Mets and Yankees down bad even by April standards

What a bad weekend to be either a New York Yankees or New York Mets fan. The Mets somehow got swept by the Athletics, who have won five straight and somehow find themselves tied with the Texas Rangers for first place in the AL West. Farther south, the Yankees visited the Rays for a weekend series at the renovated and reopened Tropicana Field…and got swept themselves.

The Mets now sit last in the NL East at 7-9. The Yankees are slightly better at 8-7, but also find themselves in a three-way tie with Tampa Bay and the Orioles for first place in the AL East. Both New York teams have lost five straight. Did the midsummer slump arrive early and nobody got the memo?

Where to begin with these teams? As often is the case, the Yankees’ bats disappeared in an important divisional series. Remember all the games the team blew last season against Boston, the Rays, and especially Toronto? That’s how a team ends up tied for first place on the last day of the season, but settles for a Wild Card because they lost the tiebreaker. Not to say the Rays are going to pull a Blue Jays and surprise everyone by winning the division, but these three losses could matter more down the road.

Oh, and the Yankees also lost two of three to the same Athletics who just swept the Mets.

Speaking of the Mets, their issues aren’t too different from the Yankees’. Except they’ve also been without Juan Soto for over a week. The $765 million man is currently on the injured list with a calf strain. He could return as early as next week, but Soto alone can’t fix the Mets.

There’s still the question of Francisco Lindor, who is batting .188. It’s early, yes, but Lindor is still waiting on his first home run and RBI. The former Platinum Glover has also made plenty of mental mistakes on the field. Most notably, over the weekend, this should have been a double play:

The list goes on. Francisco Alvarez’s four home runs lead the team, but they’re all solo shots. Luis Robert Jr. is batting .319, but most of his hits are singles. Carson Benge’s rookie growing pains are truly painful to watch, as is his .130 batting average. And Luke Weaver’s bullpen work makes one long for Armando Benitez.

Just so we’re clear, this isn’t meant to rail against both teams as being done for. Finished. Kaput. The season is anything but over. No team needs to win all 162 games for a shot at a World Series, just most of them. And, not for nothing, it’s better to have the worst losses early as opposed to on the cusp of the playoffs.

Except numbers don’t lie, even with the Mets ranking 13th in MLB with a .236 team batting average compared to the Yankees ranking 28th at .202. All the more puzzling is the Yankees have hit worse, yet scored 65 total runs to the Mets’ 62. The Bronx Bombers also have a +21 run differential compared to the Mets’ being underwater at -3.

There is no easy road out of the slumps for either teams. Players need to show up and play better. Firing Aaron Boone or Carlos Mendoza accomplishes nothing. Not unless either clubhouse is on the brink of mutiny.

But we must admit, it is indeed strange to be this early in the season and see both the Yankees and Mets struggling so. Particularly with Soto on the injured list for the first time in his career!

In the meantime, we stand around the water cooler and share in our teams’ shared misery.