LOS ANGELES -- Shortly after losing their eighth consecutive game, an 8-2 defeat to the Dodgers on Wednesday, the Mets sat inside a cramped visiting clubhouse searching for answers. In one corner, a group of veterans talked softly by their lockers. Around the room, various Mets buried their heads in their phones. Mostly, the room was silent, save for the sounds of clubhouse attendants scraping dirt off spikes and zipping up travel bags.
“They’re pissed, frustrated, obviously not happy about it,” manager Carlos Mendoza said. “And I want them to be pissed.”
Only twice this century have the Mets lost more consecutive games than this. One of the most expensive lineups in Major League history is barely hitting, averaging 1.5 runs per game over the life of this streak. Even for teams as talented as the Mets, a bad week or two can be typical over the course of a six-month season.
But “this,” third baseman Bo Bichette said, “is a bit extreme.”
He added: “I don’t really got much to say other than we can’t explain it, and we’ll keep on working to figure it out.”
Explanations for how the Mets are losing are easier to find than justifications for why. Mostly, the Mets aren’t hitting -- partially because Juan Soto remains sidelined with a strained right calf, but also because Bichette, Francisco Lindor, Marcus Semien and just about everyone else in the lineup has fallen flat. Brett Baty is in an 0-for-18 slump. Mark Vientos is 0-for-his-last-23. Up and down the lineup, little is going well.
Compounding that are additional, self-inflicted wounds. Lindor continued his uncharacteristic run of mental mistakes in the ninth inning Wednesday when he did not charge a routine Teoscar Hernández ground ball. Hustling down the line, Hernández beat it out for an infield hit, sparking a five-run rally that included a Dalton Rushing grand slam.
The Mets were already trailing by that point, because Shohei Ohtani (six innings, one run) pitched better than Clay Holmes (five innings, two runs). But lately, the Mets are making everyone look like Ohtani. Earlier this week, they failed to score for 20 consecutive innings. They’ve plated just three runs in their last 38.
“It’s tough right now,” Bichette said.
The good news is that losing eight in a row is not a death sentence. Since 2010, 14 clubs have lost at least eight straight games and still made the playoffs, including last year’s Guardians, who dropped 10 in a row before eventually winning the AL Central pennant. The Mets themselves have done it once before in their history, back in 1999, when the postseason was harder to make. It is admittedly rarer to lose eight in a row in April and still get into the tournament, given how poor starts can affect Trade Deadline strategy. The 2010 Braves were the last to do that.
As for other silver linings? Bichette pointed to better at-bats the past two days against Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto, two of the top starters in the National League. Soto should return next week. Then there is the starting pitching, which has generally been competent at worst, excellent at best.
“I think everybody knows once we get going, we’re going to be good, and there’s going to be a lot of momentum,” Holmes said. “It’s just getting the ball rolling here lately has been tough.”
In discussing this streak, Mendoza and his players straddled the line between optimism and realism, understanding that while they can still dig themselves out of this hole, they must play far, far better to do it. It’s not as if these sorts of struggles are new. Since last June 13, the Mets are 45-67. Extrapolated over a full season, that’s a 65-win pace.
This weekend, the Mets will head to Chicago for a three-game series against the Cubs, who have won three of their last four while averaging 8.8 runs per game over that stretch. The Mets, for comparison’s sake, have scored nine runs over their last six games combined.
It’s an opportunity nonetheless. One hundred and forty-three games remain for a team that’s only five games under .500. That’s the perspective the Mets must keep in mind, even while recognizing, as Mendoza put it, that “talk is cheap.”
“Guys have got to start playing better,” the manager added. “It’s as simple as that. They’re too talented. But right now, we’re not seeing anything on the field.”