The 2021 Mets season ended like it started – with a loss. Six Braves pitchers combined on a 3-hit shutout, leading Atlanta to a 5-0 victory.
It would’ve been nice to end the year with a good taste in our mouth. Instead, we were left with some combination of onions, anchovies and Limburger cheese.
Patrick Mazeika summed things up perfectly by going 0-3 with three strikeouts.
Just pathetic.
Rojas took responsibility doe the season: wow, how obvious! Usually teams play hard for the manager the last game of the year to make him look good or give him a going away gift when it’s obvious he’s leaving. The effort today speaks for itself.
We have to suspect that this lack of appreciation played a role in the listless performance of the team the last two months. Yes, they were playing a harder schedule, but there wasn’t any fight worthy of a team that was aspiring to make the playoffs. We saw fight when the Bench Mob was scratching and clawing in May and June. And before anyone tells me that the Mets were playing a softer schedule, I will point out that they were playing with bench guys and minor leaguers! But, all those guys showed hunger and passion.
I hope the Mets don’t make any moves this winter solely on this year’s performances, in fact, I would combine 2020 & 2021 as one year because so much was perfect last year and so much was wrong this year; it’s kind of a balance.
All the wrong things the Mets will be doing this offseason……
1. Take forever in getting rid of Rojas
2. Take forever in finding a replacement for Rojas
3. Disappointing us in who is selected (another front office conduit)
4. Alderson will still be around in some capacity
5. Signing Baez and over paying
6. QO to Syndegaard and Conforto
7. Selling/trading low on Smith, NcNeil, Davis and getting older, more expensive bit players
8. Not trading deGrom or getting little in return
9. Cano will be the team for 2022
10. Penciling Carrasco as the #2 SP again
11. Give up on Walker
12. Giving Stroman stupid $$ just so he wont sign with the Yankees
13. Gsellman & Lugo will be around with bigger salaries for multiple years
14. more youngsters will be traded for aging vets
15. Nimmo will be traded for an aging vet
16. Mets will go over the salary cap for a worse version of the 2021 team
17. Any decent FA signed like Bryant will be grossly overpaid
18. Familia will be back, while Loup will sign elsewhere
** Only cosmetic changes will take place in the front office
*** Mets will proclaim by spring training that they will be the team to beat in 2022
Gut Reaction: it was a fitting loss for a third place team that won only 77 games.
I looked at the 2016 playoff team at Baseball Reference to see how much better they were. That team weren’t better hitters (6/8 position players) and the bullpen wasn’t better than the 2021 team. They’re starting pitching was better and that team won 87 games. Pitching, pitching, pitching. The starting pitching collapsed in August from injury (deGrom, Syndergaard ,Peterson and Lucchesi) and incompetence (Walker, Megill and Carrasco). As Rojas said, “we fell apart”. For once, in a long time, Rojas was right.
It seems game 162 was a metaphor for 2021 Mets baseball.
Metsense – for me, the one game wildcard game doesn’t qualify as “playoffs”, it functions as a tiebreaker; a series is required to be considered playoffs. I also understand the 8 billion other humans could care less about my take on that issue, but nonetheless that is how I view it. In any event, the comparison to the 2016 team is spot on. This has been a losing team in 4 of last 5 seasons, and Rojas now has had two tries and has been sub-.500 with a team that underachieved.
Footballhead – great list…can’t really disagree…maybe retaining Thor and/or Conforto is debatable, I wouldn’t do both. I’d keep Lugo as well, but not as a back-end piece, more as a bridge guy. Uncle Steve needs to land his top baseball guy quickly and with authority…if that drags like last year or the get denials or no thank yous, it will be likely be a rough winter. Get PBO in place fast and hit the ground running so they are ready to compete this winter without delay.
I agree TJ, it isn’t a playoff game really, it is a play-in game. It is better than the ludicrous four team format before. With a three division setup there are no good formats. Expansion of two teams , four divisions in each league and divisional champions in the playoffs would solved the situation. Expanding the playoffs with the present 30 teams would water down the product.
So, you would be ok with the 106-win Dodgers not making the playoffs?
No, that doesn’t seem fair.
In a 32 team with two leagues and an 8 division format then expand the playoffs to a division champion and a runner up. Or have four divisions of 8 teams each and let the top four teams make the playoffs in each division.
So many thoughtful posts of view here… thanks to all of you and to Brian for providing such a worthwhile forum for us all. What struck me about this game and so much of the second half was how easy it was to defeat this team… so little threat from the Mets. If you consider that Alonso was their most formidable hitter, most teams had little problem putting him away with RISP… That’s it. Baez gave us a little bump in interest offensively, but otherwise this was a completely uninteresting team. Their once impressive team defense sagged, their stellar first half pitching disappeared, and their effort to remain viable and competitive just leaked away sometime in July.
There is no question that Luis Rojas has to be held accountable, regardless of how accountable you want to argue. The team disappeared, and the manger’s job is to motivate his players… they were completely listless (except Baez). If they sign Baez and keep Rojas, he will become listless too.