Two months ago, the Braves were arguably at the lowest point of their season. They had an opportunity to retake control of the NL East in a five-game series at Citi Field against the Mets, but instead, they were completely dominated, dropping four out of five games — most of which were not even close.
In the final game of that series, Spencer Strider matched up with Jacob deGrom in what was a heavyweight fight on paper. Unfortunately, Strider didn’t have his best stuff, and luck certainly wasn’t on his side. The Mets ran up his pitch count, had some soft contact find holes, and eventually forced him out of the game after just 2.2 innings and four earned runs. It was by far the shortest start of Strider’s brief career to date, and he let his frustration out in his comments to the media about the Mets.
Spencer Strider on his outing versus the Mets: "A lot of weird hits. They seem to be having a lot of luck right now offensively. That’s great. It’s August. (We’ll) see what things are like in October.”
— Justin Toscano (@JustinCToscano) August 8, 2022
I think Strider himself would tell you that’s not something he should have said publicly, and I’m sure Brian Snitker mentioned something to him afterward, but it’s hard not to look back at it and see just how right he was.
The Mets held the division lead pretty much all season, but when the chips were on the line come October, they folded like a lawn chair. It started in Atlanta, as the Braves stole the division right out of their grasp by sweeping them at Truist Park. Two days later, the Braves clinched the division in Miami. But the final blow was delivered last night by the San Diego Padres, who held the Mets to just one hit with their season on the line.
The truth about the Mets could be seen from a mile away, and it’s something I continuously said would come back to haunt them at some point. Outside of their three-headed monster at the top of the rotation and Edwin Diaz, they were a team littered with holes. Their bullpen didn’t have enough weapons, and their lineup lacked the necessary pop to make a deep postseason run. They were a scrappy bunch, which can play in the regular season, but it’s not easy to win like that consistently when everything is on the line because the margin for error is so razor thin.
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Photo: David J. Griffin/Icon Sportswire
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