Tough Times In Queens

If you're a fan of the New York Mets at this moment, some level of concern has to begin to creep into your mind right now. Since the all star break, the Mets offense seems like they haven't been able to find their way. Hell, it seems like that has been the trend since the middle of June.

The question is, is it time to hit the panic button on the Blue and Orange yet?

Yes, and No.

Yes in that they have, in fact, hit a slide. The team is 18-27 over their last 45 games. Sure, at times the offense, and team as a whole, has had their moments. There was that seven game winning streak right after the all star break. But since then, the team has lost nine of ten. Lindor has quieted down as of late, and the bottom of the order isn't producing the way it was a couple of months ago.

Besides the hitting, its become clear that starting pitching isn't what it used to be at the beginning of the year. The Mets have gone 46 starts without having their starters go six innings on back to back days. That's going to be a big problem the later we get into the season, for what it's going to be doing to the pen. Sure the pen was bolstered at the trade deadline. But what good is it going to do if the team is getting overworked because of the inability of the starters to go deep into games.

I know it hasn't looked good the last couple of weeks for the team, but there is still some good news. As of this writing, the team is still ten games over .500. They are still within striking distance of the Phillies for first place, just three and a half games back. They are still three and a half games up on the Reds for the final wild card spot,  and three and a half back of the Cubs for that top wild card spot (which would mean hosting the wild card series). Alonso is still delivering. Soto is heating up a little bit.

There is still hope and optimism around this team. But there is doubt that's starting to creep into the back of the minds for Mets fans.