The Mets ended their first half fittingly — with humiliation, despair and misery.
They have no excuses for being this bad, 17 games under .500 and adding to their litany of most embarrassing seasons ever. And to emphasize why no alibis should be allowed, they were swept into the All-Star break by the Red Sox, who have had all of their pathologies, yet are doing what the Mets lacked the temerity, consistency and leadership to do — they are pulling themselves out of hopelessness.
The Red Sox actually have had more impactful injuries than the Mets. They will see your Francisco Lindor sustained absence and raise that their top three shortstops — Trevor Story, Marcelo Mayer and Isiah Kiner-Falefa all have endured long-term injuries. And their ace, Garrett Crochet, and best young player, Roman Anthony, struggled and then were lost early in the year with injuries with no clear sign when (if?) they will return.
The Mets can talk about how difficult it is to transition players and/or get out of a ditch collectively in a loud, big northeastern city. But if you don’t own an atlas, that describes Boston, too — where more than half the fans are not rooting for a team in a different league and instead laser-focus blazing fury on the Red Sox during bad times.
