What the New York Mets are Revealing About the Soul of Major League Baseball

From afar, the season the New York Mets have had feels laughable. Almost inconceivable. Like could a team really be that horrendous? Could a team full of notable players really be the most embarrassing sight in a professional league?

New York Mets fans have lived this semblance of a nightmare off and on for quite some time. It’s not necessarily a new feeling but it feels even more devastating when one of the fans’ most beloved players in Pete Alonso is a Baltimore Oriole and their other stars Juan Soto and Francisco Lindor have done nothing to help the state of the team.

At this point, it is a recurring nightmare. The ones that leave you feeling anxious even in the day.

What has happened to the New York Mets shows a glaring sign of something more troubling in Major League Baseball. Something bleaker. Something darker.

Major League Baseball has severed its relationship with the fans.

No longer America’s Past time. No longer the friend that provided reprieve from the busyness of what life is. No longer the heart of the summer.

The Los Angeles Dodgers could be the easiest target for what baseball has become. Considering the amount of money that has been spent to build a team as formidable as the Dodgers are. While they have been a culprit, they are not solely the reason. There are many factors that have led to the current state of the MLB.

For one, not having a face of the league. Sheltering historic stadiums. Smaller markets are not receiving financial support from billionaire owners. An all-star game that doesn’t glorify its players. A widening gap in the salary cap. And a continuous battle with replays and length of games. (Even though, this season has seen shortened games)

A litany of things that have had their share of impacts.

At face value, any of the major sports leagues in America are grappling with similar circumstances. What makes baseball more troubling is the country’s history with its sport dating back to 1846. The sport’s long history has seen players emblazoned in hearts of our ancestors. Triumphs after curses were lifted for Boston Red Sox and Chicago Cubs fans. And historic moments passed on from generation to generation like Jackie Robinson Day, which changed the course of history in more ways than just baseball. Baseball has been with this country throughout Women’s rights, Civil Rights, World Wars and financial recessions. It has always been a step away.

The New York Mets started the season with such a historic losing streak, that even Mets fans could not have anticipated what took place. During the losing streak, the offense was nonexistent. The pitching was almost just non-existent and the number of miscues and blunders felt like an old bloopers tape jammed in your grandfather’s VCR. Their manager, Carlos Mendoza, was in and out of conversations about his future and, truth be told, is not guaranteed to finish the season as the Mets’ skipper. While there is plenty of blame to go around, what feels painstakingly obvious is that the Mets fell into the same trap as so many big market teams. They threw money at a situation to see if it would make it better.

The New York Mets ended the previous season with a record flirting with 500, at 83-79. They fell short of a postseason appearance, and they struggled for the better part of the second half of the season. After what had been a magical season the year before, when the Mets had gone deep into the NL playoffs, the allure had seemed to disappear.

So, the Mets made changes in the offseason, including one where Alonso went to the Baltimore Orioles and they once again put faith in Juan Soto as a pivotal part of their future. I mean, when you pay a player that much, do you really have a choice? They also did a massive overhaul of their coaching roster back in the fall of 2025.

To think the Mets would have started the season with such a historic losing streak could not have necessarily been predicted but there appeared to be a lack of control at the wheel. How could a team find themselves in such a horrible predicament?

It’s Major League Baseball’s fault that the Mets are where they are. Trying so desperately to keep up with something that shouldn’t exist to begin with. When did the sport fall so in love with money that it rendered everything in its sport almost expendable?

It’s why an Oakland A’s stadium stands like a deserted town in California. It’s why the Tampa Bay Rays never seem to have the proper funding they deserve. It’s why the Los Angeles Angels are more nonexistent in California than any other major sports team. It’s why the Pittsburgh Pirates have a generational pitcher and their fanbase hold their breath, thinking their owner will ever spend the money to make a competing team around him. It’s why the Los Angeles Dodgers snatch every formidable player in free agency. It’s because Major League Baseball doesn’t care about the fans. Only caring for a few major fanbases does not equate to caring about the league. The Mets losing opened the door for a look into what MLB really cares about. Its owners. It’s organizational brass. Their perceptions of themselves in their view.

New York City radio can often be the epicenter of all feelings surrounding the major sports teams. When the New York Giants and New York Jets struggled last season…most fans wanted to clear house after every loss. When the Knicks lost in the Eastern Conference Finals and fired their coach, soon after, the New York fans still reeling from devastation, only hoped the right hire was made to take them to the next level. The New York Yankees and New York Mets both underwhelmed in their own ways throughout the season and most fans seemed hard pressed to understand the general managers’ motivation for any decision.

New York radio is the epicenter of anger, sadness, heartbreak and disappointment. The pitch was a all time high when the Mets were losing to end the season, but the overall sentiment was maybe something could change in the offseason and a turnaround was feasible. There was still hope. Still belief. Isn’t that the curse of all sports fans? We believe each season starts anew and maybe, just maybe, the losing will end. And if you’ve been losing for a while, you really hope that there is enough losing to be had. Curse of a sports fan. Reality of a Mets fan.

Robert Manfred, the commissioner of Major League Baseball, has a term scheduled to come to an end in 2028. While he has been crucial in the expansion of baseball globally and has instituted things to help the speed of baseball games like the pitch clock, his legacy remains unknown. While those are good things, Manfred has not been able to grasp the perception of what this sport has become. There are empty stadiums. There are struggling teams that can’t or refuse to compete in the market of other teams. Prices at the stadiums are astronomical in a country struggling with normal day-to-day finances. Even more so, it is worth repeating that the league still does not have a face of the league. While that may not seem like a big deal, it truly is. The NFL has Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen…and kids model their games after them. The NBA has ridden the coattails of Lebron James and Stephen Curry for quite some time and its global reach has only grown since their legends have only grown. The MLB still does not have one player that garners that much reach. Which doesn’t help the brand of baseball.

Which leads to the spotlight on the New York Mets’ struggling season. Without a consistent player to lead the brand, the most casual fan finds themselves enthralled in a big-name franchise’s historical losing. Why? It’s the most interesting the league has to offer.

Summer beckons sunshine and warm temperatures. Cool glasses of lemonade and soda pop. Hotdogs that drip with ketchup with relish and nachos washed down with boxes of gummy candy. The summer beckons a time when we all spend so much time outside, we forget that winter often comes faster than we would like. Baseball used to fit so seamlessly amongst those memories, hand in hand. Do we still feel a sense of anticipation when the game starts? Do we still want to sit on those bleachers and hear the crack of a ball when it disappears past the stadium lights? Does it feel the same?

The New York Mets may be having a historically hard season but the reflection that it has shown on the MLB is darker and minute by minute, shattering even more.

A broken mirror only distorts reflections.

What does Major League Baseball see?