Mets finally record first win of 2024 season with walk-off against Tigers, but abysmal offense makes history

The Mets didn't manage their first hit until the eighth inning

The New York Mets snapped their five-game, season-opening losing streak on Thursday by eking out a 2-1 win over the Detroit Tigers in walk-off fashion. However, the Mets' listless lineup remains a troubling subplot in Queens. 

With the late-inning comeback win – the first win in Carlos Mendoza's managerial career – the Mets narrowly avoided authoring their worst start to a season since 1963, when the franchise was in just its second year. 

The Mets dropped to 0-5 earlier on Thursday when they completed Wednesday's postponed game. 

Even in victory, the 2-1 score speaks to the Mets' extreme troubles on offense to start the 2024 season. The Mets didn't manage a hit in the game until Harrison Bader led off the eighth with a bloop single that left the bat at a wee 69.3 mph. That ended a stretch in which the Mets went 13 straight innings without managing a hit, the longest such streak in franchise history. Coming into Thursday's second game, the Mets' offense ranked last in MLB in OPS with a dismal mark of .507. They also ranked 29th in hits, and tied for 25th in home runs. To state the obvious, none of those rankings measurably improved after the lineup went 3 for 25 at the plate against Detroit. 

The offense wasn't expected to be a pronounced strength, given that the Mets last season ranked 18th in MLB in OPS and 20th in runs scored. That said, the depths they've reached across this initial handful of games is nevertheless surprising. 

The good news for the Mets? They've been exceptionally unlucky this far. If you look at weighted on-base average (wOBA), perhaps the best public-facing measure of offensive production we have, the Mets' figure of .251 ranks last in MLB. However, if you look at expected wOBA, which shows what a team's wOBA should be based on quality of contact, then the Mets rank 19th in MLB with a mark of .307. That's not good, necessarily, but it's roughly in line with expectations based on 2023 outputs and lineup continuity. Framed another way, no team has a bigger gap between xwOBA and wOBA, and that's why the Mets should be able to expect better results at the plate moving forward.

Yes, that 1-5 start is still on the books, but Mets rooters need to remember that it's still (very) early out there. 

[Apr 4, 2024 at 6:18 pm ET · Dayn Perry]

Bader dumps a bloop single into left center for the Mets' first hit of the game. The no-hit bid is over. 

[Apr 4, 2024 at 6:17 pm ET · Dayn Perry]

Alex Faedo warming up.

[Apr 4, 2024 at 6:17 pm ET · Dayn Perry]

Holton still in the game for Detroit.

[Apr 4, 2024 at 6:17 pm ET · Kate Feldman]

Thanks to the doubleheader, the Tigers (and Mets) do not have many pitchers available for Game 2. That hasn't mattered for Detroit yet, obviously.

[Apr 4, 2024 at 6:15 pm ET · Dayn Perry]

Bader, Wendle, and Nimmo due up in the eighth.