3 instant reactions fans had to the Wild Card Series loss

Oh where to begin. As they often do, things looked promising for the New York Mets entering the month of September. Yet again, they failed to get the job done when they needed to most. Even 101 wins in the regular season was not enough to win them the National League East, proving costly, as they found themselves in a tough three game series against the, very dangerous, San Diego Padres. 

Mets offense being too inconsistent looms large

For the first five months of the season, the Mets’ offense was almost unstoppable. Doing it in so many different ways, New York always found ways to produce runs. During the last month of the regular season, that all went away. Unfortunately, it did not get any better in the postseason. 

In September, the team actually averaged 5.1 runs per game. However, they scored only three runs or less nine times. Multiple lopsided wins kept people from realizing that there was an issue. Well, those issues came out in the spotlight this weekend in the National League Wild Card Series against the Padres. 

In Game One on Friday night, the Mets mustered just one lousy run in a 7-1 loss. They followed it up by scoring seven in a Game Two victory on Saturday night, before getting shutout in Game Three Sunday. It becomes really difficult to make a deep postseason run when in every game no one knows which Mets offense is going to show up. In Saturday’s win, the Amazins had six different players in their starting lineup tally at least one hit. On Sunday, just one. 

The Mets needed consistency from their bats down the stretch. They did not get it. 

Having one the highest payrolls in the league doesn’t always work

$282 million. It’s the amount of money that Owner Steve Cohen spent to build the 2022 New York Mets roster. In the offseason, the Mets paid big money to sign players like Max Scherzer and Starling Marte. Sure, those additions helped the team reach the postseason for the first time since 2016, but when a team spends that much, the expectation is to do better than a first round playoff exit. 

Look at the Cleveland Guardians. Year after year, they can be found at the bottom of the list in terms of highest payroll, yet they're on their way to the Division Series for the fourth time in seven years. The Mets, on the other hand, will now have to look themselves in the mirror this offseason with a lot of green in their hands, but no ring along with it. 

This is not going to stop the Mets from spending money each offseason, as this loss might make Steve Cohen want to spend even more (I heard Aaron Judge is going to be available next month), but signing big name free agents for boatloads of money does not mean that the parade should be planned once the pen hits the dotted line.