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With each gruesome loss, the bleakness of their situation increases.

You can see it in the numbers. After Monday night’s 5-1 loss to the Cubs, the Phillies are 8-14. They have had a similar, or worse, record a number of times in their long and storied franchise history, and the trends do not portent good tidings.

Generally speaking, bad teams begin a season 8-14. The record usually reflects the talent level of the team. But this Phillies team was expected to reach the postseason once again in 2026. They began the season as one of the National League teams most likely to reach the World Series. They have a payroll approaching $300 million.

And yet, here they sit, keeping company with some of the worst squads in franchise history.

If the Phillies finish with a losing record, like in 25 of the 26 instances listed above, they will not reach the postseason. But prior to the three wild card era that began in 2022, most of the teams listed above knew their seasons were over before April ended. The incentive to play hard, pursue mid-season trades and push for a playoff berth would have been foolish prior to the wild card era, let alone a time when six teams in each league, not 2 or 4, reach the postseason.

Last year, the Cincinnati Reds earned the third wild card with an 83-79 record, while the Tigers took the final wild card with an 87-75 mark. In 2024, it took 89 wins for anyone to earn entry in the NL, while the 86-win Tigers and Royals got the final spots. In ‘23, the Marlins and Diamondbacks each made the playoffs with 84 wins, with Arizona advancing all the way to the World Series, and in ‘22, your very own Philadelphia Phillies snuck into the postseason and went on a breathtaking run after a dreadful April and sputtering September that netted 87 victories during the regular season.

Let’s say it will take 86 wins for the Phillies to reach the playoffs. In order to get there, they would need to go 78-70 the rest of the way. It is not at all unreasonable to think this team can play 8 games over .500 the rest of the way. To get to 90 wins, they need to finish with an 82-66 record. That’s 14 games over .500 over the season’s final five-plus months. Again, far from impossible.

It’s difficult to envision this team going on a run like that right now.

It’s entirely possible that, like the 2012 Phillies, this particular group has reached its end point. It’s possible that, like the 1979 Phillies, it’s simply more of a setback season in which nothing is going to go right. It’s also possible that, like ‘22, the Phillies will stumble to a 22-29 start, replace their manager, and go on another tear.

All of those options seem equally likely.

But as MLB.com noted late last year, other teams have started as slowly, if not slower, and reached the October tournament.

First 25 Games:

Division winners
7-18: 2024 Astros (finished 88-73)
9-16: 2015 Rangers (finished 88-74)
9-16: 2006 Twins (finished 96-66)
10-15: 2006 Padres (finished 88-74)
10-15: 2005 Yankees (finished 95-67)
Seven division winners have started 11-14

Wild Card winners
8-17: 2001 Athletics (finished 102-60)
10-15: 2014 Pirates (finished 88-74)
10-15: 2009 Rockies (finished 92-70)
10-15: 2007 Rockies (finished 90-73)*
10 Wild Card winners have started 11-14

These types of finishes were almost impossible prior to the wild card era in 1995, when four teams in each league reached the postseason. Through 1993, only two teams from each league, division winners of the four divisions, went to the playoffs.

This isn’t to say fans shouldn’t be concerned. The Phillies are playing some awful baseball right now, and there are no signs of a breakthrough. But while their Fangraphs playoff odds have understandably fallen over the last week, especially their chances of winning the NL East (12.4%), they are still being given a 45.0% chance of making the playoffs. Those are the 6th-best odds of any team in the NL, which would, you guessed it, place them in the No. 3 wild card spot.

All that’s difficult to swallow when they’re sporting a -42 run differential that is by far the worst in baseball (Royals -34 are 2nd-worst). Everyone should be prepared for a very different summer than the ones we’ve experienced over the last few years. History is not kind to Phils teams that have started like this.

But this is a different era of baseball, when slow starts to not automatically sink a team’s chances. The Phillies can wait this out, get hot, and still reasonably believe their playoff chances are not sunk.

It’s just not likely.

The Yankees entered their recent series against the Royals needing a serious shift in momentum. They were 2-7 in their previous nine games — a stretch which saw them get one-hit by the Rays, fail to score for 17 straight innings, and surrender 13 home runs and 32 runs total in four games against the Angels. In the final series of the home stand, it became imperative that they turn their ship around before heading out on the road.

That’s just what transpired, the Yankees sweeping the Royals in a much needed laugher series to reduce stress levels and restore confidence. It could have been a different story, Camilo Doval squandering the Yankees’ 2-1 lead by giving up the game-tying home run in the top of the eighth inning of the series opener. That left the Bombers looking for heroics from the impotent bottom of their batting order, somehow finding themselves in the situation of needing to call on Ryan McMahon as a pinch-hitter with two outs — a man whose bat had gone so cold that he was benched for Amed Rosario despite the right-handed Michael Wacha having made the start for the Royals.

We join McMahon with two outs in the eighth, Aaron Boone having inserted him into the game as a defensive replacement for Rosario in the top half of the inning. Ben Rice is on first after his two-out single kept the inning alive against hard-throwing reliever Alex Lange. Lange was once one of the hottest commodities on the reliever market in his first few seasons with the Tigers before injuries sapped his effectiveness and eventually led to his DFA. His fastball used to touch triple digits, and while it has fallen off from those heights, he can still dial it up to the upper-90s. He begins this encounter with a four-seamer at 96 mph.

This is a well-executed heater on the corner up and away. McMahon takes it for called strike one and it’s a good thing he did. As we’ll discuss below, McMahon has a very narrow range of pitch locations that he’s able to make solid contact. Up and away is most certainly not one of those areas, so despite this pitch being in the zone, it is absolutely not one McMahon should be swinging at first pitch.

After watching McMahon take the previous pitch, Lange looks to tunnel a knuckle curve down a similar chute, hoping to either steal another called strike low and away or maybe even induce a chase and whiff.

Once again, McMahon is taking all the way. The pitch is a ball out of Lange’s hand and never looks like a strike during its path to home, making for a pretty straightforward but still decent take from McMahon considering it lands just inches from the corner.

Now that he has shown McMahon two straight pitches away, Lange has him set up to potentially chase a changeup off the plate down and away.

Instead, he spikes this pitch into the dirt on the other side of home plate than he was intending. In a sense, he lets McMahon off the hook here with this automatic take.

Despite showing McMahon the movement profile of the changeup on a non-competitive pitch, Lange makes the curious decision to double up on the pitch.

McMahon gets the off-speed mistake right in his wheelhouse and doesn’t miss, sending it to the opposite field just over the wall in left for the go-ahead, two-run home run, the first extra-base hit of his season. It’s a bizarre pitch selection — McMahon has serious contact issues against high-velocity elevated fastballs and breaking balls below the zone, so he’s certainly not complaining about getting just about the only pitch he can hit in this situation.

Here’s the full AB:

It’s no secret how much McMahon has struggled to begin the year. Among all hitters with at least 50 plate appearances entering play Monday, McMahon’s .130 average ranked third worst, while his 53 wRC+, 32.1-percent strikeout rate, and and 34-percent whiff rate all rank him well into the bottom 15-percent league-wide. I fear that without fundamental changes to his swing mechanics, we can expect more of the same going forward, McMahon under contract this season and next at $16 million a year.

His extreme uppercut swing is aimed toward pulling the ball in the air. However, those mechanics mean he is only able to make contact with pitches below belt-level — the irony being that while his goal is to lift the ball, the only pitches he can hit are the hardest to lift in the air! There’s a very narrow sweet-spot about thigh-high and middle of the plate where he can do damage, and fortunately Lange threw him a pitch exactly in that area. The goal therefore for McMahon is to maximize damage on the few occasions when he sees a pitch like the one Lange threw, and fortunately for the Yankees, McMahon didn’t miss this time.

In New York, Marcus Semien is batting .234 with an adjusted OPS of 73.

In Arlington, Texas, Brandon Nimmo has four home runs, a .311 batting average and a .908 OPS.

In New York, Devin Williams just blew a save to extend the Mets’ losing streak to 11 and is clocking a 7.11 ERA.

In Baltimore, Ryan Helsley is 6-for-6 in save opportunities and is striking out 35% of the batters he’s faced.

In New York, Carson Benge has looked overmatched and not ready for prime time, with a .229 on-base percentage, a 26 adjusted OPS and 18 strikeouts in 70 plate appearances.

In Detroit and St. Louis and Cleveland, Kevin McGonigle, JJ Wetherholt and Chase DeLauter are making the leap to the major leagues look simple.

See where this is going?

The small-minded among us are wondering whether it’s time for Carlos Mendoza to pay for this debacle of a Mets season with his job. Fair to wonder, we suppose, but also beside the point.

Because right now, virtually every button pushed this winter – trading Nimmo for Semien, Helsley’s New York failures begetting Williams’ arrival, Benge handed an outfield job on Opening Day - has turned nuclear during this 7-15 start.

The manager? That’s largely beside the point.

Mendoza can’t hit for those guys, cannot resurrect Jorge Polanco off the injured list, and perhaps doesn’t have the time to await water finding its level and the club’s performance tilting closer to “expected.”

Sure, maybe he should’ve intentionally walked Nico Hoerner in the 10th inning of their 11th consecutive loss. Yet as great and valued as Hoerner is, this isn’t exactly “why did he pitch to Barry Bonds?” territory.

No, this club’s composition is squarely on president David Stearns’ shoulders and to be fair, the jury is still very much out on the group.

While the big league club had an up and down week, it was all sunshine and roses down on the farm. Nats prospects were absolutely killing it last week. There were so many guys producing that I probably won’t be able to give all of them the shine they deserve here. Of the 20 prospects on Baseball America’s weekly hot sheet, five of them were Nats prospects.

The crazy thing is that there are still a few Nats prospects who arguably got snubbed here. Coy James hit his first two pro homers, Landon Harmon fired five scoreless innings, Ethan Petry put up monster numbers and Cayden Wallace continued raking. Yet, none of those guys were able to make the cut.

They probably should have, but whoever was making the list probably did not want half the players to come from one team. It was the most productive week in the minor leagues that I can remember. The hitting development in this organization has taken a massive step forward under Paul Toboni. From the Fred Nats to the real Nats, you can see the improvements.

In my opinion, no player has improved more at the plate than Seaver King. The turning point for him seemed to be the Arizona Fall League, but it has carried over. Right now, he is hitting .286 with a .992 OPS in Double A. Last season, he posted a .600 OPS in 80 Double-A games. In 14 games, he has homered just as many times in Harrisburg as he did all of last season. Last week, he had a two-homer game.

The biggest change for King is that he is swinging way less. That has predictably led to way more walks. He has 15 walks to just 16 strikeouts. Last year in AA, he had 23 walks and 74 strikeouts. In 2025, he swung at over 53% of pitches, but that number has dropped to 36.8% this year. 

That number is a bit lower than you would like, but it is clear he has a plan of attack now. He is only going to swing at pitches he can do damage with. Eventually, this approach will be attacked and he will have to find a happy medium. For context, that 36.8% swing rate is lower than James Wood’s swing rate, and Wood is a guy who many nitpick for not swinging enough.

This more selective version of King is producing much better results, and landed him a place on the hot sheet. If he keeps hitting like this, a promotion to Triple-A could come soon. There is a chance he could make his MLB debut this year if he keeps performing. The Nats could use a second baseman with an offensive punch.

Another infielder performing well is Ronny Cruz. Ever since Spring Training, his name has been on the tip of people’s tongues. He is emerging as a breakout prospect and a real coup for the Nats. They acquired Cruz as part of the Michael Soroka trade last July.

He spent all of last season in rookie ball, but he absolutely lit it up in Low-A to start the season. Cruz posted a .333 average and 1.087 OPS. He is a power speed threat, who has 7 extra base hits already. Cruz also stole 12 bases just last week. That production was enough to secure him a promotion to High-A despite only 14 career games above rookie ball.

This aggressive promotion shows how much faith the Nats have in Cruz. He has been a guy the organization has been absolutely raving about. They think they have unearthed a hidden gem here. Right now, he is the Nats 25th ranked prospect, but that will not be the case for long.

Speaking of players who could be in line for a promotion, Yeremy Cabrera should not be with the Fred Nats for much longer. After posting solid, but not elite numbers in Low-A for the Rangers last year, the Nats had Cabrera repeat the level. For guys who are repeating levels, you want to see big numbers. 

Cabrera has certainly put up big numbers to start the season. In 13 games, the 20 year old is hitting .362 with a 1.223 OPS. This just looks like a player who is too good for the level he is playing at right now. He was considered a smaller piece in the Gore trade, but Cabrera has emerged as a name to watch.

Yeremy Cabrera seems like a well rounded outfield prospect with a complete game. He is well regarded as a defender in center field, and the offensive numbers speak for themselves. How the offense translates is still the question mark, but he is off to a great start. While neither his hit or power tools are elite, they show quality flashes. I am excited to see what he can do in Wilmington.

King, Cruz and Cabrera had the best weeks, but there were other names on the hot sheet. Eli Willits got off to a slow start, but he had a big week, hitting his first two pro homers. One was an inside the parker, but the other one was a well struck opposite field bomb. He hit the ball with more authority this past week and got his OPS up to .773. We know Willits is a great defender, with a phenomenal approach and good speed. The question with him is how much power is there. This week was a positive step in answering that question. 

The last guy on the list was flame thrower Miguel Sime. He was the Nats 4th round pick last year and stands out for his triple digit velocity. In Sime’s three starts, we have seen the complete package, both good and bad. His first and third starts were electric, with the big righty striking out 15 and walking just two in those outings. However, in his other start, he only went two innings and walked six batters.

When Sime is on, he is electric, but when he is off, he just can’t find the zone. He is strikingly similar to Jarlin Susana at the same age. Both are big burly righties who throw gas, but have control issues. However, for both of them, the control issues don’t occur every time out. Some nights, they are pounding the zone, but when they don’t have it, things get ugly.

Overall, the Nats minor league seasons have gotten off to as good of a start as you could ask for. Most of the Nats breakout guys are emerging, and the 2025 draft class has a chance to be a special group. While 2026 could be a long year for the big league team, the future of the Nats is sprouting in the minor leagues.

Dave Roberts took exception to comments from Chicago Cubs manager Craig Counsell on Monday about a rule that makes Shohei Ohtani an exception.

“He’s an exception because he’s an exceptional player," the Dodgers manager told reporters after his team's 12-3 victory against the Colorado Rockies.

Addressing the rash of injuries to Cubs pitchers and whether teams should have more roster flexibility than the rules currently allow, Counsell questioned the fairness of the MLB rule that allows Ohtani to be excluded from the 13-pitcher roster maximum because he is a two-way player.

“There’s not another player like that, but one team gets different rules for that player,” Counsell told reporters.

MLB rosters are capped at 26 players, up to 13 of whom can be designated as pitchers. Players designated as position players are not allowed to pitch unless a game is in extra innings or there is at least a six-run differential in the score when they take the mound.

Read more:Max Muncy and Dalton Rushing each homer twice in Dodgers' 15-hit, blowout win

Teams can also designate two-way players — players who are both position players and pitchers — if they meet certain criteria: In the previous season they must have pitched at least 20 major league innings and started at least 20 major league games as a position player or designated hitter, with at least three plate appearances in each of those games.

Ohtani, who won most valuable player awards in four of the last five seasons, is the lone two-way player. Counsell termed the rule "bizarre."

"There’s one team that’s allowed to carry basically one of both, and that he gets special consideration," he said. "Which is probably the most bizarre rule.”

Roberts offered a pointed rebuttal.

“It certainly benefits us, because we have the player," he said. "But that’s something that, any team that had Ohtani would have that player.

Read more:Dodgers closer Edwin Díaz to have surgery, expected out until after All-Star break

“We’re more than willing for other teams to go out and find a player who can do both."

The rule exception helps the Dodgers in one obvious way: They can utilize a six-man starting rotation while maintaining the full complement of eight relievers. Any other team using six starters would be down to seven relievers.

The topic likely will be revisited when the Cubs visit the Dodgers for a three-game series this weekend.

Get the best, most interesting and strangest stories of the day from the L.A. sports scene and beyond from our newsletter The Sports Report.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

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The New York Mets’ struggles are well beyond an ordinary slump. That’s why FanDuel is now offering bettors the chance to wager on when they will win their next game.

After starting the year 7-4, the Mets haven’t registered a win since their victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks on April 7.

Key Takeaways

• The Mets are -180 favorites against the Twins on Tuesday, April 21.
  
  
• FanDuel dropped the Mets from +1300 preseason to +2200 current odds to win the World Series.
  
  
• No MLB team has a lower on-base percentage or OPS than the Mets.

The Mets began the year at +1300 in World Series odds at FanDuel, the fourth-shortest on the board.

It was mostly business as usual for the Mets early on. They won their first series against the Pittsburgh Pirates, sputtered against the St. Louis Cardinals, and then took three of four from the San Francisco Giants. 

New York's momentum carried over to a four-game winning streak, capped off by their April 7 victory against the Diamondbacks; but unfortunately for them, they haven’t tasted a win since.

An impressive 11-game losing streak sent the Mets free-falling to last place in the National League East, 8.5 games behind the first-place Atlanta Braves—the largest deficit faced by any team in all of baseball. 

They’re down to +2200 to win the championship and +340 to win the division, while the Braves are already a -155 favorite. That’s despite them opening behind the Mets at +2000 in odds to win the World Series.

The Big Apple representatives are going to win again, but the question is when it will happen. 

Betting on the Mets’ losing streak 

Mercifully for Mets fans, FanDuel expects the team to snag a win against the Minnesota Twins on Tuesday evening. Real-time moneyline odds have them as -180 favorites over their NL Central opponents, who are 11-11 and lost four straight games.

FanDuel has odds for the Mets’ losing streak to end for each of the next six games, and a “not before 4/28” option. Cashing that bet would require the Mets to tie a franchise record established in 1962 and lose 17 straight contests.

The New York Mets are on an 11-Game losing streak🤯

They may never win again...

OR

there's a market for the Mets to get their next win pic.twitter.com/pVlBhUPx9P

— FanDuel Canada (@FanDuelCanada) April 20, 2026

Breaking the ongoing skid will require the Mets to get their act together at the plate. They have the lowest on-base percentage in all of baseball, and also rank third-from-bottom in home runs and eighth-worst in batting average. Fittingly, they scored fewer runs than all other teams (3.3 per game).

Their pitching has also been the definition of average, ranking 16th in both combined ERA (4.06) and batting average allowed (.239).

Mets future outlook

The Mets’ miserable performances are antithetical to their expectations. Their $370 million payroll projection is the second-highest in all of baseball, only behind the Los Angeles Dodgers ($397 million) and more than 19% higher than the next-closest team, the New York Yankees ($310 million).

FanDuel believes the Mets will win 80-90 games this season. Their win total odds at the time of writing are:

• 80+ wins: -215
• 90+ wins: +310
• 100+ wins: +1800
• 110+ wins: +5000

This article originally appeared on Covers.com, read the full article here and view our best betting sites or check out our top sportsbook promos.

Yesterday, it was announced that the Kansas City Royals released pitcher Asa Lacy.

Lacy, a lefty out of Texas A&M, was the #4 overall pick in the MLB Draft in 2020, ranked #3 overall by Baseball America, and his $6.67 million signing bonus was the fourth largest in the class. He has been dogged by injuries in his professional career, and hasn’t pitched in an affiliated game since 2022, when he had a 10.61 ERA in 28 innings over 15 appearances between the Arizona Complex League and the Texas League.

We have previously discussed how the 4th overall pick in the MLB Draft seems cursed, although Wyatt Langford and Nick Kurtz are currently doing their best to dispel that notion. Still, in the 30 years since Kerry Wood was selected fourth overall in 1995, only five players — Ryan Zimmerman, Kevin Gausman, Kyle Schwarber, Gavin Floyd and Wyatt Langford — have hit double digits in bWAR.

But fourth pick superstitions aside, almost six years after the 2020 draft took place, the first round as a whole appears to be a massive disappointment. Here are the first ten picks:

1 — Spencer Torkelson to the Tigers. Torkelson, a third baseman out of Arizona State, was supposed to be a major league ready impact bat. After three disappointing seasons in the majors from 2022-24, Torkelson appeared to have turned a corner in 2025, when he put up a 117 OPS+ and 2.3 bWAR. Alas, he’s off to a slow start in 2026, slashing .179/.329/.224 in 22 games.

2 — Heston Kjerstad to the Orioles. Kjerstad was a below-slot pick as an outfielder out of the University of Arkansas. He’s slashed .218/.284/.365 in 314 major league plate appearances over three seasons as a platoon COF/DH, and started 2026 on the injured list.

3 — Max Meyer to the Marlins. Meyer got the third highest bonus as a righthander out of the University of Minnesota. He’s missed time with injuries and hasn’t been good when he has been on the mound, with a 5.07 ERA in 30 career starts, though the 27 year old has a 3.96 ERA and 3.49 FIP through five starts this season.

4 — Asa Lacy to the Royals. Released.

5 — Austin Martin to the Blue Jays. A shortstop out of Vanderbilt, Austin Martin got the second highest bonus in the draft. Barely a year later, he was traded, along with Simeon Woods Richardson, to the Minnesota Twins in a deal that was initially viewed as a coup for Minnesota, but was probably more the Jays realizing their #5 overall pick wasn’t what they had hoped. He’s missed a lot of time with injuries, and has just a 0.5 bWAR in 163 major league games, though he’s off to a very good start in 2026.

6 — Emerson Hancock to the Mariners. Hancock was a righthanded pitcher out of the University of Georgia. After spending parts of 2023-25 in the majors and not pitching well, he’s put up a 2.83 ERA in five starts so far this season, albeit with a 3.97 FIP and 3.81 xERA.

7 — Nick Gonzales to the Pirates. A shortstop out of the University of New Mexico, Gonzales has played mostly second base in the majors. He has a career .257/.300/.370 slash line in 244 games, with a 0.2 bWAR.

8 — Robert Hassell IIIto the Padres. The first high schooler selected, Hassell was a toolsy outfielder who you may remember as being the subject of talks between the Rangers and Padres when they were discussing Joey Gallo. Hassell, who turns 25 in August, ended up being traded to the Nationals in the Juan Soto trade. After slashing .223/.257/.315 in 206 plate appearances in 2025, with an ugly 62:8 K:BB ratio, Hassell is back in AAA this year and sporting a 667 OPS.

9 — Zac Veen to the Rockies. The second high schooler taken, and like Hassell an outfielder, Veen made his major league debut last season, putting up a 424 OPS in 12 games. He is in AAA this year and has a 576 OPS.

10 — Reid Detmers to the Angels. Finally, a success story, kinda! A lefthanded pitcher out of the University of Louisville, Detmers, in typical Angels first round fashion, made his major league debut in 2021. He put up a 4.6 bWAR between 2022-23, was bad in 2024, pitched out of the bullpen in 2025, and is back in the rotation in 2026. His 4.9 career bWAR is the fourth highest of any 2020 first rounder.

There were some productive picks later in the first round. Garrett Crochet went 11th overall. Pete Crow-Armstrong was the 19th overall pick. Jordan Westburg looks like a terrific pick at #30. Tyler Soderstrom, selected 26th overall, had a very good 2025 season. Patrick Bailey, selected 13th, is a defensive savant behind the plate, though the bat is lacking.

Still, this is an underwhelming draft — particularly given how college-heavy it was, especially at the top. A college player selected in 2020 should be in his age 26 or 27 season, should be in his prime. Out of the 37 players selected, it looks, at this point, like there are two stars* — Crochet and Crow-Armstrong — a handful of solid regulars, and then guys who are role players, at best.

* Three, if you are sold on Jordan Walker’s start to the season.

That includes, of course, Justin Foscue, who the Rangers took 14th overall. Texas would have been much better off grabbing Crow-Armstrong, or Westburg, though the picks immediately after Foscue were Mick Abel, Ed Howard, Nick Yorke and Bryce Jarvis.

The overall whiff is, I imagine, largely going to be blamed on the pandemic, which resulted in an abbreviated spring season that left evaluators with scant data to go off of in making their selections, as well as disrupting players’ overall development paths, both pre-draft and in the year-plus after they were picked. Under the circumstances, the large number of misses seem understandable.

But hey, at least the Rangers grabbed Evan Carter that year.

For much of Mets history, fans have been able to find some solace amid their misery in a simple notion: At least it’s not as bad as 1962. With the 2026 Mets mired in an 11-game losing streak, now would seem the perfect time to cue that sentiment once again.

The 1962 Mets managed to lose at least 11 consecutive games on three separate occasions en route to a 40-120 record, the third-worst win percentage (.250) of any AL/NL team in the modern era behind the 1916 Athletics (.235) and 1935 Braves (.248). The Mets even began the season on a nine-game losing streak. But after that horrific start, they actually managed to go 12-10 over their next 22 games. On May 21, they had won 9 of their last 12 games, including four walk-offs at the Polo Grounds, moving all the way up to eighth place out of ten teams in the National League.

That’s when the wheels came off. They would never see the likes of eighth place again, and soon ninth place would be permanently out of reach as well, as the 1962 Mets were about to begin a breathtakingly baffling 17-game losing streak — the longest in franchise history, and the subject of this long-deserved, game-by-game retrospective. However absurd, miserable, and outright hilarious you might think this seventeen-game losing streak was: think bigger.

It involved a curse on eighth innings, a run-in with Calvin Coolidge (not that one), a brawl with a pair of Hall of Famers, a homestand of emotional reunions at the Polo Grounds, a forgotten hitting streak, and the dramatic redemption of possibly the worst pitcher in Mets history. So without further ado, let us travel back to May 21, 1962, taking a whimsical journey through baseball history to witness what is actually, indisputably, still the feeblest stretch of New York Mets baseball….

GAME 1: NYM 2, HOU 3 (Monday, May 21)

The Mets made their first-ever trip to Houston to face a fellow rookie franchise in the Colt .45s, who at this point were 1.5 games behind the Mets in the NL standings. 

Believe it or not, the first game of this unfortunate streak began as the snapping of a positive one, as the Mets entered looking to extend their budding three-game win streak. They even took an early 2-0 lead (the ’26 Mets are still yet to maintain a two-run lead at any point during their losing streak) against Houston starter Jim Golden, but were shut out the rest of the way in one of Golden’s five career complete games. Golden would go on to win only seven games during the 1962 season; five of them came against the Mets.

Relief pitcher and future U.S. congressman Vinegar Bend Mizell, nicknamed for a town in Alabama near his native Leakessville, Mississippi, was pinned with a hard-luck loss for the Mets despite turning in 5.1 innings of one-run ball in relief. The game was tied at 2-2 until the bottom of the eighth (an inning which would soon come to be synonymous with terror for the Mets), when Houston’s 38-year-old Jim Pendleton knocked a pinch-hit triple off the left-center-field wall and was promptly brought home on a sac fly. The Mets threatened in the ninth thanks to hits from Sammy Taylor and Richie Ashburn, but could not tie it.

GAME 2: NYM 2, HOU 3 (Tuesday, May 22)

Jay Hook, owner of the first win in Mets history the previous month, took the ball for a nighttime getaway game in Houston. Hook went eight strong, surrendering a game-tying solo shot to Román Mejías — the right fielder who delivered the sac-fly the day prior — and nothing else until the eighth inning, when the Colt .45s rallied for two.

Houston starter Turk Farrell, who would go on to put up 7.0 bWAR that season despite going just 10-20 with a 3.02 ERA in 241.2 innings pitched, worked around trouble. The Mets mustered ten hits but just two runs. A promising rally seemed to be building in the ninth inning when they got two on with nobody out while trailing by two, but Sammy Taylor flew out and the pitcher Hook (who was not pinch-hit for in this situation, probably making Casey Stengel delighted there was no Twitter at the time) struck out. The Mets’ lone All-Star Ashburn once again came through late, hitting an RBI single to make it a 3-2 ballgame, but an Elio Chacón grounder ended it.

The Mets were now bound for the West Coast to face their New York forefathers, the Dodgers and Giants, for the first time. The flight from Houston to Los Angeles was scheduled to arrive at about 5:45am, though Roger Craig, the next day’s starting pitcher and the ‘62 team’s de facto ace, had already made the trip.

GAME 3: NYM 1, LAD 3 (Wednesday, May 23)

The first-ever contest between the Mets and Dodgers was, fittingly, a pitchers’ duel, as Roger Craig and NL Cy Young winner Don Drysdale kept things locked at a 1-1 tie until the eighth. The Dodgers got on the board in the third thanks to NL MVP Maury Wills, who hit a one-out single just out of the reach of a diving Richie Ashburn and drew enough attention at first to cause a balk from Craig after multiple pickoff attempts.

The Mets got on the board with an RBI single the following inning from right fielder Joe Christopher, who had been promoted from Syracuse two days earlier (meaning his first game with the Mets unfortunately aligned with the start of the losing streak). The next batter, Frank Thomas, nearly put the Mets ahead with a deep fly ball to left field, but the Dodgers’ Tommy Davis caught it before it could land in the sparkling new Dodger Stadium seats.

The Dodgers finally got to Craig in the eighth, of course, scoring a pair. Meanwhile, Drysdale was impenetrable, retiring nine of the last ten Mets to complete a dominant four-hitter. Speaking of streaks, the game began a stretch lasting through early August in which Drysdale went 16-1.

GAME 4: NYM 2, LAD 4 (Thursday, May 24)

The Mets’ defense got off to a hot start in this one, with Wills shockingly being caught stealing by Mets catcher Harry Chiti before Tommy Davis was robbed of a hit in right. The game then became a battle of the Franks, with the Dodgers’ Frank Howard and Mets’ Frank Thomas trading early homers. The Mets were up 2-1 until an error by second baseman and former Dodger Charlie Neal set up an L.A. run in the seventh, and the familiarly stubborn eighth inning yielded two more. For four consecutive games, the Mets had surrendered the go-ahead run in the eighth.

Aside from Thomas’ homer, the Mets couldn’t get anything going against Johnny Podres — the man on the mound for 1955 World Series MVP who was on the mound when Dem Bums finally won a championship — and were four-hit for the second straight day.

With the loss, the Mets were now relegated to last place in the National League. It was a slot in the standings they would never escape.

GAME 5: NYM 8, LAD 17 (Friday, May 25)

Unlike their previous four losses, this one wasn’t a tight, low-scoring affair decided by a late rally or defensive miscue. The Dodgers barraged the Mets for 17 runs on 18 hits, tying a record for the most runs the Dodgers had scored since moving to Los Angeles four years prior.

To add insult to injury, the Mets’ offense actually put up a valiant effort, scoring eight runs off 19-year-old Dodger rookie Joe Moeller. It was the only game during the 17-game losing streak in which they would score more than six runs, and yet they still somehow lost by nine. Frank Thomas hit another home run for New York, while third baseman Cliff Cook — who had been traded to the Mets from Cincinnati as part of a package for veteran third baseman and baseball legend Don Zimmer — notched his first Mets homer. 

The Mets also got the first four-hit day in franchise history from Félix Mantilla, who somehow accomplished the feat despite only entering the game in the third inning after starting shortstop Elio Chacón was ejected. But this one was all Dodgers, leaving the Mets searching for answers as they departed north for San Francisco.

GAME 6: NYM 6, SF 7 – f/10 (Saturday, May 26)

It seemed the Mets might finally pull one out, leading 5-4 with only six outs to get. But that pesky eighth inning struck again, as the scorching hot Willie Mays — coming off three homers in his prior two games — drilled a solo homer off the Mets’ starter Jay Hook. Just like that, the first Mets-Giants contest was going to extra innings.

Félix Mantilla, despite his four-hit performance in L.A. the previous day, once again was forced to prove himself off the bench. Entering late at third base, Mantilla hit a go-ahead solo homer in the top of the tenth, putting the Mets back in position to win. But with one out in the tenth, Mays struck again, hitting a two-run, walk-off homer off Hook, who was still on the mound facing his 39th batter of the game.

While one established Giants Hall of Famer proved the hero at the plate, a 23-year-old rookie named Gaylord Perry proved himself with four quality innings of relief in just the seventh appearance of his career.

GAME 7: NYM 1, SF 7 (Sunday, May 27)

The Mets didn’t show much fight in this 7-1 loss, though they did fight in a much more literal way with the Giants. It just wouldn’t be a seventeen-game losing streak without a brawl, would it?

Trailing 4-1 after a Willie Mays RBI single in the seventh inning, Mets starter Roger Craig — who had pitched up and in on Mays a earlier in the game — drilled Orlando Cepeda in the back. Cepeda went for Craig at the mound before being tackled by his own manager Alvin Dark, preventing a larger melee at least for the moment. Craig then tried to pick off Mays at second, with the Say Hey Kid supposedly spiking shortstop Elio Chacón as he slid back to the bag. Chacón then threw a punch at Mays, who, in the words of the New York Times’ John Drebinger, proceeded to “pick up Elio bodily and throw him to the ground as though he were a sack of flour.”

While the idea of Craig and Chacón going toe-to-toe with Hall of Famers Mays and Cepeda during a blowout loss might seem like the ultimate encapsulation of the ‘62 Mets, the funniest part was actually yet to come. Craig immediately tried to pick off Cepeda at first after the brawl was over, but the throw got by first baseman Ed Bouchee, allowing the runners to advance before Felipe Alou singled them both home. Talk about an embarrassing inning. Additionally, Chacón, who had been ejected two days prior as well, managed to be the only player ejected after the scuffle. But he was right back in the lineup for the back half of the doubleheader…

GAME 8: NYM 5, SF 6 (Sunday, May 27)

This time, it really seemed the Mets’ misery was coming to an end. The lovable losers were up 5-2 with four outs to go, having jumped on San Francisco’s 23-year-old starter and future Cy Young Award winner Mike McCormick. 

But the curse of the eighth inning came back to haunt them, with Mays, Cepeda, and Alou all delivering clutch hits as the Giants mounted a three-run comeback. Reliever Bob Miller looked to keep the game tied facing a young Willie McCovey, but instead the go-ahead run came home on a passed ball charged to catcher Harry Chiti. 

The Mets made a familiar late comeback attempt, getting a pair of two-out hits in the ninth from Marv Throneberry and Richie Ashburn, but Rod Kanehl flew a 3-2 fastball into the glove of left fielder Harvey Kuenn to bring the Mets’ losing streak to eight games as they departed Candlestick Park.

GAME 9: LAD 13, NYM 6 (Wednesday, May 30)

The Mets returned home to New York for a Memorial Day doubleheader with a familiar old friend: the Dodgers. 

The highly-anticipated return of the Dodgers resulted in a crowd of 55,704 fans, the largest attendance at the Polo Grounds since a matchup between the Dodgers and Giants on September 6, 1942, and overtaking the opening of Dodger Stadium on April 10 for the largest crowd at a Major League game that season. Unreserved seats were sold for a sum of $1.30, while bleacher seats cost 75¢, and fans lined up as early as 7 a.m. on the day of the games.

The Mets faced off against 26-year-old Sandy Koufax, who was yet to win a Cy Young but had earned his first All-Star selection the prior season. The Mets managed six runs and thirteen hits off Koufax, but the Dodgers put up 13 runs, reaching that total for the second time in six days against New York. Maury Wills continued his MVP campaign by clubbing two homers, one of the inside-the-park variety to right-center and one which landed in the left-field seats. Four different Dodgers got at least three hits, and Jay Hook wound up on the hook for the loss.

GAME 10: LAD 6, NYM 5 (Wednesday, May 30)

The Mets put up quite the fight with Johnny Podres back on the mound for the Dodgers. Gil Hodges, after hitting a homer off his old teammate Koufax in the opener of the doubleheader, hit two more in the back half. The second homer moved Hodges into a tie with Ralph Kiner for 10th place on MLB’s all-time home run list, and it was the second-to-last homer Hodges would hit in his big league career.

The Mets even turned a triple play to end the sixth inning, the first in franchise history and the first in the Majors since July of 1960. The triple play preserved a 4-3 Mets lead, but homers by Frank Howard and Willie Davis gave the Dodgers a late edge. The Mets, of course, rallied with a pair of singles in the ninth, but could not push the tying run across.

While their losing streak wasn’t snapped, another Mets streak was: Frank Thomas’ hitting streak, which had reached 18 games. It would hold as the longest hitting streak by a Met until Tommie Agee hit in 20 straight in 1970.

GAME 11: LAD 6, NYM 3 (Thursday, May 31)

The festive series served not only as a chance for fans to see their formerly beloved Dodgers take the field once again, but for ex-teammates to reunite as well. Former Dodgers Charlie Neal and Frank Thomas got to reunite with old friends, while pitchers of days past Ralph Branca and Don Newcombe returned to throw out batting practice. Casey Stengel embraced the pregame atmosphere by talking to devoted Mets fans in center field, vowing that the team would attempt to do better while the fans assured him they would support the Mets even in bad times.

Such times were not difficult to find, as the Mets suffered their 11th straight defeat, while the Dodgers conversely picked up their 11th straight win. It was a meager effort, with the Mets’ lineup recording only three hits while the Dodgers scored six off Al Jackson.

Above all else, the series was perhaps a spiritual a sort of spiritual passing of the torch for fans, affirming the Mets as New York’s new team rather than — though unmistakably in the spirit of — the departed Dodgers. The New York Times’ Arthur Daley wrote in a May 31 story:

“Yet even when the Mets were being hanged, drawn and quartered, their new rooters cheered wildly at every feeble and hopeless counter-rally by their heroes. It’s the same sort of fierce devotion the Dodgers used to get from the Flatbush Faithful when they were so fearsomely inept in ancient days. Perfection cannot evoke such deep emotions and, heaven knows, the Mets are far, far from perfection.”

GAME 12: SF 9, NYM 6 (Friday, June 1)

After the Dodgers’ dramatic return to New York, now it was the Giants’ turn to come into town for a four-game set, with the two California squads tied for first place in the N.L. The Giants blasted four homers during the opener in their old home ballpark, with one from Willie Mays, one from that season’s Gold Glove Award winner Jim Davenport, and two courtesy of Willie McCovey.

The Mets trailed 9-1, appearing doomed to a dismal 12th-straight loss. But their curse of miserable eighth-inning meltdowns was suddenly reversed, as an error by San Francisco’s shortstop José Pagán ignited a five-run Mets rally. A two-run homer from Félix Mantilla brought the score to 9-6, apparently leaving the crowd in such a frenzy that play had to be paused when one fan actually made their way into the Mets’ dugout.

Frank Howard came to bat as the tying run with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, but the Giants held on as Thomas grounded into a 5-4 forceout to end it. 

GAME 13: SF 10, NYM 1 (Saturday, June 2)

Any logical hope of the Mets’ losing streak ending at 12 was quickly quenched when the Giants pounced on Jay Hook for five runs in the first inning, before adding two more against Bob Moorhead in the second. The remarkable duo of Willie Mays and Orlando Cepeda continued to shine, with each homering and driving in three runs. 

Aside from squeaking out a run in the first with help from an error charged to Mays, the Mets’ offense got nothing across against 33-year-old Jack Sanford, the former 1957 N.L. Rookie of the Year with the Phillies who would go on to finish second in N.L. Cy Young Award voting with 24 wins in 1962. Seemingly the hardest hit at the Giants’ expense came when Jim Davenport had to be removed after being struck on the base paths by a throw from Mets right fielder Jim Hickman.

Before the Mets could recover from the rout, they headed right back onto the field for another contest with the Giants.

GAME 14: SF 6, NYM 4 (Saturday, June 2)

The Mets found life in the back half of the doubleheader, erasing an early 4-0 deficit. The Mets had help from a pair of unearned runs, with Felipe Alou making an error in the third and second baseman Chuck Hiller dropping a throw from catcher Tom Haller (you’re forgiven if you think you’ve just stumbled upon a lost Abbott and Costello bit) in the fourth, allowing the Mets to tie the game. The score held at 4-4 until, of course, the haunted eighth inning, when Harvey Kuenn took Craig Anderson deep and handed the Mets a 14th consecutive loss. Over the course of the doubleheader, there were apparently six arrests made for disorderly conduct in the stands, meaning the number of spectators detained outweighed the number of Mets to score in both games combined. I suppose there are only so many losses a fan can take in a given day.

Anderson was pinned with his fourth loss of the losing streak, and he would end the season with a total of 17 losses while accumulating -2.6 bWAR. 64 years later, no player has managed to put up a single-season mark that low with the Mets since. Craig’s -3.6 bWAR over three seasons in orange and blue is also the lowest of any pitcher in franchise history.

But Anderson’s role in this story wasn’t over. Not yet.

GAME 15: SF 6, NYM 1 (Sunday, June 3)

The Giants’ stars were at it again in the Sunday afternoon series finale. 24-year-old Juan Marichal tossed a six-hit complete game, allowing just one unearned run on an error from Chuck Hiller, while Willie Mays hit yet another home run — his fifth in seven games against the Mets. 

The score was even at 1-1 until the top of the seventh, when Mets reliever Bob Miller surrendered a single to Tom Haller, hit Chuck Hiller (welcome back Abbott and Costello), allowed a hit to José Pagán and then egregiously walked Marichal to force in a run, igniting a four-run Giants rally.

Having now been swept at home and on the road by both the Dodgers and Giants, the Mets’ losing streak reached 15 games. The New York Times ran a piece on June 3 by Robert L. Teague titled “Close-up of the Met Fan: Loud, Happy Desperation,” which I believe is just as relevant 64 years into the franchise’s history as it was two months in. Here is just one excerpt from it:

“Baseball’s latest phenom is so singular a performer that he strains credulity even when observed at close range with the naked eye. He is a Met Fan—a warm-hearted mixed breed that cannot be explained but merely described. His natural habitat is the Polo Grounds, where he cheerfully and regularly pays from 75 cents to $3.50 to suffer the exquisite tortures involved in watching the objects of his unbounded affection battle valiantly but vainly against clearly superior forces. 

He voluntarily put himself on the rack again yesterday while the Mets scrambled and stumbled through a doubleheader with the mighty San Francisco Giants. Deep in his heart he know [sic] that the odds against his heroes were prohibitive, to say the least. But he does not believe in odds, facts, league standings, or diamond statistics. He concedes defeat almost daily, but only after the very last Met has been retired…”

GAME 16: NYM 0, PHI 2 (Wednesday, June 6)

The Mets and their 15-game losing streak were bound for Philadelphia to face the fledgling, eighth-place Phillies in a quick doubleheader. Ace Roger Craig turned in his best performance of the season thus far, tossing eight innings and allowing just two runs, but the Mets ran into a buzzsaw in the form of 36-year-old Phillies starter Cal McLish. The Mets had a golden opportunity to score in the top of the seventh with the bases loaded and nobody out, but a questionable call on a forceout of Elio Chacón at second ended the threat. Stengel and Chacón argued with the umpire, though Chacón avoided being ejected for at least the third time of the losing streak.

In case you happened to be wondering, Cal McLish’s full name is Calvin Coolidge Julius Caesar Tuskahoma McLish. When asked for an explanation of his name, McLish pointed to the fact that he was his parents’ seventh child, and the first that his dad got to name. Despite the many historically relevant options, his nickname of choice somehow wound up being “Bus” or “Buster.” Go figure.

McLish’s name might be long but he made quick work of the Mets, shutting them out on seven hits to extend their losing streak to 16 games. It now tied the longest streak recorded by a New York major league team, a mark set by the 1944 Dodgers. That unfortunate streak began for Brooklyn on June 28, 1944, in a game at Wrigley Field which featured relief pitching from — you guessed it — 18-year-old Cal McLish. Et tu, Brute?

GAME 17: NYM 1, PHI 2 (Wednesday, June 6)

The 17th and final loss in the Mets’ streak might just have been the most painful.

The Mets seized an early lead in the top of the first when Richie Ashburn drew a leadoff walk, stole second, and came home to score on a single by Charlie Neal. The Mets struggled to manufacture any more runs against right-hander Art Mahaffey, but starter Al Jackson was masterful on the mound, holding the Phillies scoreless through seven innings.

In the bottom of the eighth, longtime Philly second baseman Tony Taylor led off with a solo homer to even the score. Jackson escaped the rest of the eighth and came back out for the ninth, getting one out before allowing back-to-back singles, forcing Stengel’s hand. The ball was handed to Craig Anderson, who avoided being pinned with his fifth loss of the losing streak only because the run which he promptly allowed to score was charged to Jackson. Anderson threw just one pitch, and it resulted in a walk-off base hit off the bat of pinch-hitter Wes Covington. And thus, the streak had reached 17 games.

THE WIN: NYM 4, CHC 3 (Friday, June 8)

If the Mets overcoming the Cubs to win the N.L. Pennant in 1969 was one of the greatest miracles in sports history, perhaps this triumph over Chicago was a tinier but no less certain act of the baseball gods. How did the Mets, these Mets, who had lost 17 games in a row, finally taste victory? In the most bafflingly lucky way possible, of course.

It was an adventurous afternoon at Wrigley for starting pitcher Jay Hook, who put the Mets on the board with an RBI single in the third and held the Cubs to one run through six. The Mets clung to a 3-1 lead which nobody seemed to expect them to hold, and it evaporated when 22-year-old Ron Santo hit a game-tying, two-run homer in the bottom of the seventh. 

The score was even at 3-3 until the top of the ninth, when the Mets loaded the bases on a series of Chicago miscues. Jim Hickman hit a leadoff single, Hook reached on a bunt thanks to an ill-advised forceout attempt at second, and Richie Ashburn reached on a bunt of his own thanks to an error by Ernie Banks at first. Charlie Neal hit a one-out fly ball to right to bring home Hickman, somehow giving the Mets a 4-3 lead. The New York Times’ Louis Effrat wrote that the run “should probably be donated to Cooperstown,” as it not only helped snap the streak but was also “one of the most uninspiring runs imaginable.”

Since the losing streak began, the Mets had now scored 58 earned runs. 14 of those 58 (24.1%) were unearned.

Hook was sent out to pitch the top of the ninth inning, but was removed after his warm-up pitches due to fatigue from baserunning (Hook had now reached base multiple times). Stengel handed the ball to none other than Craig Anderson. After loss upon loss, Anderson quickly retired Lou Brock and Bob Will to get the first two outs, putting the Mets on the cusp of salvation. Then, a pair of singles — the first a bloop hit, the second a grounder up the middle. Santo, who homered in his previous at-bat, came to the plate with the winning run on base. 

The 1962 Mets, and Anderson in particular, had seen this movie a million times by now. They knew how it ended. A future Hall of Famer at the plate. A flimsy lead about to be obliterated. But somehow, against all odds, Anderson induced an easy grounder from Santo, one fittingly hit right back to the mound. Anderson fielded it cleanly and fired to Marv Throneberry at first.

It took a gift-wrapped run courtesy of botched fielding on a pair of bunts. It took arguably the worst pitcher in Mets history retiring two Hall of Famers in the final inning. It took 18 games and 19 days, enduring an eighth-inning hex, and surviving fights (of the baseball and brawling variety) with their city’s ex-sweethearts. But the Mets had finally won. Ya gotta believe.

How did they celebrate their long-awaited victory?

By immediately playing another game against the Cubs that very same day, and losing 3-2 when the game was called for darkness. In the eighth inning.

The Boston Red Sox are something of a rollercoaster ride…

It’s safe to say that watching them has been rather nauseating at points, as the peaks and valleys not only arise with each passing series, but with each game, inning, and pitch.

Isiah Kiner-Falefa was the perfect encapsulation of this on Monday, as he was called upon to pinch-hit for Jarren Duran in the seventh inning of an eventual 8-6 victory over the Detroit Tigers. Kiner-Falefa, whose only job was to drop down a bunt and advance the runners on first and second, failed miserably and was eventually called out on strikes as he bunted the ball foul — which might just be the worst thing you can do in professional sports. How did he respond? That very same guy lined a two-run single into the right field gap and played what would ultimately serve as the game-winning runs.

No, seriously!

It’s like that one episode of “The Office” where Michael Scott admits during the dinner party that he had three vasectomies for Jan Levinson.

Snip-snap! Snip-snap! Snip-snap!

Does that sound fun to you?

It isn’t, which is why folks should be excited about what this week’s series against the New York Yankees represents.

The Red Sox, despite having done the exact opposite over the last several weeks, have an opportunity to find consistency in their first divisional matchup of the season.

Why?

Connelly Early, Ranger Suarez, and Brayan Bello are slated to start during the three-game set, but if the folks in charge want to get funky, they could replace the latter with Payton Tolle — who is likely to soon receive a call-up thanks to Sonny Gray hitting the injured list — and make it three consecutive left-handed starters against New York.

The Yankees probably won’t be too thrilled to face three consecutive southpaws, as they carry a significantly lower team slash line against left-handers (.185/.283/.393) than they do against right-handers (.232/.340/.417).

Roman Anthony, Masataka Yoshida (please), and Caleb Durbin should help lead the charge offensively, with all three starting to string together consistent at-bats over the weekend. Wilyer Abreu and Willson Contreras tapping back into their power alongside that trio would go a long way in helping an offense that scores either two runs or nine runs and nothing in between.

The Yankees, who boast one of the best pitching staffs in baseball, are at their worst when facing heavily left-handed lineups.

I don’t want to be the guy who gets clouded by his admiration for one team and his hatred for the other, but things have lined up rather nicely for the home side. It’s too early to call this a must-win series, but it’s about as close as you can get while still recovering from the festivities (either your hangover from watching people run or your dead legs from running yourself) of Patriot’s Day.

Alex Cora’s club is starting to get the hang of this whole small ball thing, is moving in the right direction when it comes to the pitching staff, and should be playing with unmatched desperation.

Call me dumb, but I like their chances of taking two out of three.

Clamoring for someone to lose their job isn’t the best thing to do in the world. However, if you are bad at your job, what reasons should you keep it? It’s just the nature of the real world, when you can’t maintain the standard that your job requires of you, you have to go and someone else should get your job and a chance to make things better.

After the Royals made the playoffs in 2024, the expectations the last two seasons have been to win the division. Well, we know how last year turned out. This year is somehow off to an even worst start.

Before the Thursday meltdown in Detroit, the Royals had scored 2 runs or less in 11 of their first 18 games and in 7 of their last 8. Losing games despite strong starting pitching, with no one running away with the division, makes those early-season games a lost opportunity. Similar to last season, the Royals are losing a bunch of games because their offense is downright terrible.

The Royals have the worst record in baseball at 7-16, losing eight straight contests. They are currently averaging 3.30 runs per game, second worst in the league. They have seven guys who have struck out 17 or more times in the first 23 games. If you took a shot for every pop up or strike out the Royals hit every game, you might be heading to the hospital by the fifth inning. They’ve been shut out three times in 23 games, which makes them to be on pace to be shut out 22 times this season. Finally, they are awful with runners in scoring position. As a team, they are hitting .200/.277/.259 in those situations, a wRC+ of 50 that is dead last in baseball.

Look no further than last night’s debacle against Baltimore. The Royals loaded the bases THREE times, once with nobody out and ZERO times did they hit the ball out of the infield. They have run into more outs on the bases than homers hit, although that might be a Hollins/Wilson issue. The Royals were 5-for-21 with RISP and left 16 guys on base in the loss last night. The performance is preposterous and the lack of runs puts way too much pressure on the bullpen. Yes, I know they’ve struggled, but they have no breathing room. The Royals had 14 hits last night, 12 singles. Meanwhile, guys like Leody Taveras, who has 42 career homers, is crushing grand slams to dead center in Kauffman Stadium. The Royals can’t even hit doubles or triples! Only the Mets have fewer extra-base hits!

The Royals haven’t won a baseball game in which the other team has scored since April 6th.

The best hitters in the lineup, Bobby Witt Jr., Vinnie Pasquantino and Salvador Perez are all struggling. Bobby Witt Jr. is looking for his first home run. Salvy is 2-for-27 with runners in scoring position. Vinnie and Salvy are among the ten worst qualified hitters in baseball by wRC+.

If you want to blame it on the Royals big three mightily struggling as to why the offense is bad, fine you can do that, but what is your solution, bench them? Trade them? Send them down? Salvy sat out on Saturday afternoon and he posted his displeasure on social media on the way it was handled.

Royals director of hitting performance/player development Alec Zumwalt has had a rather long leash and opportunity to prove his worth to stay. He is in his ninth season with the organization – he is a holdover from Mike Matheny’s staff! And what does he have to show for his performance?

Jac Caglianone currently sits at one homer. While he is hitting the ball hard a decent amount of the time, his swing is pounding a lot of balls into the ground. After he crushed homers all throughout the minors, who is to blame for his big league struggles?

Cags isn’t the only hitter to struggle under the Zumwalt regime, Drew Waters was once a highly touted prospect, he is nothing more than an AAAA player now. He is Barry Bonds in Omaha but has consistently been bad when getting run with Kansas City. MJ Melendez was a 40-homer guy in the minors and was then really bad for the Royals. Look at what he is doing so far for the Mets. Ryan O’Hearn and Brent Rooker have also found success with other organizations.

And this isn’t just a three-week sample size to panic over either. It’s a multi-year issue with Zumwalt and the offense. In the 130 games that Zumwalt was the hitting coach in 2022, the team averaged 4.01 runs, which over a full season, would’ve been 23rd best in the league. Since then, the 2024 playoff run looks like an aberration, rather than progress.

Outside of the runs not being scored, the Royals hit a lot of fly balls, and most of them are easy outs. They have a 43.4 percent flyball rate, third-highest in baseball. The Royals are batting .223 as a team currently, but according to Baseball Savant, their expected batting average is just a measly .229, which means they aren’t unlucky. Their at bats stink and when they put the ball in play, it’s either not well struck, or the launch angle is astronomical which makes for a very routine play. As a team they have a 13.8% pop up rate, fifth-highest in baseball.

The Royals also don’t hit for that much power for a team that is trying to hit as many flyballs as they do. In 2022, they hit 138 homers, the 26th most in baseball. In 2023, they hit 163, tied for 26th most. In 2024, they hit 170, which was tied for the 20th most. Last year, they hit 159, which was 26th best. So far this year, they have hit 18, which is tied for 22nd most. So, they’ve always been bottom third of the league in homers, despite putting the ball in the air a lot, and moving the fences in this year.

The Royals may turn it around like last season, but like last season, it’ll probably be too late, and they’ll never truly compete for a postseason spot. We are in the prime Bobby Witt Jr. era, and he has been turned into a singles hitter that can’t be driven in by his teammates. They are also wasting a top three starting pitching staff in baseball. It’s beyond time JJ. The move needs to be made now.

To borrow a phrase from Rex Hudler, “Alec Zumwalt, you got to go!”