New York Mets’ Weaknesses Finally Surface in World Series Loss to Royals

Addison Reed (Photo by Lori Shepler/UPI)
Reed suffered the loss in the decisive game 5 of the 2015 World Series

Clutch.  Never quit.  Undying.  – All adjectives used to describe the Royals incredible run to the World Series title in 2015, a title garnered at the expense of the Mets.

The truth is, it was predictable.

Looking back, the Royals strength was putting the ball in play and making things happen on the basepaths.

They don’t rely on home-runs, nor extra base hits to put runs on the board – the Mets do.

They don’t rely on their pitchers striking out the opposition to avoid having to make plays in the field – the Mets do.

The reality of the Royals “offensive attack” was it was a lot of balls that found holes.  And while that is to a certain extent lucky, there were also a lot of holes to be found.

The Mets are below average defensively at Catcher, which was glaringly apparent as the Royals stole base after base.

They are average at first base which became apparent when Eric Hosmer essentially stole home on a ground-ball to third in the decisive game five victory, at that point tying the game.

They are now average at third where David Wright can no longer cover the ground nor make the throws he used to be able to make anymore forcing an already deficient defensive shortstop in Wilmer Flores to shade toward third base leaving room for ground ball after ground-ball to Center field over second base.

They are below average at 2B where Daniel Murphy made error after error in the 2015 World Series and the Mets’ outfield play, well, was downright awful starting from game 1 where a routine fly ball turned into a tone-setting “homerun”.

The awful Mets’ defense didn’t matter against the Dodgers and Cubs as Mets’ pitching routinely made its way through jams via the strikeout. It didn’t matter against the Royals in game 3 as Noah Syndergaard struck out 6 in six innings, and it almost didn’t matter last night as Harvey K’ed 9 through 8 innings.  However, once the Royals’ bats found the ball, it was over as was the Mets’ 2015 run.