The New York Mets lost their 11th straight game on Sunday, falling to 7-15 on the year — the worst record in the National League. Sure, it’s early, but they’ve looked as bad as any Mets team in their history has looked. I’m not kidding.
Here’s a look at where this 11-game skid stacks up relative to the other longest losing streaks in Mets history. Hint: it’s not pretty.
Longest losing streaks in Mets history
| Year | Losing Streak | Final Record |
|---|---|---|
| 1962 | 17 games | 40-120-1 |
| 1963 | 15 games | 51-111 |
| 1982 | 15 games | 65-97 |
| 1962 | 13 games | 40-120-1 |
| 1980 | 13 games | 67-95 |
| 2002 | 12 games | 75-86 |
| 1962 | 11 games | 40-120-1 |
| 1963 | 11 games | 51-111 |
| 1965 | 11 games | 50-112-2 |
| 1991 | 11 games | 77-84 |
| 2004 | 11 games | 71-91 |
| 2026 | 11 games | TBD |
As you can see, most of the really long losing streaks came in the 1960s, and three of the 11+-game streaks came in 1962 alone. That 1962 campaign was their inaugural season, one that ended with 120 losses, and it took the Mets a long time to put together a functional baseball team. They’ve only had six 11+-game losing streaks in the last 40 years, which puts into perspective how insanely awful they’ve been to start 2026.
They’ve had just three losing streaks surpass the 11-game mark since 1965, with the last of these coming in 2004. The Mets are still six games away from tying the franchise record for futility, but amazingly, that can happen in less than a week.
Longest losing streak in MLB history
While the Mets are closer than anyone would like to admit to their franchise record losing streak, fans can breathe a sigh of relief knowing that they’re still not close to the longest losing streak in MLB history.
That title belongs to the 1889 Louisville Colonels, who lost a whopping 26 games in a row. If you want to use the modern era record instead, it’s the 1961 Philadelphia Phillies, who lost 23 straight contests. The Mets are not even fully halfway there.
Things look bad now, but they’ll have to be exponentially worse for them to even threaten coming close to that Phillies record. This is not what Mets fans should be concerned with at the moment.
Mets dug themselves seemingly impossible hole based on previous franchise history
While the longest streak in MLB history isn’t a worry right now, the 2026 season certainly is. The few optimistic Mets fans who are left are hanging their hats on the fact that it’s only April. Yes, the team looks awful now, but we’re just 22 games into the season. They have time to turn it around and make it to the playoffs, right?
While logically, the answer to that question is yes, previous Mets history suggests that isn’t the case. The best Mets team to lose 11 games in a row was the 1991 team, which went just 77-85. The best Mets team to lose 12 in a row was the 2002 squad that went 75-86. Most of the teams to lose 11 or more in a row struggled to even win 70 games.
It’s going to take over 80 wins at the very least for the Mets to make the playoffs, and there’s a good chance they’ll need to be closer to 90 to punch their ticket. It’s not impossible, and the fact that it’s only April helps, but previous Mets history shows how hard it is to lose this many games consecutively and even finish with a respectable record — let alone make it to October.
What’s gone wrong with the Mets?
There’s no one perfect answer as to what’s gone wrong with the Mets; it feels like everything has gone wrong over the past couple of weeks.
First and foremost, the Mets have not been scoring runs. They’ve managed to score a total of 19 runs in this 11-game skid, averaging just 1.7 runs per game. That is impossibly low. They’ve been shut out three times during the streak and scored more than two runs just twice in 11 games. Yes, Juan Soto has been on the shelf the entire time, and that isn’t easy for any team to overcome, but nobody on this team is hitting right now. It’s been hard to watch.
On the rare days that have seen New York hit, the pitching has gone awry. The Mets scored four runs in Friday’s series opener against the Chicago Cubs, only to allow 12. They scored six runs in a game early on this streak against the Athleitcs, but allowed 11. When they’ve hit, they haven’t been able to pitch.
They’ve been in more games than you’d think for a team that’s lost 11 straight games, but whenever they’ve had a chance to win, the bullpen has imploded. In the aforementioned game against the Athletics, the Mets rallied from a 7-1 deficit to cut it to 7-6, only for the bullpen to allow four eighth-inning runs. In Sunday’s game against the Cubs, they led 1-0 after eight, only for Devin Williams to blow a save in an extra-innings loss.
When will the Mets break their losing streak?
It’s easy to be negative right now, but even the most pessimistic Mets fans need to acknowledge that their upcoming schedule is impossibly easy. After a grueling road trip, New York now comes home for a nine-game homestand that features three-game series against the Minnesota Twins, Colorado Rockies and Washington Nationals. You could say all three of those teams have exceeded expectations thus far, but not one of them is currently above .500. The chance for the Mets to rattle off a few wins in a row is right now.
There’s every reason to believe their fortunes will shift starting Tuesday. Not only was the Twins’ probable starter, Mick Abel, scratched due to injury, but the Mets are sending Nolan McLean to the mound. McLean has been one of the team’s few bright spots this season, posting a 2.28 ERA in four starts, andlooking every bit like the Rookie of the Year favorite he was expected to be entering the year.
And if it isn’t Tuesday, their other rotation bright spot, Clay Holmes, takes the ball on Wednesday with a chance to get the Mets off the schneid. That feels like another very winnable game. But if it isn’t Wednesday, with Joe Ryan looming for Thursday’s series finale against the Twins, Mets fans might have to wait for the weekend — which feels like an eternity right now.
