3 reasons the NY Mets have had the most disappointing season in franchise history

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Yes, the New York Mets have been playing a lot better as of late and now have more wins in the month of July than they had in June. So, maybe their luck is finally turning around and they are back to being the team we thought they would be entering this year. But, this Mets still have a lot of ground to make up in the NL East and to at least make a Wild Card spot and for most of the season, have been a disaster to watch.

There have been so many inconsistencies with this on both offense and defense and with careless miscues on defense that have cost the Mets multiple games. Blame can really go all around the team. So as we approach the dog days of Summer, there have been three biggest takeaways from this season so far that have cemented the 2023 New York Mets as one of the biggest disappointment seasons in franchise history.

1. The Mets were never serious NL East contenders

When the Mets entered 2023, they were again favorites to win the NL East and as they should. If you have players like Pete Alonso, Francisco Lindor, Jeff McNeil and pitchers like Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander on your team, you expect to win lots of games and be a clear cut favorite to win your division right? Unfortunately, the Mets not only find themselves out of first place, they're nowhere the division leading Atlanta Braves.

As it stands now, the Mets are in fourth place in the NL East behind the Philadelphia Phillies and the Miami Marlins, yes the Miami Marlins. They're as far as nearly 18 games out of first place while this time last year, had a comfortable first-place lead. They just have not been competitive and played well in divisional, especially the Atlanta Braves.

They have only one once out of the six games the Mets and Braves have played against each other, with three of those six losses happening in a single series against Atlanta as they blew at least a three-run lead in all three of those games. That series pretty much proved that New York is not on the same level as the Braves and they're nowhere near as talented. The Mets have also had difficulties against other NL East rivals like the Phillies for example as yes they have won four out of six this season. But one of those two losses happened in a bullpen meltdown on June 25 blowing a three-run eighth-inning lead. The Mets simply have not been as competitive in the NL East as they were last year.

2. The amount of money the Mets spent in the offseason

When Steve Cohen became the new owner of the Mets in 2020, he did not waste any time changing the culture of the team by making trades and signing big free-agent players after he got everyone's attention during his first press conference saying, "If I don't win a World Series in three to five years, I will consider that a major disappointment." And this past offseason, he once again went on a spending spree in hopes to bring a championship to Queens, but sometimes spending money does not mean you will win and this year has been no different.

Cohen spent over $500 million on big free agent names this past offseason like veteran Cy Young Award Winner Justin Verlander who got a two-year, $86 million deal, Japanese rookie star Kodai Senga who the Mets brought in on a five-year, $75 million contract along with some more veteran help like signing relievers Adam Ottavino, David Robertson and Brooks Raley. Despite bringing in all of these pieces, it still has not panned out for the Mets this season.

While Verlander pitched well in his last start against the White Sox on Wednesday, I think many would call his first season in a Mets uniform a disappointment so far only collecting four wins and five losses after only having four all last year. Also, his ERA has nearly doubled this year from last year as it currently stands at 3.47. We have also seen a lot of inconsistencies from Ottavino and Robertson but Ottavino in particular has been a little shaky as his ERA now stands at 3.66 after it was just 2.06 all last year.

One of the only bright spots out of these free agents that Cohen and the Mets front office brought in has been Kodai Senga as after a bit of a rocky beginning to his MLB career, he's been pitching very well as of late striking out 29 batters in his last three starts.

3. This is pretty much the same Mets team from last year

Besides Jacob deGrom and a couple other pieces like Taijuan Walker and Chris Bassitt leaving in free agency, this is pretty much the same New York Mets team that won 101 games last season. So what has gone wrong with the 2023 Mets?

As it stands now, they're 45-51 on the season and there can be a ton to blame for the Mets lackluster season if we are being kind. Second-year players for the Mets who had good seasons last year have been anything but that with Starling Marte, Mark Canha and Daniel Vogelbach who played well and helped the Mets get to the postseason, have at some points been a shell of themselves. Also, after a nice first season in New York for Max Scherzer, he's been very up and down for the Mets in 2023 as it still does not feel like we have seen the best of Scherzer.

And it's not just these players who've struggled. As of late, players on this team who we had such sky-high expectations this year have struggled, especially as of late. Take, for example, Jeff McNeill. McNeil who won a batting title for the Mets in 2022 with a batting average of .326 has seen a major decline in production. Right now, his batting average is at .246 which is shocking to see and it's not just McNeil who's struggled.

Pete Alonso looks totally lost at the plate right now as his batting average is at a woeful .204 and has gone just two for his last 17 at the plate in five games. Sure there have been some bright spots from the Mets this year like what we saw last year, but this is a very similar squad from a year ago and many baseball experts thought that they would be better than last year.

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