NY Mets: 5 worst pitching staffs in franchise history

The saying goes “pitching wins championships.” The New York Mets seem to believe this on a regular basis. Throughout the franchise’s history, they have been an organization primarily built on pitching.

However, this hasn’t always been a strong suit of theirs. The team has regularly assembled some dud staffs with shockingly poor results.

Which pitching staffs are the worst in Mets history? I’m going to take a look at five dreadfully bad years from Mets pitchers counting down from number five.

5) Worst NY Mets pitching staff: 1963

In just their second year of existence, the 1963 Mets put together an awfully poor year. The club was 51-111 due in large part to some bad pitching performances. They allowed a total of 774 runs which stands as the fifth most given up by the franchise.

Although the staff had an ERA of 4.12 which isn’t so terrible, it’s important to remember what baseball was like back in those days. The Mets were one of only two big league teams with a team ERA over 4.00. The 56-106 Washington Senators were much worse with a 4.42 ERA. This shouldn’t make the Mets feel any better as the league averaged a total of just 3.46 earned runs per nine innings.

The numbers aren’t so jaw-dropping when we look at things like ERA. Roger Craig, Al Jackson, and Carl Willey all finished the season with fewer than 4 runs per 9 innings. Willey was actually at a pretty sweet 3.10.

Unfortunately, each of these men had double-digit losses with Craig leading the way. Despite pitching to a 3.78 ERA, Craig was 5-22 on the year.

Literally only one pitcher, reliever Ken MacKenzie, ended 1963 with more wins than losses. A lighter-hitting era of Major League Baseball, the Mets pitching staff still managed to turn in what remains one of the club’s worst pitching campaigns.

4) Worst NY Mets pitching staff: 1964

One year later, the Mets pitching staff didn’t do much to improve. Surrendering 776 total runs on the year with a 53-109-1 record, the 1964 team gave up the fourth most runs by any Mets squad.

Still very much in a team when small ball was played, the league averaged an ERA of 3.58 this season. The Mets saw their pitching staff’s total increase from the season prior up to 4.25. They led all National League teams in runs allowed in yet another poorly pitched year.

The pitching staff looked a little different this year with Jack Fisher leading the way in innings pitched. At 10-17 with a 4.23 ERA, Fisher was far from the most “hard luck” loser on the team. Tracy Stallard had a 3.79 ERA but a record of 10-20. Galen Cisco, at 6-19, led the starting pitching staff with a 3.62 ERA.

Yet again, these numbers don’t really do much justice when we compare them to more modern numbers. A guy who pitches to ERAs as low as these is practically guaranteed a near-.500 records. This was 1964 when the men on the mound were able to dominate the game a little better.

Although you may think all of the worst pitching staffs in Mets history came from the 1960s, we’re about to get into some more recent clubs.

3) NY Mets worst pitching staff: 1996

The direct opposite could be said about the 1996 MLB season than what I have already about the early 1960s. Shortstops looked like they could be professional wrestlers. A pop up to the catcher at the potential to land in the gap—I’m exaggerating a bit.

The 1996 season was a big one for Mets bats but also a poor one for their pitchers. This was the first full season post-1994 strike and hitters were taking advantage at the plate.

Mets pitchers gave up 779 runs this season. The league average ERA jumped up to 4.60, about a full run higher than those early Mets days already covered.

The Mets pitching staff actually managed to have an ERA of just 4.22. However, in the grand scheme of the franchise’s history, this remains the third most runs allowed in any given year.

Mark Clark was by far the best starter on the roster. At 14-11 with a 3.43 ERA, his numbers measure up well in any era. After him, we do find far poorer performances even if some of the numbers don’t look anything like they did in the early 1960s.

Bobby Jones, Pete Harnisch, Jason Isringhausen, and Paul Wilson all had ERAs over 4.00 with Wilson all the way up at 5.38. The bullpen wasn’t terrific either outside of closer John Franco. This was one of his better years on the mound, pitching to a 1.83 ERA.

2) NY Mets worst pitching staff: 2017

I think you could make the case that the 2017 Mets pitching staff is actually the worst. This is an amazing feat considering they had Jacob deGrom (in his worst year but still a top 10 Cy Young finisher) and were coming off of two straight postseason appearances.

I left it at number two because my basis is all on runs allowed. The 2017 Mets pitchers gave up an astonishing 863 runs—nearly 100 more than any other team previously mentioned.

Expectations were high for this club. The team still had a roster full of young and talented arms. It all took a major turn

Starting pitching was a major weakness for this club. Seth Lugo’s 4.71 ERA was second among starters. Robert Gsellman, Rafael Montero, and Zack Wheeler were in the 5.00s. Matt Harvey and Steven Matz were over 6.00!

In a much lesser role, Chris Flexen added to the team ERA at 7.88 in 48 innings of work.

It shouldn’t shock anyone to learn the Mets pitching staff had an ERA of 5.01—surprisingly on the worst in baseball or even in the National League. Regardless, this should easily go down as the worst pitching staff in modern Mets history and I don’t think it’s even close.