When the Texas Rangers bested the New York Mets 4-3 at Citi Field on Monday, Max Scherzer didn't pitch but still drew a lot of attention from reporters. It was his first return to the park this season since the Mets traded him to the Rangers in late July.

A three-time Cy Young Award winner, Scherzer joined the Mets in December 2021 on a three-year, $130 million contract. The team finished the 2022 MLB season with 101 wins, the second-best record in franchise history. Though they lost to the San Diego Padres 2-1 in the National League (NL) Wild Card Series, many believed the Mets were on the rise.

The team thought so as well. That's why they completed a series of big signings after the 2022 season. Their total salary surpassed $345 million, the largest of all 30 teams and $63 million bigger than that of the New York Yankees, the second on the table, for the 2023 season.

However, having suffered their 72nd loss on Monday, the Mets are nine and a half games away from a potential playoff spot. They are currently at the bottom in the NL East with 30 games to go. The last time they were last place this late in the campaign was in 2005. The last time they finished the regular season last in the division was in 2003.

When asked to comment on the team's decline, Scherzer did not have a clear answer.

"That's a billion-dollar question because if you could answer that question. I think everybody would want to tell you how you actually win here at the major league level," he said. "It was just a combination of everything."

"It just seemed like when we pitched, we didn't hit. If we hit, we didn't pitch. And if we did both, then maybe the bullpen didn't do its job. It was just like a combination of everything of things just not going right," he continued.

When Scherzer was still with the Mets, he and other veterans hoped that owner Steve Cohen and general manager Billy Eppler would keep the roster to make a final push for the playoff qualification this season or for another attempt in 2024.

"That was our wishful thinking," Scherzer said. "We still believed that we could still find a way to get back into the '23 playoff race. We didn't think we were out of it. I get where our record was and where we're at in the standings and how we were playing. I'm not oblivious. But in that clubhouse, we absolutely believed we had a team that could win."

The Rangers (74-57) are currently second in the American League West, half a game behind the Seattle Mariners. They had been leading the division since April 8, but went down after losing nine of the 10 games up to August 27.

"He's got a lot of energy, I tell you," the Rangers' manager Bruce Bochy said of Scherzer. "This guy watches the game – not just his games but games that he's not pitching in. He's got a great sense of humor, too. He's had me laughing a few times in the dugout through these tough times."