The New York Mets are going through a bit of a rough stretch right now. After a 14-7 start to the season, the team with the highest payroll in baseball has lost 13 of their last 17 games. They have lost five straight series including losses to the sub-.500 Detroit Tigers, last-place Colorado Rockies and the team with the lowest payroll in MLB, the Cincinnati Reds.
Cincinnati and their $60 million payroll took two of three from the Mets, who are on the hook for $346.4 million this year. The Reds' active 26-man roster currently has a payroll of $34 million, which is about what Francisco Lindor, New York's third-highest paid player, will make this year. Yet the Reds beat the Mets 5-0 on Thursday, putting manager Buck Showalter in a position to unironically say that, "When you don't score runs, it's impossible to win a game." The Mets have been shut out seven times this year.