New York Mets: 2017 Season Review and Offseason Preview
By Tim Haberin
The New York Mets’ hopes of contending in 2017 were quickly dashed by another litany of injuries. How did it all go down, and what’s on the horizon for next season?
The 2015 season was supposed to be the start of something special for the New York Mets. Though they lost the World Series to the Kansas City Royals in five games, they captured the NL East division crown (their first since 2006) with 90 regular season wins and appeared to be a franchise very much on the rise.
Injuries, particularly to the their vaunted starting rotation, hindered the Mets in 2016, though they still managed to sneak into the postseason with a Wild Card berth. They fell in the one-game playoff to the San Francisco Giants, but surely a healthier season in 2017 would lead to a deeper run in October.
No, on both counts. Health woes ravaged the Mets up and down the roster once again this year, and they never came close to realistically sniffing the postseason. They finished fourth in the division with a 70-92 record, their worst season performance since 2009.
The Mets simply failed to get hot for any appreciable stretch during the campaign. Their best month came in June, when they merely posted a .500 mark at 14-14. They never climbed more than four games over .500 (on April 13) and their longest winning streak was a modest five games.
Manager Terry Collins resigned following the season’s final game. After eight seasons in the Mets dugout, he’ll reportedly remain with the organization in a front office role. General manager Sandy Alderson, who has also been with the club since 2010, is expected to return on a new contract. While perhaps not the wholesale regime change some anticipated, the Mets will at least have a new skipper calling the shots in 2018.
Until then, let’s take a look back at what went right for the Mets this season and what went wrong. (As you might guess, one list is a bit longer than the other.) Then we’ll peer into the crystal ball and speculate what might be in store this winter.
Next: The Good