Mike's Mets - In Search of the Winning Attitude

By Mike Steffanos

With their poor play in May and June, the Mets showed just how far they still have to go to build a consistent winner for this franchise.

When the Mets completed a sub-par month of May with a losing 14-15 record, I worried about how that would carry over into June, where they were scheduled to face more formidable opposition. Even in my darkest nightmares, I didn't foresee a dismal 7-19 record that made a playoff spot a long shot for a team I once hoped would contend for the NL East title. If the Mets can't parlay the 6-game winning streak that fizzled out Saturday night and Sunday in San Diego into a sustained period of solid play, they will undoubtedly find themselves going home at the conclusion of the regular season.

Playoffless Octobers were a regular feature of the Wilpon era. Steve Cohen promised us things would be different when he took over in November 2020. He's undoubtedly placed a large chunk of money where his mouth is in trying to fulfill his promise. But, after Saturday's loss, the Mets are 7 games out of the last Wild Card slot with four teams (Philadelphia, Milwaukee, San Diego, and Chicago) in front of them on the outside looking in. Barring a dramatic second-half run, the Cohen era will only have produced one 3-game playoff series in Steve's first three seasons owning the club. I'm sure that's not what Cohen had in mind.

The 5-year plan writers have tried to tie Cohen to since his inaugural press conference isn't working out that well. For the record, when asked what his timetable was for winning a World Series, Cohen answered, "If I don't win a World Series in the next three to five years, I'd like to make it sooner, then I would consider that slightly disappointing." I'm not quite sure how the words "slightly disappointing" came to represent a title promise from the man, but that's how the New York media tends to roll. But it would be undeniable that failing to make the playoffs in two of three seasons would constitute disappointment to a much higher degree than "slightly."

While he didn't guarantee a title within five years, what Steve Cohen actually did commit to at his first press conference was winning:

"I want an exceptional team. I want a team that's built to be great every year," said Cohen. "I want Mets fans to have a great experience with us. I’m going to be an owner who builds a team that has continued success."

Now, I understand the context of those words being that this consistent winner would be built on the top-tier farm system that Cohen has been investing in for three seasons. While it is clearly in a better place now than in the fall of 2020, much work still needs to be done. That's why Cohen was so generous with the budget he gave his baseball ops people to bridge the gap until the farm system consistently produces talent. The idea was that when these waves of talent started hitting the majors, they would join a team already established as a winner.

Even if these 2023 Mets can sustain a level of play that gets them all the way back into the Wild Card hunt — and I'm fairly skeptical of that happening after watching this team scuffle in May and June — I have to look at the foundation of that "great every year" idea as crumbly and weak at this point. Teams that sustain winning year after year don't let things go as far astray as these Mets did when they went 11-22 from May 23 through June 30. For context, that would translate to a dismal 54-108 record over a full season.

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