The Mets are catching strays after their epic collapse.
During an appearance on “Foul Territory” on Thursday, Phillies slugger Nick Castellanos couldn’t help but shade his team’s National League East rival, which is on the outside looking in at October baseball.
Castellanos invoked the record-setting $765 million contract the Mets handed out to Juan Soto, whose excellent season wasn’t enough to get them to the postseason.
“You’re always a little bit surprised when a team goes out and spends $765 million on one player and doesn’t make the playoffs,” Castellanos said. “Am I surprised? I don’t know, because baseball is very hard. Not talking s–t or anything, but when an acquisition like that is made, a team does better than when they did in the past.”
Castellanos’ Phillies finished a whopping 13 games ahead of the Mets despite the latter being in first-place as recently as Aug. 2.
Their cold streak stretched much further back than that, though.
The Mets went 38-55 from June 13 onward, and finished 7-14 in their final 21 games.
On the last day of the regular season, they were shut out by the Marlins in a game that would’ve earned them a wild-card spot had they come out on top.
Despite the big money they doled out, it’s hard to blame the Mets’ fall on Soto.
Soto hit .263/.396/.525 with 43 home runs and 105 runs batted in while shockingly leading the National League with 38 stolen bases during his first season in Queens.
Finishing with 5.8 Wins Above Replacement on Fangraphs, Soto will likely be in most NL MVP voters’ top-five when ballots are revealed in November.
Castellanos and the Phillies will welcome the Dodgers to Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia on Saturday for Game 1 of the NLDS.
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