At least Rays can party in Queens
The thing that has evaded the Mets most all season also skirted them in their final home game of 2020: a much-needed win.
Michael Wacha, in what was very likely his last start as a Met, surrendered four earned runs (two home runs) across six innings in the Mets’ 8-5 loss to the
Rays on Wednesday.
The Mets managed to put only two baserunners on against Tampa Bay right-hander Tyler Glasnow, though Dominic Smith and Andres Gimenez hit solo shots off the righty.
“It’s just frustrating. Mustwin games here and I didn’t get it done tonight,” Wacha said.
The Mets (25-31) will finish with a losing record for the 12th time in the last 19 years. If they don’t make it into the playoffs, and all signs are pointing to another omission, they will have missed the postseason for the 17th time in their last 20 seasons.
Tampa, meanwhile, clinched the AL East for the first time in 10 years, ending the Yankees’ hopes of a division title. The Rays celebrated with silver confetti and glitter in lieu of champagne showers and brews.
The Mets’ 56th game of the season was a microcosm of their struggles this year. It featured a mediocre outing from a starter and a sleepy offense that didn’t wake up until the ninth inning, but that made for a fitting farewell to Citi Field for 2020. The Mets packed their bags for the nation’s capital and will end the season with a four-game series at Nationals Park.
“I don’t want to say it’s surprising,” Smith said of the Mets’ losing record. “Obviously it’s disappointing. We compete every day and we hold ourselves to the highest standard. Being a playoff team was everybody’s same goal and something that we wanted to reach as a team. To be where we’re at right now, we’re definitely not too happy.”
The Mets have struggled to string together a winning streak in 2020 – having won no more than three games in a row all year. And, in order for the Mets to have control over a fragment of their postseason fate, they needed to win out their five remaining games going into Wednesday night. Even then, there was no smooth path to the playoffs.
But if the Mets could just win, and keep winning, in their final two series of pandemic baseball, and their divisional opponents would lose, then the Mets had at least a greater chance at October baseball.
“It’s been a weird year for us,” Smith said. “Just like every other team. It was a little bit tough to build momentum. We dealt with a lot of injuries. Once you get the injury bug, it’s kind of hard to shake off.”
One of the best recipes for the Mets included a combination of the Phillies and Marlins losing at least two games in their final matchups of the season. So, the Amazin’s could pass both clubs in the National League East standings and get into the postseason that way. The last-place Nationals beat the Phillies, 3-2, and the firstplace Braves beat the Marlins, 9-4, on Wednesday.
Both results would have bolstered the Mets’ chances, had they beat the Rays. Instead, Luis Rojas’ club finds itself three games behind a wild-card spot with just four games to go.
“If you look back at our three-game winning streaks, which is the highest we’ve had, sometimes the momentum stopped,” said Rojas. “We’ve been challenged in a lot of areas. Especially with the starting pitching … We were playing catch-up a lot of the time. We’re still doing it. Tonight was another tough loss.”