The New York Mets don’t deserve Chris Bassitt
The 101-win Mets are the biggest chokers in MLB. They blew a 10.5-game division lead. They lost to the 89-win Padres in three games at home in the playoffs. Chris Bassitt pitched the final game of the Mets season, and while it wasn’t stellar, he kept them in the game.
The problem is Mets fans were blaming Bassitt for the loss that ended the Mets season. As I said, he could’ve been better, but he is far from the reason they lost. As an A’s fan, I’ve seen Bassitt go from a nobody with Tommy John turn into an ace. He doesn’t deserve the hate, and the Mets don’t deserve him.
Let’s look at his stat line from game three against the Padres. Four innings pitched, three hits, runs, and walks and two strikeouts. Now, that isn’t Bassitt. We’ve seen him do better, especially in a Wild Card series. He threw seven innings of one-run ball in Game 2 of the 2020 AL Wild Card with the A’s. His 15-9 record in 2022 with a 3.42 ERA and 167 strikeouts also proves he’s better than that.
But the Mets won 101 games. A lineup capable of scoring big runs, which they did all season. However, the best they could do in an elimination game was one lousy hit. Joe Musgrove allowed a single hit in seven innings, with Robert Suarez and Josh Hader throwing hitless innings.
Bassitt kept them in the game. A three-run deficit should not be hard to overcome for a team like the Mets. Wait, maybe it is. This is a team whose best trade deadline acquisition was Darin Ruf. No Willson Contreras, no J.D. Martinez. Not only did they make no significant trades, but they also have the richest owner in baseball and couldn’t make it past the first round with the highest payroll in the league.
Instead of Bassitt, why don’t we talk about Max Scherzer? The $130 million man gave up seven runs in 4.2 innings. Not only that, but he also gave up four home runs in his Game 1 performance. Shouldn’t a pitcher of his caliber be better?
This is also why I don’t blame Bassitt for the loss. Because of how lousy PitchCom is during the playoffs, Bassitt was having a hard time knowing what to throw all game.
As a result of the loud crowd, Bassitt and Tomas Nido weren’t in sync all game. Obviously, we could turn this into football and tell home crowds to be quiet while their pitcher is on the mound.
Or, MLB could just use their brain and realize having an audio system in the pitcher’s cap doesn’t work in the playoffs. Why not something like an earpiece?
As I have noted, this is far from Bassitt’s fault. He’s now a free agent, and I hope he goes and gets a bag from a team that deserves him. I also hope Billy Eppler is fired, Jacob deGrom leaves, and the Mets suck next year for this atrocious season.
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