4 Mets injuries and 1 other event that hurt the team's playoff chances most

5) The Pete Alonso injury and slump after his return was no coincidence

“Throw it again!” he shouted after hitting a home run. The quote from Pete Alonso against the Atlanta Braves. Alonso was pumped after hitting a home run on June 6 against the Braves. The Mets had just gotten swept by the Toronto Blue Jays, but stealing a series from Atlanta would have helped erase any ground they lost in the NL East standings.

The next day, Alonso was hit by a pitch from Charlie Morton. He landed on the IL for what was expected to be 3-4 weeks. The superhuman slugger was back on the field for the team’s June 18 game versus the St. Louis Cardinals. It may have been premature.

Alonso’s batting average dropped from .231 at the time of the hit by pitch to a low of .203 on July 19. He has raised it back closer to where it originally was. After all, he had already been struggling this year in every department other than home runs and RBI. Remove those first few weeks when Alonso was hitting .293 and this has been a strong tribute to Dave Kingman.

It’s no coincidence Alonso slumped so much after the hit by pitch. Did he come back too early? You don’t have to be a conspiracy theorist to believe so.

An honorary mention could go out to all of the injuries Starling Marte has faced this year. However, there never seemed to be one single event from him that struck the Mets down. Plus, who didn’t want to see Tommy Pham in the lineup every day?