Steve Sica- Why this Mets Team is Hard to Root For

Being the worst team in baseball at 15-25 doesn't exactly make you an easy team to root for. But, as Mets fans, we've seen plenty of bad teams but they didn't feel quite like this team.

Looking back at some of the nightmarish teams in recent memory. Years like 2009-2014 come up. 2017 and 2018. Even 2002-2004 for those of us older enough to remember. The difference between those teams and current Met team team is those teams, as bad as they were, had players you identified with. Familiar main stays that you would look forward to seeing. The 2026 squad has none of that.

I went to the Mets/ DBacks series this weekend in Arizona, and I always say you wind up noticing more when you watch your team in person than you do on TV. You're just more focused on the game when you're at the stadium than in your living room. I saw the Mets lineup on Saturday and Sunday and didn't get excited for really anyone in there. Juan Soto was there and he's the jewel of the Met lineup, even though he put up and 0-for last weekend. Still, Soto, is a Met in name only. You really don't have a lot of Met moments from him yet. Honestly, when I see his name, I still picture him as a Washington National who used to own the Mets whenever they'd play the Nats. 

Those previous bad years I mentioned, there were players you could hang your hat on. Mike Piazza anchored the mid-2000's teams who would lose 90+ games. David Wright and Jose Reyes were still around even when 2009 and 2010 were flops. Wright stuck around all the way into the next era of Met success by 2015. Even before this season, you had home grown Mets' like Pete Alonso and Brandon Nimmo that you'd gravitate towards.

This version of the Mets is lifeless and as I watched the games at Chase Field this weekend, I felt like I was watching a bunch of strangers in Met uniforms. Baseball is a 162 game marathon. Unlike other sports, I feel like you can really get attached to a team through the six-month season. They almost become a apart of your family. 

I think that's why this team, with as bad a record as they have, have drawn more ire than usual from the fans. Mind you, with the second highest payroll in the league, all those fuzzy feelings of team chemistry should be out the window. The team should be winning on its own. 

Francisco Lindor is on the IL and he's the signature Met now on this roster. So, in fairness, that's part of the reason why this current team seems so distant. But still, the energy doesn't feel the same around the Mets. In 2024, the team jelled, you could feel it through the TV when you watched the team. The first half of 2025 had a similar vibe, not as strong, but they were winning so who really cared? By the second half of last year, something was up, and it's only carried over into 2026. 

The Mets' just called up A.J. Ewing. While, I think rushing a prospect up to provide a spark is a mistake, maybe this roster needs more home grown talent. Not just for the fans but for the players in the clubhouse to have something in common with each other.  It's concerning that we're having these discussions in May. That we're already scheming about what prospects we can get in return for Freddy Peralta, after the Mets' just traded away two top-100 prospects for him back in January. 

Can this team turn it around? Stranger things have happened. Six teams make the playoffs now, so as Don Corleone would say in the Godfather, "difficult but not impossible" However, that can't happen unless this team shows us something, anything that looks like a spark that they can ignite as the summer comes in. All I know is, it's getting late awfully early in Met land.