Biggest collapse ever (of course it's the Mets)

[DustyElbows]

Don't think I've ever seen a team collapse so hard. The 2019 Mets got out to an astonishing 36-4 start. They had a 15 game lead in the NL East race and it was only May 16th.

Naturally, they lost their next 11 games.

After their hot start, they went 57-65 the rest of the way and lost the division by THIRTEEN GAMES to the Nationals. It was a 28.5-game swing in three-quarters of a season.

The Mets still managed to squeak out a wild card berth but lost the one-game playoff by a score of 15-0.

And thus ended the Mets-iest season to ever Mets.

[SxSnts9]

Way to bury the lead!!! The Nats finished the season with an incredible 85-36 record. That's much more impressive. Though kudos on proper use of Mets as a verb.

[Findest2001]

Very good storytelling, although some may not call it a collapse. They might just call it regression to reality. That start (without checking my numbers) is the best start in MLB history (and if it's not, it's definitely in the top 3). No team can sustain that.


Nonetheless, good story.

[DustyElbows]

Originally Posted by Findest2001

Very good storytelling, although some may not call it a collapse. They might just call it regression to reality. That start (without checking my numbers) is the best start in MLB history (and if it's not, it's definitely in the top 3). No team can sustain that.


Nonetheless, good story.

Good point. Obviously they weren't going to win 90% of their games all year, but I don't think that .500 was too much of an ask

The 1984 Tigers started 35-5, the best 40-game start to a season ever. They went 69-53 the rest of the way and won the World Series.

[Syd Thrift]

Originally Posted by Findest2001

Very good storytelling, although some may not call it a collapse. They might just call it regression to reality. That start (without checking my numbers) is the best start in MLB history (and if it's not, it's definitely in the top 3). No team can sustain that.


Nonetheless, good story.

I'd call starting the season freaking 36-4 and then going under .500 the rest of the way a collapse. I want to know what happened there... did half of the starting rotation pull up lame? Did the entire infield get traded off for prospects?

[Findest2001]

Originally Posted by Syd Thrift

I'd call starting the season freaking 36-4 and then going under .500 the rest of the way a collapse. I want to know what happened there... did half of the starting rotation pull up lame? Did the entire infield get traded off for prospects?

Maybe the field manager quit and they played on a hilly and aerated field? :P

[DustyElbows]

Weirdly, it doesn't even appear to have been injuries. Everyone was just over performing in the first quarter of the season and crashed in the remainder.

The pitching staff allowed 2.4 runs per game before May 16th and 4.0 after:
Syndergaard: 1.55 ERA on May 16th, 3.09 after
Lugo: 2.09 before, 3.54 after
DeGrom: 1.38 before, 2.91 after
Matz: 3.23 before, 2.87 after (he improved! But he also missed all of September)

The offense scored 5.75 runs per game before May 16th and 4.0 after:
Rosario: .911 OPS on May 16th, .567 after
Conforto: .969 before, .864 after
Nimmo: .883 before, .747 after
Shaw: .911 before, .847 after
Cano: .672 before, .632 after
Ramos: .710 before, .737 after (yay Wilson)
Lowrie: 1.219 before, .599 after (!!)
Cespedes: debuted after May 16th, had an OPS of .601

I can't easily look this up, but I'd have to guess they were receiving awesome BABIP and clutch luck in the early going and dreadful luck after that.

[TomVeal]

The Seattle Mariners empathize.

[Mariner and Giants Fan]

Originally Posted by TomVeal

The Seattle Mariners empathize.

Do you think this is what Jerry had in mind with his imagination for 2019? Let the rebuild begin with showing Servais the door in 2019 and Dipoto the door in 2020 if they remain this uncompetitive and unwatchable.

[Syd Thrift]

After 15 years of Bill Bavasi and Jack Z, are you crazy? DiPoto has a good rep and jeez, already he’s managed to pawn off the horrible years of Robinson Cano to the Mets. Let’s go ahead and give him time and accept that turnover in baseball can take a few years.

[Mariner and Giants Fan]

Originally Posted by Syd Thrift

After 15 years of Bill Bavasi and Jack Z, are you crazy? DiPoto has a good rep and jeez, already he’s managed to pawn off the horrible years of Robinson Cano to the Mets. Let’s go ahead and give him time and accept that turnover in baseball can take a few years.

Have you been watching this team since 1977 as I have? Besides the 10 years of Sweet Lou, this franchise has been a dismal failure. I find myself wanting the Mariners to lose so as to force ownerships hand in changing management including all the way to President. This culture has got be changed and that cannot happen with what is now in place in my opinion. In his 4 years Dipoto has not shown me a leadership ability that will lead this organization to become one about competing and winning. His choice of Servais has been an unmitigated disaster and speaks volumes to his lack of vision.
I am also a Giants fan (since 1966) and even though they have been losing these past few seasons I still root for them to win and three WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS this decade! They have built up credit and the Mariners NOT.
The Ms are unwatchable in 2019, last year was a season ending collapse that every knowledgeable fan could see coming but at least it was fun for 90 games. This season was fun for 15. Reimagined? Yeah in our nightmares. Dipoto mislead the fanbase pandering to money instead of having the "balls" to call it what it is, a rebuild. I and much of the fanbase has lost confidence in him and are screaming for Servais to be fired. If changes are not made the attendance will continue to shrink and perhaps ownership will sell to an owner that knows how to build a winning organizational culture, one that thrives on competing. One can hope hmm...

[Syd Thrift]

I was 3 in 1977 but I’ve been an avid fan since about 1980, yes. Can the “only I’m a real fan” crap, thanks.

[BIG17EASY]

Originally Posted by Mariner and Giants Fan

Have you been watching this team since 1977 as I have? Besides the 10 years of Sweet Lou, this franchise has been a dismal failure. I find myself wanting the Mariners to lose so as to force ownerships hand in changing management including all the way to President. This culture has got be changed and that cannot happen with what is now in place in my opinion. In his 4 years Dipoto has not shown me a leadership ability that will lead this organization to become one about competing and winning. His choice of Servais has been an unmitigated disaster and speaks volumes to his lack of vision.
I am also a Giants fan (since 1966) and even though they have been losing these past few seasons I still root for them to win and three WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS this decade! They have built up credit and the Mariners NOT.
The Ms are unwatchable in 2019, last year was a season ending collapse that every knowledgeable fan could see coming but at least it was fun for 90 games. This season was fun for 15. Reimagined? Yeah in our nightmares. Dipoto mislead the fanbase pandering to money instead of having the "balls" to call it what it is, a rebuild. I and much of the fanbase has lost confidence in him and are screaming for Servais to be fired. If changes are not made the attendance will continue to shrink and perhaps ownership will sell to an owner that knows how to build a winning organizational culture, one that thrives on competing. One can hope hmm...

Imagine if Astros fans had felt this way 5-6 years ago and the ownership had listened to them.

[Syd Thrift]

I'd go so far as to say that, kind of like Chicago with the Cubs (well, at least until 2016) there's this kind of perverse pride that Mariners fans have in rooting for a sucky, no-hope team year after year. I mean, nobody can accuse me of jumping on a bandwagon, that's for sure. We did get the highs of 1995 and at least the regular season of 2001 but those events always seemed to be calculated to provide us M's fans hope that the baseball gods could then slap away like a bully in elementary school. I mean, remember 1996, when a team that looked like it was going to have legendary hitting and a decent rotation got stymied by one of the worst bullpens in modern baseball history? Or hell, how about 1987, when the M's were still mediocre, sure (this is a team that did not have its first winning season until its 15th year in the bigs) but the entire AL West was mediocre and the M's really looked like they had a chance at it until Dick Williams suddenly got old and non-feisty and the M's regressed to like 7 games behind the eventual World Series winning Minnesota Twins? Or how about the knowledge that King Felix is now a shell of his former self and Bavasi and Jack Z officially wasted his best years on crap?

This notion that this particular 90 loss team is going to be the breaking point for TRUE FANDOM strikes me as laughable in the extreme. If you can't handle losing, go root for the Yankees.

[BIG17EASY]

Hey, at least you have Kelenic to look forward to. As a Mets fan, my heart dies a little every time I hear that he's doing well, which seems to be a daily occurrence lately. Add in that Robbie Cano looks ready to be put out to pasture and I'm ready to trade you Brodie Van Wagenen for Jerry DiPoto in a heartbeat.

[dbqs]

I had a similar instance with the 2020 Pirates in my most recent game - they ended up like two games over .500

[tejdog1]

Brodie van Stupidenen aka the front for jeffie boy wontponzi made a tremendous trade

[Mariner and Giants Fan]

Originally Posted by Syd Thrift

I was 3 in 1977 but I’ve been an avid fan since about 1980, yes. Can the “only I’m a real fan” crap, thanks.

Where did that come from? I was only saying that I have suffered since the team started through so many losing and horribly run teams. I was in noway saying you are not a real fan. Were you raised in the Seattle area?

[Mariner and Giants Fan]

Originally Posted by BIG17EASY

Imagine if Astros fans had felt this way 5-6 years ago and the ownership had listened to them.

I imagine droves of Astros felt exactly how I and thousands (if not hundreds of thousands) of Mariner fans feel right now. The other day I was listening to both of our local sports radio stations talk about how poor this team is playing and how badly management is in decision making. Two DJs, one from each station made quite interesting disparaging remarks on the air: Jim Moore (KIRO) stated that he is actually rooting for the Mariners to lose though he is not really sure why. Dick Fain (KJR) said he doesn't feel the need to watch the Mariner games since the team doesn't feel the need to try and win (albeit this and next season) while rebuilding. You should see how the fan base is blasting the Mariners on all forms of social media. I though I was "negative" but I got nothing on so many other Mariner fans. We are all just so fed up with the 18 years of no playoffs and lack of competitiveness. Dipoto has stated that the 18 years are not on him, but many fans disagree as he inherited it and because of that we have little if any grace for him to keep losing in his 4th year. One thing also to consider is the Astros history before they went through the rebuild. Yes they went through a 9 year playoff drought, but they had already been to a World Series in 2005 and the NLCS the year before. The Mariners have never been to the Series and 18 years and this is the second such no playoff stretch (1977-1994) and they have never been to the Series! So please understand where the extreme negativity comes from for life long Mariner fans.
Thanks. As my tag states I am also a lifelong Giants fan (since 1966) and thankfully they did get to the World Series in 2010 (and twice thereafter, woohoo!). However before the Series win in 2010 they had been through a 56 year Series win drought! So I am no fair weather fan

[Mariner and Giants Fan]

Originally Posted by Syd Thrift

This notion that this particular 90 loss team is going to be the breaking point for TRUE FANDOM strikes me as laughable in the extreme. If you can't handle losing, go root for the Yankees.

I wish I could root for the Yankees. I actually watch them on TV or listen to them on the Radio as much if not more than the Ms these days. I admire how they run their organization and I always have even with Steinbrenner (George). In that vein I have tickets to the Mariners game on July 4th to see them play the St. Louis Cardinals because I have admired that team/organization since I was a child. They always compete. I am excited to see them in person as the last time I saw them in person was at Fulton County Stadium in 1968 when Bob Gibson pitched against Phil Neikro. What a thrill that was for this then 12 years old baseball obsessed fan.

You have no idea how much losing I have "handled" as a sports fan for over 50 years so your statement while dripping with judgement, could not be more off-base. I have never given up on the Mariners though the way this team has been run for most of the 42 years has sure pushed me to the brink. Fans have every right to boo their team, too vent on social media how angry they are at the constant failure to field a winning team. Do you disagree with this?