael Conforto, Dominic Smith, Andrés Giménez, and even Robinson Cano all put together very impressive 2020 campaigns that highlighted the true talent that exists on this roster.

But due to the absence of a couple of key starting pitchers, down-years from core players at the plate, and unreliable relievers to boot, the team ultimately faltered late in some games while never really competing in others.

In general, this season’s turmoil stemmed from both external and self-inflicted wounds. As a result, the front office refrained from making any impactful roster transactions in the middle of a condensed season, and with a 15-20 win/loss record at the August 31st Trade Deadline.

Meanwhile, the bullpen continued to regress while the rotation became riddled with more injuries and spot-starts from minor league reinforcements. That being said, let’s look at what exactly went wrong for the Mets this season?