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The New York Mets have not won the World Series since 1986.
But this year; this was supposed to be the year.
The Mets won 101 games in 2022, coming up just short of National League East title after an absurd second half from the Atlanta Braves.
But a playoff collapse against the San Diego Padres saw New York go tumbling out of the playoffs in the Wild Card round, before division rivals Atlanta and Philadelphia, the latter of which reached the World Series.
Owner Steve Cohen did not back down, however. Instead, Cohen doubled down by signing big name free agents such as Justin Verlander and Kodai Senga.
This was set to be the year that the Mets put it all together and brought the World Series trophy back to Queens.
But that hasn’t happened.
Instead, star closer Edwin Diaz tore his ACL prior to the season beginning in what was a sign of things to come. Though Diaz’s replacement, David Robertson, has impressed, the rest of the team has struggled.
New York is 48-54 and in fourth place in the division, 17 games behind Atlanta and seven games out of playoff spot. The Mets officially waved the white flag on the season on Thursday. They traded Robertson and his 2.05 ERA to the Miami Marlins for a pair of prospects.
In doing so, they also admitted defeat. And Mets players appear to have made peace with that.
“We probably should have played better earlier if we wanted to be buyers instead of sellers,” outfielder Mark Canha told Will Sammon of The Athetic. “I think we were all expecting it at some point. (It’s) Not surprising. Still hurts, though.”
Star shortstop Francisco Lindor tried to take a brighter tune.
They can call it selling,” he said. “(But) I don’t think in the clubhouse it’s going to be one of those where it’s like, ‘Oh, yeah, we’re done.’ With this group of guys, I don’t see it happening like that.”
New York can call it whatever it wants. But either way, it’s a sign of a massive, massive failure. Then again, it is the Mets we’re talking about after all.