NEW YORK, NY - MAY 02: Todd Frazier #21 of the New York Mets reacts after he struck out in the fourth inning against the Atlanta Braves on May 2, 2018 at Citi Field in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)

Mets: A second chance at the 2017-2018 offseason with the benefit of hindsight

Mets: A second chance at the 2017-2018 offseason with the benefit of hindsight by Tim Boyle

The New York Mets offense is dangerously close to becoming the worst in MLB.

Soon enough, New York Mets fans may not have an opportunity to laugh at the inept lineups of the Baltimore Orioles or Miami Marlins. Those two basement teams with horrendous offenses are catching up to the Mets. By the time the weekend arrives, this offense may have the fewest runs scored in baseball this season.

The problem for this team has been inconsistency. Over the last few weeks, they’ve been held down under the thumbs of their oppressors: opposing pitchers.

Entering Tuesday’s game against the Atlanta Braves, the Mets had scored 237 runs. This was bad enough for 28th in MLB. The Marlins trailed them with 231 runs with the Orioles in last place with 229. They scored only a pair in the opener against the Braves, barely adding to the season total.

Amazingly, they look safe from falling into last place in the home run department. While they aren’t knocking round-trippers with regularity, they have more four-base hits than multiple teams.

Of course, there is a commonality with these teams. They are all bad baseball clubs with poor records. Home runs aren’t everything or a winning formula. However, not winning home runs will surely hurt.

The Mets are a team built on hitting home runs. Unfortunately, they haven’t done it very often.

Lengthy injuries to Todd Frazier and Yoenis Cespedes have hurt them in this department. The fact that Jay Bruce has yet to find his power stroke also hurts them immensely.

Thus far, the best home run production on the roster has come off the bat of Asdrubal Cabrera. He has been their best hitter overall with an honorable mention to Brandon Nimmo.

As much as I respect Cabrera, he’s not a power hitter. His 11 home runs through 61 games are just three short of the 14 he hit all of last season. If other players were knocking the ball over the fence, this would be a nice treat. Instead, Cabrera dingers have become mandatory for wins.

The floundering offense has ruined several chances at victory in May and early June. Once a strength of this team, it has now become their biggest weakness.

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Perhaps reaching the official rock bottom is what it will take for this team’s bats to finally wake up for good.