rewrite this title Mets eliminated from playoffs as humiliating collapse is complete

Meet the Mets. Come on out and beat the Mets. 

That was the tune the rest of Major League Baseball was singing over the past three-and-a-half months, producing one of the most stunning second-half meltdowns in Major League history.

With their punchless 4-0 loss to the Miami Marlins on Sunday, the New York Mets were officially eliminated from playoff contention, completing one of the most disappointing seasons in franchise history. 

The Cincinnati Reds will end up taking the third and final wild-card spot in the National League. 

An unbelievably bad second-half performance from the Mets 

To get a feel for just how bad this meltdown was for the Mets, you have to go back to June 12 when they were not only 21 games over .500, they also had the best record in all of Major League Baseball. The playoffs seemed like a given.

The National League East was not only within reach, they were right there in the thick of the race. And then everything from that point on just turned into a nightmare. 

They ended up finishing the season with a 38-55 record from June 12 on, which was the third-worst record in baseball over that stretch, ahead of only the Colorado Rockies and Washington Nationals.

Literally a tale of two teams where they spent nearly three months as the best team in baseball and three months as one of the worst.