Mets on pace to score fewest runs since 1968

The Mets' offense has gone 20 innings and counting without scoring a run and has scored two runs or fewer in 12 of its last 14 games. Just one Mets position player, Daniel Murphy, is currently batting over .260. Several dominant performances from the pitching staff have gone to waste and have turned to hard-luck losses thanks to a lack of run support. By every possible metric, the Mets' offense is downright horrible.

Statistically speaking, the Mets' offense is not only one of the worst in the majors this year, but one of the worst in the 53-year history of the team. The Mets are currently scoring an average of 3.49 runs per game this season, the third-worst mark in the majors. If they were to continue at this pace for the rest of the season, they will have scored 565 runs, which would be the fewest of any Mets team in a non-strike shortened season since 1968.

The only Mets teams to score fewer runs than the 2015 squad is currently on pace for are the 1963, 1965, 1967, and 1968 teams. Three of those teams lost over 100 games and the other finished second-to-last in the National League. Even the 1962 Mets, arguably the worst team in the history of baseball, scored 52 more runs than the Mets are currently on pace to score this season.

In fact, if this year's team scored at the same rate that the 1962 team did, the Mets would have three more pythagorean wins than they do now. So if that translated into three games in the standings, the Mets would be just a half-game behind the NL East-leading Nationals and a half-game ahead of the Cubs for the final Wild Card spot with a 43-36 record. And that is just if they scored at the same rate as the worst team in franchise history. If they scored at the same rate that they did in 1999, the best offensive year in team history, they would have a whopping 14 additional Pythagorean wins and a 54-25 record.

Even with the putrid offensive output the Mets have had this season, they are still just 2.5 games out of the second Wild Card spot thanks to the fourth-best team ERA in all of baseball. Significant gains down the stretch are still attainable, but the offense will need to improve greatly. In the 16 seasons where they have scored fewer than 600 runs, the Mets have had just two winning seasons and have never made the playoffs. So if this history is any precedent, there is little hope for the Mets if they do not substantially improve their offense in the coming weeks.