MLB Misery Index: Winless New York Mets and Miami Marlins endure ugly opening week
We're a week into Major League Baseball's 2024 season − obviously a Small Sample Size − but a few teams have already dug themselves into an early hole.
Namely, a couple of teams in the National League East.
The Miami Marlins are the first team to start a season 0-7 since the 2016 Minnesota Twins began the year with nine consecutive losses. Meanwhile the New York Mets lost their first four games of 2024 (at home), scoring all of eight runs in the process.
In the first regular season edition of USA TODAY Sports' MLB Misery Index, we take a look at how things have gone so wrong for the teams:
Miami Marlins: Luck runs out
When it comes to the Marlins, we should first look back at last season. Miami earned a surprising wild-card spot with an 84-78 record, but the underlying numbers indicated just how fluky of a campaign they had.
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Miami's minus-57 run differential in 2023 was the worst of any playoff team in baseball history. Their untenable 33-14 (.702) record in one-run games was the majors' best. They scored fewer runs than any NL team.
Considering all that − and the slew of pitching injuries the Marlins are dealing with in 2024 − it's no surprise to see the Marlins struggling.
Miami is without four of its starting pitchers, who combined to make 97 starts last season: Sandy Alcantara (Tommy John surgery), Braxton Garrett, Eury Perez and Edward Cabrera.
Without them, Marlins starters have given up 20 earned runs in 30 ⅓ innings to begin the season, losing four games against the Pittsburgh Pirates and three to the Los Angeles Angels at home.
"The season, I know, it feels long already in that clubhouse because it's seven games and no wins, but it is really early," manager Skip Schumaker said after Wednesday's loss, per MLB.com. "However, these games do count. Playoff teams get in by one or two games every year. And so we've got to figure it out if we want to get to where we want to get to."
New York Mets: Washed away
The Mets lost their first four games of the season for the first time in 19 years, but enter Thursday ahead of the Marlins by 1 ½ games! Some of New York's lowlights so far include getting one-hit by the Milwaukee Brewers' Freddy Peralta on Opening Day, an inscrutable benches-clearing incident that ultimately resulted in the new manager getting suspended, and giving up five runs in the 10th inning on Monday against the Detroit Tigers after playing nine scoreless.
Making matters worse, the Mets already have had three games postponed, including Tuesday and Wednesday's contests against the Tigers that would have given the struggling team opportunities to finally get in the win column.
"Nobody wants to start 0-4. But it’s early, right?" owner Steve Cohen told CNBC on Wednesday. "And, you know, during the season you’re going to have losing streaks. We just happen to have one at the beginning."
Francisco Lindor, Jeff McNeil and Brandon Nimmo went a combined 3-for-44 in those four losses, but help is on the way with late signing J.D. Martinez getting ramped up to make his 2024 debut at some point in the near-ish future.
