John Moran
Three of the highest players in the MLB, all of whom are underperforming.
The Major League Baseball (MLB) season always starts with predictions of who’ll be hot, who won’t be, what teams will overachieve, and which will underachieve. The speculation rages, even through the first 20 or so games, until sample sizes are big enough to have a real picture of the league. But we’re now around 45 games into the season, and The GOAT has decided it’s time for our decisions on the most disappointing teams in this first quarter of the season.
The first team is the team you came to this list for: the New York Mets. You knew they were going to be here, and the Mets know it too. Steve Cohen, the Mets owner, is footing the largest player payroll in baseball. Can you guess how much? 340 million dollars, with a 375 million dollar luxury tax. Can you guess what their record is based off of that? As it stands at the time of the writing of this article, they are 21-23. That’s two games under .500. How is a team paying a third of a billion dollars not even above .500? Prior to the start of the season, the Mets were seen as the team to beat in the National League (NL) East. In fact, some were saying they could go the distance. Now, they’re sitting at third in a relatively weak division. It is truly abysmal in Queens right now.
New York’s woes don’t end there, either. New York City can’t catch a break, as the New York Yankees are also sitting with a sub-par record when compared with their payroll. The Yankees are doling out 267 million dollars to the players and sit at fourth in the American League (AL) East, only five games above .500. It is true that they have a significantly better record than the Mets with a far cheaper payroll, but it is also far below their expectations. This is the team with Aaron Judge, Anthony Rizzo, and Gerrit Cole. It’s a cast studded with stand-out players, but they can’t get it moving for the life of them right now. It’s a cold team, and their cold record shows it.
The next unfortunate subject of our list is the San Diego Padres, all the way across the country. I’ve made enough fun of the East Coast for the day. The Padres also are up on the payroll board, in third with 236 million dollars being handed out to their players, and honestly, when I look at their list of players, I would guess it to be more. The San Diego Padres are, in the opinion of many, myself included, the most talented team in baseball. They have fiery young gun Juan Soto. They have established veteran Manny Machado. They have generational talent in Fernando Tatís Jr. They have established excellence in Xander Bogaerts. The bullpen isn’t anything to snuff at either, with studs like Yu Darvish and Blake Snell on tap. And they are sitting four games below .500 at 20-24. This is abysmal for a team as young and exciting as the Padres are. People are wondering if the Red Sox will beat the Padres in their upcoming series. Seriously. The Red Sox, a team that posted a .481 record last season. The Padres’ downfall this season has been unlike any other. In my opinion, they are the most disappointing team in baseball.
As I’ve said in articles past and present, baseball is a game of highs and lows, hot streaks and cold streaks. These teams are definitely cold. But with the expectations and more directly, the monetary consequences being placed onto them, this performance is really unacceptable. It simply can’t happen with teams like these, the supposed juggernauts that should be marching through their divisions into the playoffs. But they aren’t. There’s always a chance that these teams pick up their hot streaks later in the season. The Mets could start playing like a World Series contender tomorrow, and I wouldn’t be incredibly surprised. But until these teams turn it around, they are the most disappointing teams in baseball.
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