What is the longest losing streak in NY Mets history?

If you know your New York Mets history, you’re well aware of what happened in 1962. Their 120 losses set a new standard in futility. It was a team built to fill the absence of the National League in New York, not win a championship.

The 1962 team has many distinctions. One is they lost more games in a row than any other Mets team to come after.

After winning three straight and pulling themselves to a feeble 12-20, the Mets were about to embark on a 17-game losing streak.

The longest losing streak in Mets history began on May 21, 1962

Losing 9 straight to begin their history was a sign of things to come. A more reasonable record over the next few games might’ve had fans of the lovable losers believing the club had some fight in them.

A narrow 3-2 loss to the Houston Colt .45’s, the other expansion team, started what would become a long period without any winning baseball. A leadoff triple in the 8th followed by a sacrifice fly is how they were put away in this game.

There were some games the Mets nearly ended the streak. In the second-half of a doubleheader on May 30, they were tied with the Los Angeles Dodgers 5-5 heading into the 9th. Following a 13-6 beating, it took a Willie Davis home run to lead off the 9th to give Los Angeles the lead. The bottom half of the inning started with Richie Ashburn getting thrown out trying to stretch a single into a double. The Mets would get another base runner, but would strand him at second when Felix Mantilla fanned to end the game.

The Mets wouldn’t win again until June 7th. A 4-3 win over the Chicago Cubs snapped the 17 straight. They needed some luck to win this one, too. An error helped set up for a sacrifice fly with one out in the top of the 9th. They secured the victory. At 13-36, any hope of competing was long gone.

New York would win 27 more games by the end of the 162-game schedule. At 40 wins for the entire year, this record-setting losing streak was close to half of the victories they’d have over the full season. Several other teams have passed the 17-game losing streak by the Mets. Maybe most memorable was the 41-121 Chicago White Sox losing 21 in a row.

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