Think For A Second

The Mets are 7-7. Here's how far that is from the end of the world.

If you’ve ever studied history, maybe you’ve wondered why we study history at all. After all, it’s not like monetary reform in 14th-century Germany has much of an impact on our lives today. For one, monetary reform in 14th-century Germany probably mostly had to do with how many sausages were worth a vat of medieval beer or a ridiculous-looking outfit. 

Nevertheless, though, the history teachers go right on teaching history. If you ask them why, their answer is always the same: “history repeats itself.” Sure, we’re no longer wearing Lederhosen, but still, it’s important to be aware of what happened in the past, so we can be ready for it to happen in the future. History repeats itself.

 Around the Mets, history certainly repeats itself. I know because I’ve been there, and the same thing happens every year: the Mets get worse than the year before. It’s history repeating itself, again and again and again.

Mike Stobe/Getty Images

At least, that’s the case if you listen to Twitter. Because people keep saying the same thing. “I’ve never seen them this bad,” they’ll say, nodding wisely. “As long as I’ve watched them, the Mets have never looked as bad as they do right now.” I searched Twitter for Tweets like this, and I found mid-season examples from 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015 (!), 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020. And, of course, 2021. 

So, the way I see it, there are two possibilities.

• The Mets are steadily getting worse, such that every year is actually worse than the year before, and every year can be the worst it’s ever been.

• People on Twitter say things based on visceral emotions, without actually thinking about whether or not what they’re saying is true.

I’ll let you decide, but come on. History repeats itself, and people say dumb things on Twitter. From some of the things I’ve seen people saying about the Mets after a 7-7 stretch to start the season, you’d think they’d done something worse, such as accidentally burning down a school. “This team is clueless.” “Mets stink.” “A very sad place in Mets land.” “You know that the Mets can’t hit a lick.” “Not one clutch player among them!” “Good teams don’t do this!”

I mean, what is there to say? The Mets have had a barely-notable 7-7 stretch to start the season. Some bullpen pieces have been okay; some haven’t. The offense has been bad; the pitching has been good. It will all regress to the mean eventually, because that’s just the way the world works. 

For the record, here are some other teams that have had 7-7 stretches: the 2001 Mariners (116-46), the 1986 Mets, and the Murderer’s Row 1927 Yankees. But good teams don’t have stretches like this.

“Good teams don’t get swept!” Someone, please, I’m begging you, tell me how many different baseball teams there have been in league history, and how many of those teams have gone a full season without getting swept. I wouldn’t be surprised if the answer was zero.

Here are some things that have happened in Mets history. 

From June 14th to June 30th, 1998, John Olerud, in the midst of a season in which he batted .354, batted .157/.267/.255. 

In 2000, in the midst of a season wherein he batted .324/.398/.614, Mike Piazza batted .163/.276/.306 from September 1st to September 19th. 

In Edgardo Alfonzo’s 2000 season, the year he batted .324/.425/.542, he was batting .186 after the first 12 games of the season; in July he had a ten game stretch in which he batted .154/.233/.231. 

Carlos Beltrán had an entire bad year in 2005, and he went on to become one of the best outfielders in Mets history. 

In 2007, David Wright batted .325/.416/.546, such a good year that I still remember his stats. Over a sixteen-game stretch in April and May, he batted .161/.288/.290.

You’d think Mets fans would have gotten used to this by now, but history keeps repeating itself: again, they haven’t. But it’s just a simple fact that all seasons for all teams have bad stretches, and this stretch hasn’t even been that bad. The 1969 Mets started their season 18-23 and ended up winning the division by eight games with a 100-62 record. The 2021 Mets have just played 7-7 baseball over a 14-game stretch; the 2006 Mets once played 5-9 baseball over a 14-game stretch. But life goes on, and lots more games are played, and eventually no one remembers the stretches that seemed bad at the time but really didn’t matter that much. You’d think people would start realizing how much bad baseball they’d forgotten by the end of good seasons, and how little it ended up mattering. But as I say, history repeats itself.