2 reasons Mets fans should be worried, 1 why reason they shouldn't be
It has been a frustrating start to the month of June so far for the New York Mets. Coming off getting swept by the Atlanta Braves in a series they could have won a game or two, their luck did not turn around in their weekend series against the Pittsburgh Pirates at PNC Park as they lost two out of three in that matchup which wrapped up an abysmal 1-5 road trip.
The team now sits at 30-34 on the season and is in fourth place with the Marlins and Phillies jumping in front of them as the Mets have complied a woeful 2-8 start to the month of June. Can this team start to turn things around with the rest of June's schedule not getting any easier or will the Mets continue to fall downhill in a so far very disappointing start to their season? What are the two main reasons why Mets fans should be worried about the start to this season but 1 that still gives them a little bit of hope?
1. NY Mets fans should be worried about the starting pitching
For the longest time, starting pitching has been a strength for the New York Mets. And with your top two arms in your rotation being Cy Young Award winners multiple times, this year should be no different. But think again!
This Mets rotation has been a shell of themselves have struggled so much to go deep into ballgames. When the Mets brought in veteran Justin Verlander to fill the void Jacob deGrom left, we thought he would be able to replicate the Cy Young campaign he put up with the Astros in 2022. But he has been anything but that in 2023. Sure he's had a couple of solid starts here and there for the Mets, but as of late, he's really been struggling.
He went just three innings in his last outing against the Braves giving up five runs in that start and has actually given up five runs or more in three out of his seven starts. Max Scherzer has not been doing that well either as he has been having a very up-and-down season with his ERA sitting at 3.71. Tylor Megill has also been a disaster for the Mets this season and with his ERA in the high five's, he may not be around for much longer.
Rookie Kodai Senga has been giving Mets fans some hope especially after his strong start against the Pirates on Saturday going seven strong, he still has not found any consistency. Right now, the Mets are in the bottom of the National League in starters going seven innings or more in 2023 and as a pitching staff entirely, have given up a major league-high 90 home runs. The starting pitching has been problematic and hard to watch at some points and if they don't turn things around, this team won't go anywhere in 2023.
2. NY York Mets fans should be worried about the late innings meltdowns they've been having
When you're up by three runs or more in the late innings of a ballgame, you should be on your way to a victory right? Well if you're the New York Mets as of late, you find a way to cough it up in three, yes three straight games. The Mets bullpen as of late has not been able to close games out and in their past series against the Atlanta Braves, it's no exception.
Having a 4-1 lead in game one of the series and seeing it get away followed by another 4-1 lead get away in game two got Mets fans really frustrated that they could not get at least one of those games in the win column. But if you think things could get any worse, in the finale of that series against Braves, they saw a 9-5 lead disappear as not even 10 runs could win them the game losing 13-10 in extras. The bullpen could simply not hold leads for this team and let very winnable games for this team slip away and further out of the division race.
If the Mets can't beat a team like the Atlanta Braves or the Pittsburgh Pirates who are having a great season so far, what makes any Met fan believe that they can possibly make the playoffs for a second year in a row and hopefully make a deep run? I get that with the absence of Edwin Diaz has been hard on this bullpen, but you still have reliable veteran arms like Adam Ottavino, David Robertson and Drew Smith who can play at a high level. If they can't step up and hold onto winnable games for the New York Mets, fans should rightfully be worried.
1 reason why NY Mets fans should have hope: NL East teams have turned their year's around before
I get that this may not happen but you never know in the sport in baseball. In the last couple of season's, two NL East teams had bad starts that reached to the month of June around this time but turned ther season's around in a big way and made deep runs in the playoffs.
Take for example the Philadelphia Phillies, last June they were as bad as seven games under .500 and according to Baseball Almanac, it shows that the Phillies on June 12 were only sitting at 30-30 on the season. And every baseball expert thought that firing Joe Giradi won't fix any of the problems this team was having, but we all know what happened after that. The team win on an instant run and with a third-place finish and with just 87 wins not only made it to the National League Wild Card Series but reached the World Series. I understand that they lost in six games to the Houston Astros but just thinking about where they were around this time last year, it's pretty remarkable they made it that far.
The Phillies are also not the first team who went on a run after a slow start to their season. In 2021, the Atlanta Braves were 29-33 on June 12 that coming also from Baseball Almanac. Everyone thought that they were done for and the Mets were bound to be NL East champs. But every Met fan knows what happened that year in August with the Mets falling apart and the Braves going on a commanding run even without their star player Ronald Acuna Jr and just like the Phillies last year, won 87 games but this time won the World Series.
Am I saying the Mets can accomplish what the Phillies and Braves did? Why not! I still think this team can turn things around. The Mets have too good of a roster to be four games under .500 and I think Scherzer and Verlander can right the ship and get back to their Cy Young form. Plus, their offense has not looked too bad without Pete Alonso and when he comes back in hopefully the next month, they should be in a good enough spot to get back in the playoff race. So if you Mets fans are looking for any kind of hope in this lost season so far, it's this trend NL East teams have been on the last couple of years.