The New York Mets have a brutal 0.8% chance of making the postseason according to FanGraphs, a catastrophic plunge from their 86.6% odds at the start of the year. It's a tough pill to swallow for any fanbase, especially when a team teeters on the precipice of being completely unwatchable for most of the first half. Let's be real, this team is bad, and it feels like a waste of some incredible talent.
Wasted Seasons and Unwatchable Slop
Look, sometimes you just gotta call it like it is: the Mets are a bad baseball team right now. Like, genuinely borderline unwatchable slop. It's a bitter reality, but we've seen this movie before, right? You get these glimpses of brilliance from individual players, but the team itself just can't get it together. Think back to the Jacob deGrom Cy Young campaign in 2018, R.A. Dickey's march to 20 wins in 2012, or watching David Wright break every offensive record in the book during some truly bleak years. Those individual bright spots gave you a reason to tune in, a sliver of hope even when the team was struggling. This year, it's a whole different kind of frustrating.Juan Soto Is Doing Legendary Things
Despite the team's struggles, Juan Soto is flat out special. Seriously, we get to watch one of the most exciting talents on the planet play every single night. Even with a slow start to his 15-year tenure with the Mets and missing time early in the year with an injury, Soto is absolutely crushing it. Last year, he finished third in NL MVP voting, hitting .263/.395/.525 with a 156 wRC+ and 5.8 fWAR. He blasted 43 home runs, stole 38 bases, scored 120 runs, drove in 105, and set a franchise record with 127 walks. And somehow, he got left off the All-Star roster. Ridiculous! This year, fans rightly voted him into the starting lineup. He's heading into the break with 21 homers, 44 runs scored, 51 runs batted in, and an even better 163 wRC+ while batting .290/.405/.562. That's MVP-caliber stuff, pure electricity at the plate.The Bitterness of Wasted Greatness
Here's where it gets real, and where the frustration really sets in: we're watching Juan Soto waste two prime seasons with this team. It's a harsh truth, but it feels like the Mets have a knack for squandering elite talent. How many years of prime David Wright did we see go by without a championship team around him? Or Matt Harvey, Jacob deGrom, Pete Alonso, Francisco Lindor? The list is long, and Soto is now joining it. Adding a player like Soto in free agency felt like a pipe dream a few seasons ago, and now that he's here, you just want to see the team capitalize. So, what's left for fans to watch? Honestly, it's Soto. You tune in to see what incredible thing he'll do next, even if the scoreboard usually tells a different story. He's worth the price of admission every single night.This article was created with AI assistance and reviewed by Seattle On Tap editorial staff. Always verify information with official team sources.