Look, there's really no need to make fun of the New York Metropolitans. They do it to themselves.
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If there's one thing baseball fans can come together and agree on, it's that the Mets are the laughing stock of Major League Baseball. From the dreadful Bobby Bonilla contract to the worst loss in the history of the franchise just five years ago, it's easy to get a good chuckle just thinking about the team in Queens.
In the last decade, the Mets have made three trips to the postseason, including a World Series berth in 2015 and a 101-win season in 2022. And yet, it still feels like this franchise — one that currently has the largest payroll in MLB history at $344 million — is one of inconsistency that has accomplished nothing of late.
If you ask me, I think they're cursed. They put a hex on themselves on March 10, 2021, the day they practiced winning the World Series at Spring Training. Like, full on screaming and jumping for joy in unison before finishing eight games under .500 that season.
🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨
Mets are celebrating catching the final out of Game 7 World Series. You’ll want the sound all the way up for this one. pic.twitter.com/0GGYrHLBsU
— Deesha (@DeeshaThosar) March 10, 2021
If you've put on your tin foil hat like I have, you'll enjoy perusing this timeline of unfortunate events in Mets history since that day. If this doesn't make you a believer, I'm not sure what will.
Three Seasons of Mets Woes and D'ohs
Photo by Duane Burleson/Getty Images
March 10, 2021: Mets practice winning the World Series. It's a choice.
July 7, 2021: Jacob deGrom throws his final game of the season before injuries derail him. He throws just 64.1 innings in 2022 before signing with the Texas Rangers in December 2022.
Aug. 6, 2021: The Mets fall out of first place in the NL East after 90 days of holding first place, falling to 57-53. They finish the season 77-85 and make MLB history — they're the only team to spend as much time as they did in first place (103 days) and still finish with a losing record.
Aug. 29, 2021: Mets players give the thumbs down signal to Mets fans after hitting home runs, because said Mets fans had been booing them when they strike out or play poorly.
Mets fans boo Javy Baez & give him thumbs down gestures as he comes up to bat 👀
(via @SNYtv)pic.twitter.com/ivWlmklsg4
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) August 31, 2021
Oct. 2, 2022: The Mets, who needed just one win in a late-season three-game series against the Braves to ensure the NL East title, are swept by the Braves. Both deGrom and Scherzer each started a game in the series.
Oct. 9, 2022: The Mets, winners of 101 games, are shut out and knocked out of the playoffs by the San Diego Padres in the NL Wild Card round.
March 16, 2023: Mets lose closer Edwin Diaz for the season after suffering a torn patellar tendon in right knee while celebrating at the World Baseball Classic. Diaz signed a five-year, $102 million contract in November 2022.
Edwin Diaz appears to have suffered an injury during Puerto Rico's celebration pic.twitter.com/G9Md6SBrEj
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) March 16, 2023
April 19, 2023: Max Scherzer is ejected against the Dodgers for sticky substances on his hand. He swears on his life and his children it was "sweat and rosin." He was fined $5,000 and suspended for 10 games by MLB.
May 4, 2023: Justin Verlander gives up back-to-back home runs in the first inning of his Mets debut against the Tigers. Riley Greene and a former Met, Javier Baez, were the culprits. The Mets lose 2-0.
June 28, 2023: Mets broadcaster Keith Hernandez says he wouldn't let Shohei Ohtani wear his jersey number if the club signed him in the offseason. Hernandez is blasted for his opinion. Also, the Mets lose 5-2 to the Brewers.
June 29, 2023: Scherzer and catcher Francisco Alvarez hilariously run into each other and miss a pop-up during a 3-2 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers.
Doh. pic.twitter.com/04T0qTRp0Y
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) June 30, 2023
July 1, 2023: Bobby Bonilla Day takes place. The Mets pay Bonilla, who last played in 2001, a cool $1.19 million. They'll pay him that every year through 2035. It will forever remain one of the dumbest contracts in sports history.
July 15, 2023: Mets third baseman Brett Baty misses a routine pop-up and is hit in the face as it bounces back up. The Mets lose the game.
Brett Baty: “I got it. I got it. I got it.”
…
“I don’t got it.”pic.twitter.com/L7Q45adkai
— Dodger Blue (@DodgerBlue1958) July 16, 2023
Aug. 1, 2023: Max Scherzer reveals a private conversation with the Mets front office about plans to be competitive in 2025, not 2024. He requests to be traded and is sent to the Texas Rangers.
Aug. 1, 2023: Justin Verlander is traded 105 games into his Mets career after signing a two-year, $86.7 million deal last off-season. The Mets will send either $35 million or $52.5 million to Houston along with Verlander, essentially paying Verlander to not play in New York and all but buying prospects in the meantime.
Aug. 1, 2023: The Mets lose to the Royals on a walk-off balk, the same game Pete Alonso is hit in the face on a pop-up and the same day they traded Verlander and Tommy Pham.
The Royals won on a "balk-off" in extras after the umps called this a balk despite the Mets claiming that it was because of pitchcom issues pic.twitter.com/vyU2fDGEaK
— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) August 2, 2023
https://twitter.com/gifs_baseball/status/1686565665665069056?s=20
Phew, now that all can't just be coincidence, right? Surely there has to be some sort of curse in place right now. I even feel like I missed some moments.
The Mets have, of course, had their share of awesomeness during these last three seasons. Diaz's electric trumpet entrance last year should go down in history next to Trevor Hoffman's "Hells Bells" and Mariano Rivera's "Enter Sandman." And Pete Alonso winning the Home Run Derby in 2021 — his second in as many years at the time — was a highlight for the franchise.
But maybe it's time for the Mets to call in an expert to see what's going on inside the walls of Citi Field. Take a page out of the Anaheim Angels' book.
