Five straight losing seasons of coal in our stockings has taken a toll. Hopefully we're just a player or two away from contention for several years to come. Or not. We'll see.
As bad as the past few years have seemed how do they compare with other dark periods in Mets history? Here's a look at other long stretches of below .500 Mets clubs. We're now in the midst of the fourth ever stretch of losing seasons that's lasted at least five seasons.
Time Period |
Consecutive Losing Seasons |
Won-Loss Record |
Winning Percentage |
2009 - present |
5 |
374-436 |
.462 |
1991 - 1996 |
6 |
403-501 |
.446 |
1977 - 1983 |
7 |
434-641 |
.404 |
1962 - 1969 |
7 |
394-737 |
.348 |
Well, in terms of bad stretches this one really isn't all that bad - so far. The only other times the Mets have had at least 5 consecutive losing seasons the stretch lasted 1-2 years longer. And each of those other bad stretches saw the Mets play either a bit worse, a lot worse or historically awful baseball.
But it's one thing to break the .500 barrier and another to actually make the post-season. As too many of us remember from a few short years ago, sometimes winning 89 games but falling just short of the post-season can be more soul crushing than winning 74.
So how about post-season droughts? The Mets have made the post-season in seven of their first 52 seasons. Simple division tells us the average gap between post-season appearances is about 7 years. So by that measure we're due.
But lets look at each level of playoffs in chart form.
Made Playoffs |
Seasons since last appearance/inception |
Outcome |
1969 |
8 (since inception) |
WS Champs |
1973 |
4 |
WS Losers |
1986 |
13 |
WS Champs |
1988 |
2 |
NLCS Losers |
1999 |
11 |
NLCS Losers |
2000 |
1 |
WS Losers |
2006 |
6 |
NLCS Losers |
2013 |
7 |
Coal |
So our current dry-spell of 7 seasons since our last playoff appearance is only the third longest in franchise history. It was a seemingly endless 13 year stretch between the 1973 WS losing club and the 1986 world champs. That's nearly twice as long as our current playoff dry spell. And the stretch between the 1988 NLCS losers and the 1999 club that reached the same mark was four years longer than the current dry spell.
How about making the World Series?
Made World Series |
Seasons since last appearance/inception |
Outcome |
1969 |
8 (since inception) |
WS Champs |
1973 |
4 |
WS Losers |
1986 |
13 |
WS Champs |
2000 |
14 |
WS Losers |
2013 |
13 |
Coal |
This is either good news or bad news - as usual beauty's in the eye of the beholder. You can either say "Crap, we're one season away from setting a new franchise mark for most seasons between World Series appearances!" OR "Awesome! We've never gone more than 14 seasons without getting to the Series so we're a lock to go this year!" And you may have noticed that we've won every other WS we've made. So if that pattern repeats our next one should be fun . . .
And finally, winnowing the chart even further let's see how long we've typically had to wait between ringz.
We Are the Champtions! |
Seasons since last appearance/inception |
Outcome |
1969 |
8 (since inception) |
Ringz! |
1986 |
17 |
Ringz Again! |
2013 |
27 |
Coal. |
You kidding me? It took 8 years to get our first ring then one year + twice as long to get our 2nd. If we have to double down and add one again that'd put us right on schedule for 2021. Who was it that said we'll never hoist another flag under the Wilpons?
Okay, enough stupid numerology for today. Unless of course you're interested . . . 3 more shopping days ‘till Christmas. Have a happy and healthy one all.