In the past year, New York sports teams have endured seasons marked more by disappointment than greatness. Besides the Yankees, Knicks and the Devils, no team made the playoffs in 2025. For a city with more teams than most states, the scale of loss feels unthinkable. For fans, it isn’t just about missing the playoffs. It’s about seasons that once carried promise collapsing into frustration, leaving New Yorkers with little more than what-ifs and wasted potential.
On Sept. 28, the Mets lost their final game 0-4 to the Miami Marlins, sealing their elimination from postseason contention. It was a fitting end to a season that began with lofty expectations, but unraveled into mediocrity. With the highest payroll in the MLB, the Mets carried themselves with a corporate ego, as if spending money alone could buy success. Owner Steve Cohen even described his tenure as a philanthropic endeavor.
For all of Cohen’s talk about generosity, his so-called philanthropy has mostly funded disappointment. Even with Juan Soto’s standout numbers and Pete Alonso’s historic season, the team still found a way to lose. The problem wasn’t that money wasn’t spent — it wasn’t spent well.
In the end, all the Mets needed was to win their final game against the Marlins. Instead, they went 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position. In an early season of optimism, the Mets lived a slow, painful death of bad and inconsistent baseball.
For a moment, it seemed like the Yankees might return to the World Series for a second consecutive season. In game three of the American League Division Series, their offense helped force a fourth game. But by the next night, that dream was gone. The Toronto Blue Jays won Game 4. The Yankees are telling the same tired story: too much talent, too little payoff. Twenty seven championships, but not one since 2009. It’s all fans have left to hold onto, and frankly, it’s getting old.
The destinies of New York football teams haven’t been much different. After week six, the Jets are 0-6 and the Giants 2-4. If that isn’t pathetic, then what is? In a city that prides itself on grit and greatness, watching its football teams collapse year after year feels like betrayal.
After the Jets’ 21-27 loss against the Miami Dolphins in week four, running back Breece Hall summed it up: “Teams shoot themselves in the foot, then we come back and shoot ourselves in the head.” It’s not the opponents that beat them. It’s themselves.
Giants fans are seeing a glimmer of hope with a recent win over the defending champions Philadelphia Eagles. But how long can you rely on rookies Jaxson Dart and Cam Skattebo to keep the dream alive? One win doesn’t erase years of disappointment.
The pressure for New York athletes is immediate and heavy. One wrong move, one wrong play — all eyes on them. In the city that never sleeps, mostly from sports-induced insomnia, the nightmares wear jerseys.