The State Of New York Baseball Has Reached Disastrous Levels Of Sadness

By any interest did you want to read something that shits on New York baseball as a whole? Are you a Red Sox, Phillies, Braves, or Blue Jays fan by chance? Maybe just a Mets or Yankees fan looking to relish in the misery of your cross-town enemy? Perhaps you don't even like baseball, you just don't want anyone else to be happy in the world. Well, I think I can try to help because holy shit do the Mets and Yankees suck balls right now and both their fanbases are reading Owen Wilson's "Don't Jump" book from Wedding Crashers. 

The Yankees had a golden opportunity to win a series today against the Astros with their ace Max Fried on the bump against Seinfeld character Jason Alexander. Instead of building off a fun Saturday win on Old Timer's Day, the offense decided to lay an egg in the series decider. Alexander entered this game with a 5.97 ERA in 31.2 IP. The Yankees didn't get their first hit off of him until the sixth fucking inning. Max Fried continued his struggles and didn't give his team much of a chance out there. New York lost the series in a 7-1 depressor, falling to just six games over .500 and on the fringe of the playoff picture. 

They are 20-31 since June 12th. 

The Mets, on the other hand, entered Sunday desperately trying to break a six game losing streak. A 5-0 lead surely set them up to end that slide and just allow themselves to come up for air. Well, once again their starting pitcher failed to pitch anywhere close to deep in a game. 

For 53 straight games, only one Met starting pitcher has gone 6+ innings, that was David Pederson. It's the longest streak of just having one since 1901. The longer that streak continues the more and more your pen is going to get gassed. It's a terrible formula for present and future success You won't even make it to September doing that. Today Sean Manaea only lasted 12 outs before being chased from the game. It felt inevitable that the Brewers would find a way given how well things are going for them of late. In the 9th inning Isaac Collins lifted one just over the right field wall for the win. 

You'll be surprised, but Frank didn't take it well.

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That's now seven straight losses for the Mets. They've dropped 11 of 12 during this stretch of misery. They're 18-31 since June 12th. You get the idea? Their NL East hopes have seemingly evaporated, now trailing Philly by six games in the loss column. Just like their cross-town rivals, they're in danger of falling out of the postseason picture entirely with the Reds now only a game and a half back of the 3rd WC spot. What was once a nice cushion is now a legitimate problem. 

Both New York baseball teams are firmly in the shitter. It feels like if either team grabs a lead their fans are left watching  wondering how they're gonna blow it, not if. Right now I'm not sure how I'm supposed to convince either fanbase that things are about to turn around. The Mets have two pitchers in minors in Brandon Sprout and Nolan McLean who are ready to be called up and held their SP issue. Those are kids though. It's a tough ask to rely on them to turn your season around. Offensively their big guns have not been what they hoped. 

Since June 12th through the start of today: 

Lindor is hitting .195 with a .610 OPS. 

Alonso is hitting .208 with a .668 OPS.

Soto hasn't been nearly as bad in that stretch, but when you step back and take a wide look at his year, he's really only had one signature Soto month, which came in June. Outside of that he hasn't had an OPS above .800 in any month. August is looking significantly better for him, but it's only been 10 days. Soto entered today hitting .182 with RISP on the season. Last year that number was .345 with the Yankees. 

I'm sure those three guys will pick it up to some degree, although time is running out. The pitching concerns are far greater of a worry. If you don't start to get length out of that rotation your bullpen will completely collapse, just look at the Yankees. 

As for the Bronx Bombers? Your hope for positivity is limited to…

1) Boone's blind support that things will magically changed even though we're on three months of this bullshit and the same effort arrives each and every day. 

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2) their remaining schedule which features series against the Twins (2), Cardinals, Rays, Nats, White Sox (2), and Orioles (2). In theory they should take advantage of those teams, but any club that's 20-31 over their last 51 isn't deserving of any assurances when it comes to victories. Do they have the roster to rip off a bunch of wins? Absolutely. There's legit talent on this roster, they just refuse to put it together. 

Do they unfortunately pair that talent with bottom tier baseball IQ? They sure do. Does the worst manager in the sport happen to be running the team? 

Icon Sportswire. Getty Images.

Yep, that's him. Funny enough, it took for his ejection in a game for the Yankees to properly use Devin Williams in a low leverage situation today. The result? The best he's looked in a while by a wide margin. No kidding a guy who wasn't mentally zapped needed a less stressful opportunity to relax and start to figure things out? I don't believe it. 

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The Mets, by the way, do not have the luxury of a soft schedule remaining. Their September is a nightmare. With opponents like Detroit, Philly, Texas, San Diego, Cubbies, Miami, and a massive three game road series in Cincy waiting for them. 

So yeah, both teams are up against it with their margin for error very much gone and the sand in the time keeper running out. Good times for everyone.