I May Have Cursed New York Baseball
It has been a rough season for the Yankees & the Mets so far...
Okay, I feel like it is time for me to confess something pretty, pretty shocking.
New York Baseball fans, I feel like I have to apologize for the current demise of your two teams.
Because I think I jinxed them.
Allow me to explain why.
Back in March, I wrote a piece on why it was a pretty exciting time to be a New York sports fan given that there was somewhat of a resurgence beginning to take root in The Big Apple. The Jets were suddenly the darlings of the NFL for the first time in eons thanks to the arrival of Aaron Rodgers, the Giants made it back to the Playoffs, the Knicks were showing significant signs of taking that next giant step in their maturation process, all three NHL franchises were competitive - with the New Jersey Devils looking set to become an absolute force for years to come in the Eastern Conference - and the Liberty were busy putting together a super team.
Then there were the two baseball franchises.
The Yankees, despite all of the negativity that constantly flows from a fanbase that isn’t used to losing, are a lock to make the postseason every single year and they were entering the 2023 season on a high after locking down superstar slugger Aaron Judge to a nine-year, $360 million contract.
As for the Mets, they began the year with the highest payroll in all of baseball by quite some distance after indulging in another high-end offseason splurge under owner Steve Cohen. Sure-fire future Hall of Famer Justin Verlander was signed to a two-year deal worth $86 million, giving the Mets a lethal one-two punch at the top of the rotation with Verlander and Max Scherzer. Kodai Senga and José Quintana were also signed to bolster the rotation, while outfielder Brandon Nimmo and star closer Edwin Diaz were handed monster new deals.
On paper, at least, it seemed as if both the Yankees and the Mets were ready to make New York the true mecca of baseball.
However, it seems in all my gushing that I may have actually put the kibosh on both franchises.
Let’s begin with the Yankees.
As if we needed any more proof, it was finally and emphatically demonstrated that the Yankees own an offense that lives or dies with Aaron Judge. When their hulking, super-human slugger is in the lineup, life is pretty good. When he’s not, well, let’s just say all hell breaks loose.
And, thanks to an archaic and poorly constructed fence at Dodger Stadium, Judge has been missing from the lineup since early June with a torn ligament in his right big toe. Without Judge, the Yankees have crumbled and have collapsed like a cheap pack of cards. Since June 4, the Yanks are 15-20 in 35 games with a .291 weighted on-base average. Only the rebuilding Pittsburgh Pirates (.284) and the Kansas City Royals (.278) have a lower wOBA than New York during that span.
To put it into some more context, the Yankees had a .316 weighted on-base average through June 3 with a 35-25 average. Plus, despite being out of the lineup for the last six weeks, Judge still leads the team in homers (19) and RBIs (40). That should tell you how ineffective this offense is without their lynchpin in the lineup.
Also, allow me to point out that if your success as a team hinges on one player, then you are destined to fail from the very get-go. This is a poorly constructed roster that heavily relies on one player, and that strategy just isn’t conducive to long-term success. I’m sorry, but it just isn’t.
For those of you who love to revel in impending doom, the Yanks, prior to Wednesday, are in last place in the AL East this late into the season for the first time since October of 1990. They are also just a few games over .500. Oh how the mighty have fallen.
However, as bad as the Yankees have been - and trust me, it is as bad as it gets right now for a storied franchise that doesn’t have losing in its DNA - the Mets have been a different story entirely.
To put it bluntly; your 2023 New York Mets have been an absolute dumpster fire from the very get-go and they are on the precipice of being well and truly cooked and missing the postseason. And, if that happens, then you will be well within your right to label this team as one of the biggest busts in recent memory given their mammoth payroll.
As already mentioned, the not so Amazin’ Mets entered the 2023 season with a payroll of $348,166,592 - higher than the Yankees who have the second highest payroll with $279,683,113. But, despite outspending everybody with embarrassing ease, the Mets have reverted back to the not so good old days of being a dysfunctional, stinking hot mess on the baseball diamond.
General Manager Billy Eppler’s failure to once again add power to the lineup and really bolster the bullpen - especially in the absence of Edwin DÃaz, who was likely lost for the year after suffering a torn patellar tendon while celebrating a win during the World Baseball Classic - has come back to bite this team in the butt time and time again. Granted, Eppler has made some good moves but, when looking at the bigger picture, he hasn’t done nearly enough when he’s had the opportunity to.
The bullpen has been a disaster outside of David Robertson, as illustrated by the fact they gave up five runs in a single inning against the White Sox on Tuesday. As for the offense? That’s a whole different story. Key players like Starling Marte, Mark Canha and Daniel Vogelbach have seen their bats disappear, while far too many others have been way too inconsistent at the plate. Jeff McNeil has been an absolute disaster, Francisco Lindor has been too streaky and Pete Alonso is having the worst year of his career statistically. You aren’t going to win a lot of baseball games when your big bats vanish on the regular.
Perhaps the biggest fatal flaw for this team, however, has been the starting pitching. Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander, despite being the two highest-paid pitchers in all of baseball, have not played to the back of their baseball cards to say the least. Scherzer is pitching to a 3.99 ERA and has given up four runs or more in four of his 10 starts this season. He’s also given up a total of 18 home runs already this year after allowing 13 all of last year. Verlander has arguably been more disappointing, though, pitching to a 3.47 ERA and he’s walked 13 batters in his last five starts. Now, granted, Verlander pitched a gem on Wednesday as the Mets beat the White Sox for their third straight, allowing just one earned run on three hits in eight innings while striking out seven. That’s the vintage Verlander the Mets will need if they are to somehow claw their way back into the wild card picture.
The bigger picture, however, still looks bleak.
According to Fangraphs, the New York Mets have a 16.7% chance of making the postseason. There’s no doubt that if the core of this team play to the back of their baseball cards, then they have the talent and the ability to be able to go on the type of historical, all-time run that would be needed to ensure this season isn’t a total bust. But, there is enough of a sample size this season to suggest that the Mets don’t have it in them to play the kind of consistent good baseball that will be required from here on out. At some point, you are what your record says you are and that’s an inconsistent, fundamentally flawed baseball team that hasn’t been anywhere close to good enough.
As for the Yankees, they have a 30.8% chance of making the Playoffs, per Fangraphs, which is still pretty bleak. Even if they do get back Aaron Judge at some point - the Captain has been seen partaking in baseball activities on the field before games recently which is a good sign - and even if the Yankees are aggressive at the Trade Deadline, they have just lost a series to the Rockies and been swept by the Angels, which is hardly encouraging.
Overall, it is entirely feasible, and very likely, at the time of writing this that both the Mets and the Yankees could miss the Playoffs. That would be a failure of epic proportions on both teams’ accounts, and it would ensure the 2023 season would go down as one of the biggest busts ever in the history of New York baseball given the lofty expectations these two teams had heading into the year.
Or maybe we got it wrong. Maybe we were far too effusive in our praise for both teams, far too optimistic about the rosters they had constructed and instead overlooked the fatal flaws that were staring us in the face all the time. Either way, I can’t help but feel that in hyping the Yankees and the Mets up as much as I did back in March, calling them both legit World Series contenders, I may have put a curse to end all curses on them.
Yikes. I’m sorry New York baseball fans. Feel free to blame me if neither team is able to salvage anything from what has been a disaster of a season so far.
