You may already know this because this fact is so alarming you couldn’t have possibly been on Twitter reading about the New York Mets without it coming across your feed and dropping your jaw.
The last time a Mets starting pitcher left the ballpark with a W on his stat sheet was two weeks ago. The date: July 23. The winner, Tylor Megill.
A lot has changed with the Mets since then. They were opening up a series against Steven Matz and the Toronto Blue Jays. The victory gave them a 51-43 record. Two weeks later, they’re 56-52 with only a half-game lead on the Philadelphia Phillies.
What do we make of this lack of Mets starting pitcher wins?
The Mets haven’t completely gone off the rails over the last two weeks, but there are some dark clouds gathering above Citi Field. Every game they have won since Megill’s victory has been by 1 or 2 runs with only their most recent win against the Miami Marlins as a two-run victory.
Although it doesn’t matter in the standings, the run differential is getting more negative by the day. Small margins of victory make for some shaky climaxes to games. The team is leaning heavily on their bullpen because of a lack of run support but also short outings from the starters.
The rotation hasn’t been dreadful over these last two weeks. However, getting significant innings from anyone has been a challenge.
We’ve reached the phase of the Mets season where it’s not blown leads causing frustration. The Mets are getting behind early and not helping out the starting pitchers early on. You would think Jacob deGrom is on the mound nearly every day with this result. Unfortunately, the team is battling forward without their ace. It’s beginning to show in the standings.
A Mets starting pitcher will eventually win a game. It’s only a matter of time. Carlos Carrasco came close in his second start since returning from the IL. Getting gassed in the fourth inning stole his chance at ending this streak. The Mets did later allow the tying run to score before coming from behind late so even if Carrasco did record a few more outs, he would not have been credit with the win if he went five frames.
Want your voice heard? Join the Rising Apple team!
As irrelevant as pitcher wins are, it’s worth mentioning the team lead is a three-way tie for seven. deGrom, Marcus Stroman, and Taijuan Walker have all reached this lucky number. However, with deGrom’s absence and the struggles of the other two—Walker far more so—getting to number eight has had to wait.