ROYALS, METS IN WORLD OF HURT
Injuries derail playoff hopes of 2015 Series foes
With a little over one month left in the 2016 season, the Cleveland Indians and Washington Nationals were running away with their respective divisions in races that were predicted to be closer. Last year’s World Series teams, the champion Kansas City Royals and runner-up New York Mets, were expected to contend for the postseason, but both are likely to miss the playoffs. What went wrong?
Injuries have hampered both teams, with the Mets devastated by the loss of several key players. After turning their offense around in 2015 with the acquisition of Yoenis Cespedes, New York has put eight position players on the disabled list this season, including the Cuban slugger. Two of their cornerstone players, David Wright and Lucas Duda, are likely out for the year. Cespedes, despite playing only 96 games so far, still led the Mets in virtually all major offensive categories.
The losses, of course, have dealt an incredibly severe blow to their offense. After the acquisition of Cespedes last season, the Mets scored an average of 5.4 runs per game and allowed an average of 4.1 runs per game. This season, their pitching is even better, allowing 3.9 runs per game, but the offense has dropped off more than 25%, down to 3.8 runs. Additionally, the Mets were having a historically abysmal year with runners in scoring position, with an average hovering right above the Mendoza line: Gordon and Salvador Perez — have hit the DL at some point this season. Moustakas is out for the season.
Offense, however, is not their biggest issue. All but one of the seven players currently injured were from the pitching staff. Last year, their team ERA was 3.73 while their bullpen was impeccable with a 2.72 ERA. This season, however, their team ERA, at 4.07 entering the week, was up more than a full run, and their bullpen was almost unrecognizable. They had six players — five of them pitchers — out for the year because of wide-ranging injuries; from Moustakas’ torn anterior cruciate ligament to Luke Hochevar’s thoracic outlet syndrome to Mike Minor, Tim Collins and Jason Vargas recovering from elbow or shoulder surgery.
Another major factor is the loss of each team’s star second baseman. Daniel Murphy helped carry the Mets to the World Series with his historic postseason performance at the plate. In the preceding months of August and September, Murphy hit eight home runs, drove in 37 runs and hit .306 to lead his team to a division title. His performance further elevated in the postseason. Over the course of three series, he drove in 11 runs, slugged seven homers, batted .328 and was named NL Championship Series MVP. This season, he was leading the NL in batting average at .348 and is well on his way to winning NL MVP for the Washington Nationals. Perhaps the biggest sting for the Mets is his performance against his former team. In 13 games, he has driven in 21 runs and hit seven homers.
Similarly, the Royals lost their 2015 second-half second baseman in Ben Zobrist. In 59 games for Kansas City last year, he hit .284 with a .364 on-base percentage and .453 slugging percentage with 23 RBI and seven homers. In three playoff series, he batted .303 with six RBI, two homers and seven walks. This year, he was hitting .279/.386/.450 with 62 RBI and 14 homers for the World Series favorite Chicago Cubs. And while Zobrist has not played a single game against his former team this season, the loss is still substantial, as the Royals have used four men at second.
Another major factor for both teams is the diminished performance from players who were key last season. Three of the Mets’ most important late-season contributors last year in Curtis Granderson, Michael Conforto and Travis d’Arnaud have underperformed significantly, with an average 129-point drop in onbase-plus-slugging percentage this year compared to last. In addition, Conforto had made multiple minor league stints and had only five hits in 46 at-bats against lefties this season.
Edinson Volquez’s ERA for Kansas City has spiked from 3.55 to 5.04, and Yordano Ventura’s has ticked up from 4.08 to 4.46 while he was allowing 20 home runs. Chris Young, who had a 3.06 ERA last year, had seen his ERA soar to 5.91 with a WHIP of 1.55 and had already allowed 10 more home runs this season than he did in 2015.
Still, both teams were 41⁄ games out in the wild-card race entering Sunday’s play, with Kansas City rising fast of late with a seven-game winning streak. But Kansas City was 24-39 on the road, and both had to leapfrog several teams in the wild-card race. Despite their inspiring performances last season, both World Series teams are unlikely to get another sniff at the postseason in 2016.
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