It should be about more than this, sure. An old-fashioned busman’s special — it’s an easy excuse to clock out early for a day, in good times. It’s a splendid way to get your daily baseball fix without rushing through dinner. In good times, you don’t need an excuse to watch your baseball team.

But these are not good times for the Mets. They have not been good times since the second week of the season. The Mets were last north of .500 on April 11. How long ago was that? The next day the Knicks would close out their regular season. The Rangers still had two more games to play. Only the die-hards could pick World Cup folk hero Erling Haaland out of a lineup.

Long time ago. There are no miracle cures for the 2026 Mets. There have been no 15-game winning streaks to shake their season right side up; their longest has been four straight, twice. After losing 4-3 to the Brewers on Wednesday, they are 43-60, and that’s 17 games under .500 (and 10 ¹/₂ games out of a playoff spot) no matter whose calculator you’re using.

The Mets have already declared themselves open for trade-deadline business, their roster out on display like the buffet table at Sizzler. That’s no way to generate much heat, or interest. No way to get you to tune in to SNY on a Wednesday afternoon — or any other day, for that matter.