Paul Articulates – It is never over in April

The New York Mets are reeling on a current 7 game losing streak (as of Tuesday night) and still have to play four more away games against the dominant Dodgers and the contending Cubs.  It certainly feels like a dire situation because we don’t have any other reference point on this current roster to justify that they can do better.  But April is very far from October, and this Mets team still has time to prove that David Stearns’ roster build can do the job.

Why do I say that?  Well, all teams go through their ups and downs.  This just happens to be a down before the up.  It is very far from the worst losing streak in Mets history which was 17 games long in 1962 by one of the most hapless teams in Mets’ history.

Losing 7 in a row does not put them in the category of hapless or even hopeless.  The last Mets team to reach the World Series  lost 7 in a row in June 2015 but went on a huge tear after the trade deadline which energized the whole city.  So, let’s all acknowledge that “frustrating” is not “finished”.  One could argue that the 1986 team never lost 7 in a row, but at this point no one would compare this team to the ’86 dynasty.  

Despite our current disappointment, all of us were able to find hopeful aspects of this roster before the season, and there is no reason that those aspects won’t play out by the time we reach September.  We know that the pressure to meet those expectations is certainly working against the players in their current state.   That pressure will give way to forward momentum on a single event – whether that is a late inning walk-off or a game-saving defensive gem.  I can’t predict whether that event will happen tonight or this weekend or next week.  But when the upturn comes, we will have a reference point on what “good” looks like to more fairly weigh this team’s chances at the end of the season.

So much like baseball players grind through the difficult times, we as fans must grind through the current streak, anxiously awaiting the event that will turn this team’s psyche into a positive vibe.  And then, every one of us will be yelling, “Let’s Go Mets”!