Mets Key Stretch: Final Verdict!

If you’ve been keeping up with the blog, you’ll recall a series of posts about the Mets and a very difficult stretch of 29 games spanning June 9th to July 9th.

Dubbed by us here at the Huddle as the “Mets Key Stretch,” we took predictions on how the Mets would fare and regularly updated their progress (or lack thereof) throughout the month.

Well, the results are in, and they are NOT pretty for the Mets (but the same can’t be said for those who made VERY accurate predictions…we’ll get to those in a bit).

During this 29 game stretch in which the Mets played 28 games against teams with winning records, they only managed to go 10-19, a winning percentage of .349. Yikes.

We theorized here on the blog that the “Key Stretch” could very well make or break the Mets’ season; and upon further analysis, that seems to be holding true. Granted the Mets played with a depleted roster, but the games count the same, and the Mets didn’t win very many of them.

We’ll know by September if the Mets were able to salvage this season and make a serious playoff run, but if it turns out that isn’t the case, the experts will most certainly point to their dismal play during the “Key Stretch” as a main culprit.

Now with that being said, the moment you’ve all been waiting for: THE “KEY STRETCH” PREDICTION RESULTS!!

As mentioned above, we solicited predictions from the vast blogosphere and came up with…..three. But three noted New York sports scholars nonetheless:

-Striking WPIX Sports Anchor Lolita Lopez
-Prolific Huddle Blog Commenter James Piccoli
-Serial Chest-Puffer Matt Estreich

When the results were inserted into our special WPIX Sports Department super computer (aka, the calculator function on my computer) it churned out a WINNER!!

And seriously, was there any surprise as to whom that might be….? ME!!! Missed it by only two games!

Yes folks, I won my own contest, and therefore win first prize (which was getting to brag in blog-form). As for the final results, they look like this:

Mets Actual “Key Stretch” Record: 10-19

First Place – Matt Estreich: 12-17
Second Place – James Piccoli: 13-16
Third Place – Lolita (the optimist) Lopez: 17-12

So there you have it. Three well-informed people with three different guesses on how the Mets would fare throughout a very tough portion of their schedule.

What does the second half of the season hold for the Mets? It’s nearly impossible to tell given the state of their roster.

But if you must know, I know a guy who’s real good at predictions.

Matt Estreich for The Huddle