Yet the Mets did not win another championship until 1986, underscoring just how precious their first title was, and how even the game’s most prized commodity — dominant young pitching — can break your heart.
That lesson comes as these Mets near a crossroads. With only a month before the July 31 trading deadline, they may not have half a season, as Kranepool said, to fashion their own miracle. The Mets entered Saturday’s game with the Atlanta Braves on a six-game losing streak that had dropped their record to 37-46. Only two National League teams, the San Francisco Giants and the Miami Marlins, were further away from a playoff spot.
Within a few weeks, then, the chief operating officer Jeff Wilpon and General Manager Brodie Van Wagenen may finally be forced to concede that this year’s conventional wisdom was wrong. Acquiring a closer — Edwin Diaz — and a collection of veterans (Robinson Cano, Jed Lowrie, Wilson Ramos, Justin Wilson) looked good in the winter but much less so in the summer.
A few years ago, the Mets had hoped that their trove of young pitching would lead them to glory. They came close in 2015 when Matt Harvey, Jacob deGrom, Noah Syndergaard and Steven Matz started in the World Series. That series also lasted five games and finished in Flushing, but the Kansas City Royals, not the Mets, were the winners.
For that generation of Mets arms, the 2015 N.L. pennant will almost certainly be the pinnacle. Harvey is long gone; with a back injury and a 7.50 E.R.A. in Anaheim, he is much less of a threat to haunt the Mets than Ryan, another hard-throwing right-hander who wound up with the Angels. While deGrom is signed through 2023, Syndergaard, Matz and Zack Wheeler might as well be traded while they still have value. Build around deGrom, Pete Alonso, Jeff McNeil and a few others, and see where it leads.
There is, at least, one hopeful comparison in the Mets’ annals: 1973, a season — like this — that took place four years after a World Series breakout. The 1973 Mets were actually one game worse than these Mets at the same point (36-47) but rallied to win a weak N.L. East at 82-79 and reach Game 7 of the World Series against Oakland.
Of course, the odds of these Mets rising while the Braves and others fold would seem to be quite remote. Time is running out, and they may have used up their miracles long ago.
“I’m a Met fan,” Swoboda said, with a sigh. “It’s not easy.”