Mets have unique connection to another historic losing streak: ‘This is all oddly familiar’

CHICAGO — When bench coach Kai Correa walked through the Mets' clubhouse in his street clothes shortly after Sunday’s devastating walk-off loss to the Cubs, it was quiet.

The only noise emanating from the room was the splashing sound of running water coming from the bathroom with the occasional squeak from shower shoes. Some players sat in silence at their lockers.

The Mets lost their 11th straight loss in heartbreaking fashion at Wrigley Field. Everything they do seems to go against them. They now have one of the worst records in baseball.

Yet, Correa has been here before — and not long ago.

Just last summer, Correa made that same stroll through the visiting clubhouse in Chicago after the Guardians got swept by the Cubs en route to a 10-game losing streak of their own. He was Cleveland’s field coordinator at the time.

In the finale of that series, the Guardians also lost on a walk-off sacrifice fly with one out in the 10th inning.

“This is all oddly familiar for me,” Correa told NJ.com before loss No. 11 on Sunday.

All teams are different, but Correa’s experience with Cleveland is relevant to this year’s Mets because of what the Guardians did after they snapped their losing streak.

That team bounced back in a big way, washing away their losing streak to storm back into contention and make the playoffs. Cleveland is one of only four teams in MLB history to lose 10-plus games and still earn a trip to the postseason. That’s what the Mets are now setting out to accomplish in 2026 after this catastrophic start to the season — New York has the worst record in Major League Baseball over these first three weeks of games (7-15), tied with the lowly Royals.

“That was even more difficult with that team,” Correa said, “because it was a younger team in a lot of ways. We had guys who hadn’t experienced anything like that. And also we had some of the off-field things that are pretty well documented that went on that were going on simultaneously. That’s what makes this uniquely different, where we don’t have any of that.”

Correa was referring to the Guardians’ scandal that featured pitchers and Luis Ortiz rigging pitches as part of a sports betting scheme. Ortiz was placed on non-disciplinary paid leave on the same day of that series sweep in Chicago last July, the Guardians’ seventh loss in a row. Clase then joined him on the sidelines a few weeks later and both right-handers haven’t pitched in the big leagues ever since.