The New York Mets hoped to build on their 101-win 2022 season by adding high-salaried free agents who would propel them past the wild card round in 2023. Instead, they ended up a major disappointment, a 26-win swing in the wrong direction as they were beset by injuries (real and phantom), underperforming veterans and, and, at least in this writer’s analysis, a failure to recognize the impact of new rules changes that should have prompted a different overhaul of the roster.

First off, let me get some semantics out of the way: Everyone and their mothers are calling the plight of the 2025 Mets a "collapse"....