MIAMI – In the final weeks of the regular season, as toothless as they were playing, there was just no way the New York Mets and their $340 million payroll would miss the playoffs, right?
After all, they entered the final day of the season with the second-best offense in the National League, behind only the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Yet, as the Mets lost series after series to bottom-feeding teams in a pennant race, it became all too easy to picture it. And after flirting with disaster for months, the Mets eventually made it their reality when Francisco Lindor grounded into a double play to end Game 162 and their catastrophe of a season.
The Mets were eliminated from postseason contention after being shutout, 4-0, by the Marlins on Sunday at loanDepot Park. To top it off, the Reds lost, 4-2, to the Brewers on Sunday. In other words, all the Mets needed to do to get into the expanded playoffs was win.
The season-ending loss stung even more when the Mets learned that Cincinnati had lost, Brandon Nimmo said. Now they’ll go home and watch the Reds play the Dodgers in the wild card series on Tuesday.
“There are no words to describe what we’re going through,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said. “It’s pain, frustration, you name it. We came in with a lot of expectations, and here we are going home. Not only did we fall short. We didn’t even get into October. Pissed. Sad. Frustrated. You name it.”
Francisco Lindor and the Mets are going home earlier than expected.
