The New York Mets may have finally met their match: September. The NL East leaders just got swept by the Chicago Cubs and are stumbling through a stretch that looked like an easy few weeks for the club.
Mets fans have seen this story before, although it’d take a truly horrendous collapse to miss the playoffs. Still, stumbling into the playoffs is never what you want to see.
Evan Roberts of Audacy’s “Rico Brogna” podcast ranted about the Mets’ recent play as some fans are ready to press the panic button.

“Brandon Nimmo did nothing in this series. Other than a meaningless home run by Lindor, nothing in this series. Mark Vientos looks overmatched by major league pitching. Darin Ruf finally had a hit; let's have a celebration. Daniel Vogelbach’s just a fat guy; that’s all he is right now. Top to bottom this offense has sucked,” Roberts said (4:47 in player above). “I’d love to tell ya, ‘Don’t worry, it’s going to get better. Don’t worry, it’s going to turn around.’ But I think … my old Met DNA is coming out. All of our Met DNA is coming out. Panic city is coming out. Collapses of ‘07 and ‘08 are coming out.”
The Mets led the NL East by as many as 10.5 games this season. They held a seven-game lead over the Braves as recently as August 10th. Since then, they’ve gone 16-16 in 32 games and their lead has evaporated.
“What are you supposed to say over the last week and a half? This was supposed to be the stretch of games where you were supposed to beat up on bad teams. 16 games against horrific opponents. They’ve played 12 of them and they’re 5-7. 5-7,” Roberts exclaimed. “Even if they sweep the Pirates, which I wouldn’t have any confidence in, we’d be disappointed with 9-7.
Luckily for the Mets, the Braves have also cooled off a bit. Otherwise they’d be talking about another September collapse.
“And thanks to the grace of the baseball Gods, the Atlanta Braves have finally cooled off. That’s great. I’m thrilled. Because if they hadn’t cooled off, this team would be three games out in this division. And I think we’d be declaring it over. And truthfully, the only reason we’re not declaring it over is because the Braves finally did get slowed down,” Roberts said. “So despite this garbage we’ve watched, the Mets are essentially tied for first place.”
Entering play on Thursday the Mets sit at 89-55 with a half-game lead over the Braves at 88-55. Atlanta has been more of a hot-and-cold team, but you can’t say the same thing about the Mets.
“The Braves were bound to cool off. They were bound to have a stretch of games they struggle. This was not bound to happen for the Mets,” Roberts continued. “It’s just pathetic. From top to bottom, pathetic. So if you’re looking for positivity … right now why would I be positive? Based on what they did in April, and May, and June, and July, and maybe the Dodgers series, which feels like six months ago now?”
This week’s series against the Cubs was the first time the Mets were swept in a three-game series all season. In fact, it was just the fourth time all season that they lost three straight games. They avoided that fate until late June, but have now lost three in a row twice in the first half of September.
“The Mets model in 2022 has been consistency. There hasn’t even been an amazing stretch, really. It’s been mostly good. Win series, good, move along. Win a series, move along. There hasn’t been extreme stretches," Roberts said. "Against these opponents, this is an extreme stretch. And I don’t know what to do with myself. Because the DNA in me, the DNA in Hoff is going to tell us the end is near. Not that they’re going to miss the playoffs, they’re not missing the playoffs, but it would feel like not winning this division – especially because of who they’re losing to – it would feel like a collapse.”
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