Mostly Winning and Almost Winning

I and presumably you root for a team that either wins every game or comes very close to winning every game. In 2025, which is now almost exactly one-fifth over in terms of regular-season baseball, the Mets have played 32 games; outscored their opponents in 21 of them; lost by exactly one run in five of them; and came up short by two runs in four of them, including their most recent contest. Mathdoers will confirm that leaves only two games they’ve been what you’d call out of it to date. One was a three-run loss, the other a five-run loss.

No fan ever calculates all the wins his/her/their team shouldn’t have wound up with, but we do allow ourselves the fantasy of obtaining every game that got away. When we do that, the Mets are a conceivable 29-2 thus far in 2025. Anything’s conceivable, I suppose, so why not the bestest-case scenario? We’re indulging in fantasy here. Every scenario is reviewable.

Going down, 4-2, to the Diamondbacks in Thursday’s frustrating series finale qualifies as another coulda/woulda, yet it was also the closest thing we’ve “suffered” to a blowout loss in more than two weeks. Dating back to our final game in Minnesota, we could have — I mean really could have — been on a fourteen-game winning streak to end April. That last Twins game, way back in the middle of the month, came oh-so-close to victory. So did the two losses in Washington. So did Wednesday night’s at home to Arizona. There, four losses by one run apiece to go with the ten wins by however many runs. The wins felt like destiny. The losses felt like mistakes. By Tuesday night, when the Snakes were properly tamed by timely hitting, awesome defense, and as much pitching as was necessary, all the postgame questions for the manager and his players were variations on “isn’t this great?”

Yes. It is great.

The games that don’t conclude with actual wins? Less great. Thursday’s edged close to triumph, but not close enough. Juan Soto hit two home runs, itself a victory, given that Juan hadn’t homered at Citi Field since becoming a Met. His blasts would have been more of a blast had anybody been on base for them or if he had been joined in slugging by any of his teammates. The Mets weren’t much for rallies all afternoon, and none among Kodai Senga, Genesis Cabrera, Max Kranick and Reed Garrett was at his absolute stingiest. Cabrera, a lefty, is here because neither A.J. Minter nor Danny Young is any longer available. Genesis joined Ty Adcock in supplementing a staff that is running a lot of reliever roulette of late. Brandon Waddell and Chris Devenski are already back at Syracuse. Jose Ureña is a free agent.

Wait, these sound like challenges or difficulties or, heaven forefend, problems. Even first-place ballclubs are entitled to sing the blues as applicable. We are the NL East-leading, ten-above-.500 New York Mets, yet we are dealing with injuries, bullpen overuse, starting pitching that doesn’t go particularly long, a spotty offense in clutch situations, and, worst when ranking sins, not winning them all. This season has reminded me that when you’re close to winning them all, your craw gets stuck with the residue of not actually doing that. Before coming up two runs shy on Thursday, we were on a conceivable fourteen-game winning streak. I’m trying to decide whether a rather lifeless loss was simply due or whether it would have been transformed into a 5-4 win just by sheer Met momentum had we been playing for fifteen straight Ws.

In a season whose results have bordered on fantasy, it could have happened. In a season tethered to reality, I think we’re gonna be all right, challenges and difficulties and problems notwithstanding. We’re just not gonna win ’em all or necessarily come achingly close every single day.