The Art of the Complete Meltdown: The 2021 New York Mets

 

               The Art of the Complete Meltdown: The 2021 New York Mets 

               1.  The beginning of the meltdown: Going 3-4 against the lowly Pirates 

               A lot of people would point to the 13 games against the Dodgers and Giants as the beginning of the end for the Mets, but it was starting before that. The Mets had 7 games against the Pirates before the All-Star Break and after the All-Star Break. The Braves were on the ropes at a record of 43-44 and had their 1st chance to bury them. The Mets went on lose 4 out of the next 6 games against the Pirates after winning the 1st game against them including blowing a 6-0 lead on July 17. They only outscored the Pirates in those 7 games by 2, but if you takeaway the 13-4 game the Pirates actually outscored the Mets 33-26. 

                2.  Missing out on a chance to bury the Braves in a big 5-game series 

                The Mets went into that big 5-game series against the Braves 5 games up and had a chance to bury them by winning 4 out of 5 games at home. They ended up losing 3 out of the 5 games at home including losing the final game of the series when Drew Smyly went just 4 innings and the Braves had to go to their struggling bullpen at that point. The Braves in that next 2 innings would go up 5-1 and win 6-3. The Braves outscored the Mets in those 5 games 21-11. The Mets are now 8-21 in their last 29 games and it started after 2-1 win against the Braves on July 28.  

                3.  Dodgers and Giants put the nail in the coffin in the Mets season 

             

                The Mets had a stretch of 13 games against the Dodgers and Giants which would define this season. They had to go at least 6-7 to stay in the NL East race. The Mets a disastrous 2-11 in those games. They got outscored in those games 61-40 by the Dodgers and the Giants. The Mets scored just 3 runs a game in those games. Their offense has been the reason for the meltdown as they have struggle and their pitching has not been great in this stretch since July 9th. The Braves are now 7.5 games up on the Mets and the Mets are now looking at next year again.