Mets season broken beyond repair, players and staff blindsided
The Mets had just lost to the Brewers on June 26, bringing maybe the first hint of recognition to the home clubhouse at Citi Field that this season was broken beyond repair.
“If I had to point to one area of the season, I would say June, just the fact it was a tough part of the schedule, but if we wanted to make the playoffs, we could come out of that month maybe not with a .650 winning percentage, but above .500,” Nimmo said. “And we lost most, if not all of those series, and that part was tough because we needed to come out of June — especially with the way we had played up to that point — with at least a .500 record.
By all accounts, this group’s chemistry wasn’t necessarily flawed, but it failed to match the cohesion that developed last season — particularly between Max Scherzer and Chris Bassitt, who enjoyed sharing information and helping younger pitchers, such as David Peterson and Tylor Megill. Bassitt, however, wasn’t re-signed in the offseason, as the club gravitated toward Verlander, Kodai Senga and Jose Quintana.
Starling Marte was among the Mets’ most important contributors last season, and his struggles this year have underscored a disappointing lineup that ranked 20th in MLB at 4.36 runs per game as play began Friday. Last season, the Mets were fifth in scoring at 4.76 runs per game. In 2022, the Mets’ offensive production was predicated upon stretching out the lineup and grinding out at-bats. This season, that task became exceedingly more difficult with Marte, the team’s No. 2 hitter, a shell of his usual self. Cora believes enough in Marte to have wagered other members of the staff that the 34-year-old outfielder will be an All-Star next season. Marte still has two years remaining on a contract, which he signed before last season, that is worth $78 million.
On the pitching side, Verlander was diagnosed with a strained teres major muscle just before Opening Day and missed five weeks. Scherzer got ejected from a game at Dodger Stadium for violating MLB’s rules on sticky substances, and when he returned from his 10-game suspension, he battled discomfort in his upper back.
“Even after Max went, I wasn’t 100 percent sure that the rest of everything was going to happen,” Ottavino said. “You felt that it probably would happen, that there’s lots of whispers, but I wasn’t 100 percent sure that Verlander was going to go. We played well against Washington [winning three of four], so we went to Kansas City thinking, ‘Let’s keep the momentum here.
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