An easy solution for MLB after the fugazi ending to an impressive NY Mets streak

Luke Weaver’s scoreless streak ended on Monday against the Atlanta Braves. The troubling part of it is he didn’t allow an earned run. In fact, he didn’t allow the base runner who scored to even get on base. The 10th inning ghost runner on second base was the one who scored and while not charged as an earned run, an impressive New York Mets streak came to an end in a fugazi way. It concludes with 23 straight outings and 25.1 innings of work.

Weaver still hasn’t allowed an earned run since April 30th. However, the unearned run puts an asterisk on his streak as the run was charged to him. The ghost runner is essentially treated the same way as an error would be. One of Major League Baseball’s most controversial rule changes ever made, there’s an easy solution.

MLB needs a new statistic for ghost runners who score

Charging Weaver with the run just isn’t fair. It never is. Under these circumstances, it spoils what has been one of the handful of reasons to watch the Mets. This has become a year of individual achievements. Weaver going as long as he did without allowing anyone to score is one of the better ones.

In a world where everything is measured, analyzed, and made into a statistic, for the ghost runner to be simply placed as an unearned run with no separation is ludicrous. It’s inconsequential in most circumstances as ERA is what matters more for pitchers than the actual number of runs allowed. Nevertheless, this silly way of ending the stretch of scoreless baseball is a wake-up call.

The runner that takes his place on second at the start of every extra inning has the lame official name of “designated runner.” The term ghost runner is one of the more commonly used ones with “zombie runner” or “Manfred Man” being some of the more commonly used ones as well. “Designated Runs Allowed” can quickly be abbreviated to DRA. Separated from inherited runners, because those runs are charged to the person who was on the mound when they reached base, it’s one way to track the run while also separating it from a guy who got to second base because of a rule and not an error.

The streak’s ending takes nothing away from what Weaver has accomplished this far in 2026. It’s just a shame that it had to burn out in a game where he earned the save and didn’t even create the consequences which allowed the runner to reach in the first place.

The ghost runner is lemons. Let’s make some lemonade and distinguish these runs differently. Every goal in an NHL shootout doesn’t count for a player’s stats. The same should apply here.

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