In the end, they Mets-ed. 

The 2022 version of the team accomplished the near impossible at the finish line — they flushed a feel-good season. Wrecking their first-place chances on the final weekend of the regular season. Ending their 2022 campaign on the first weekend of the playoffs. 

They blew a 10 ¹/₂-game lead in the NL East. And they squandered playing only at home in the wild-card round. 

“We did a lot of great things this year, but nobody really cares how you do in the regular season,” Brandon Nimmo said. “It doesn’t matter when you come to the postseason everybody starts new, so nobody cares that we won 101 games, just that we lost these two. So it’s a somber, somber mood in the clubhouse.” 

Or as Max Scherzer summed up: “This is a kick in the balls.” 

Perhaps with time and distance those 101 regular-season wins — the second-most ever for the franchise — will elicit happy memories. But in this moment it feels inconsequential and inadequate. In part because this was as much a win-now team as resides in the majors. 

The Mets had the oldest roster by average age. They are littered with substantive free agents who will need to be re-signed — at figures that might even pause Steve Cohen — or replaced. The Mets received the best relief season in their history by Edwin Diaz, a batting title by Jeff McNeil and likely top-10 NL MVP finishes by Pete Alonso and Francisco Lindor. Just about every regular performed well. 

Is this replicable next year with Max Scherzer turning 39 next July and showing such wear and tear this season? With Diaz, Nimmo, Jacob deGrom, Chris Bassitt, Taijuan Walker and just about the entire setup corps reaching free agency. With a top-heavy farm system that has Francisco Alvarez and Brett Baty, but no pitching solutions on the horizon. 

The concern is that these Mets were one-hit wonders — apt Sunday night when that was the total number of hits they amassed in a 6-0 loss that brought on their offseason. 

“It’s too early to comment on what’s going to happen next year, because you have all offseason to go, but I’ve been in situations before and seen organizations rebound,” Scherzer said. “And there’s no reason why this organization can’t rebound.” 

This season was supposed to be the rebound. Home games often felt like a revival. It all felt like a resurrection. A rise from the lows of the Wilpon days. The payroll and star collection soared — and so did expectations. It just made this fall more painful — and too reminiscent of disappointing times. 

The Mets needed to win one of three at Truist Park to secure the NL East and avoid the wild-card round. They lost all three to the Braves last weekend. They needed to win two of three in Citi Field to advance out of the wild card this weekend. They won once. 

“To get to the postseason and it doesn’t work out, it’s the worst day of the year,” Scherzer said. 

Like in Atlanta, the Mets were let down by their starters and bats. Scherzer was clobbered for four homers and seven runs as San Diego won the opener. Bassitt had a chance on consecutive Sundays to save the Mets and came up short — 6 ²/₃ innings in total against Atlanta and San Diego in which he walked six and permitted seven runs (three over four innings to the Padres). 

The Mets’ collective lineup lacked the impact of the Padres’ eighth-place hitter. Apparently if you hold up the name Trent Grisham to a mirror, you will see Chipper Jones reflected back. A .184 regular-season hitter, Grisham reached safely in eight of 12 plate appearances against the Mets. Grisham homered off Scherzer in Game 1 and deGrom in Game 2. He reached in all four plate appearances in Game 3. He drew a two-out walk off Bassitt to load the bases in the second. Austin Nola then fouled off three 0-2 pitches before the ninth-place hitter lashed a two-run single that brought the first collective sense of dread Sunday night to Citi Field. 

Grisham’s two-out RBI single in the third made it 3-0. And Joe Musgrove was not going to let the Mets back in. The righty no-hit the Mets through four and didn’t allow a runner into scoring position until the seventh. Buck Showalter, in an act tinged with gamesmanship and desperation, emerged from the dugout before the bottom of the sixth to request the umps inspect Musgrove for a foreign substance. They checked his glove, hat and his glossy ears — yes, his glossy ears. They found no reason to eject the starter. 

The crowd chanted, “You’re a cheater” at Musgrove. But that soon returned to boos toward the home team. Musgrove worked seven shutout innings. The Mets finished the series 4-for-23 with runners in scoring position — two of the hits coming in the Mets’ four-run seventh Saturday night within a 7-3 triumph. They scored four total runs in the other 26 innings. 

It wasn’t enough. After a long season of raised expectations, the closing act was not enough. The Mets lost first place in the NL East. They lost a wild card exclusively in Queens. And in the end they lost the good feelings.