12 games left for the Mets to survive!
The Mets will finish off the home schedule this week, starting with three against the Padres
What’s up with the Mets? ⚾️
The Mets were off on Monday - they open a three-game series with the Padres tonight at Citi Field
The NL East race officially came to an end on Monday night as the Phillies clinched the division
The Mets announced their minor league awards on Monday, and they will be honored with a pre-game ceremony before Tuesday’s game - Outfielder Carson Benge was named the organization’s Player of the Year and RHP Jonah Tong was named the organization’s Pitcher of the Year. Infielder Elian Peña was named Dominican Republic Academy Player of the Year and LHP Osiris Calvo was tabbed as the Dominican Republic Academy Pitcher of the Year. Additionally, Manager, Sports Science, Jackson Bertoli, was named Minor League Staff Member of the Year, Assistant Field Coordinator, Dominican Republic, Rachel Neugart was named DR Academy Staff Member of the Year and Chad Langley was named Scout of the Year
The Just Mets Podcast 🎙️
This week on the podcast, Laura Albanese, Mets beat writer for the Mets (and host of the First Time Listener, Long Time Caller Podcast), joined Rich MacLeod to analyze the Mets collapse, the state of the locker room, and discuss if they can find their way into the postseason.
Playoff Race 🏁
The Phillies clinched the division with a victory on Monday night, officially ending the race in the NL East.
While the Mets were idle, the Diamondbacks crushed the Giants 8-1 and the Reds nearly doubled up the Cardinals 11-6. So, it’s now the Diamondbacks who are immediately trailing the Mets by 1.5 games for the final wild card spot, the Giants fell back to two games out, who now have an identical record with the Reds who are also two games out:
Per Fangraphs, the Mets have an 79.2% chance of qualifying for the postseason.
Down on the Farm 🌾
All Mets minor league affiliates were off on Monday
Today’s Game 🗓️
Match-up: Mets (77-73) vs. Padres (82-68)
Where: Citi Field — Flushing, NY
Starters: RHP Clay Holmes (11-8, 3.75 ERA) vs. RHP Michael King (4-2, 2.87 ERA)
When: 7:10 PM EDT
Where to Watch: SNY
The Mets are in survival mode ✍️
12 games, 13 days. 1.5 games separating the Mets from a chase of mediocre, .500-ish teams for the final wild card spot in the National League.
That’s what this crazy season is going to come down to. And unless one of these teams goes on a crazy run, every single one of these 12 games will be a must-win for all.
Which of course, there’s no reason to expect from the Mets because it seems these days they’re lucky to even win at all.
Think about it - the last two Met wins, which were separated by a span of ten days, they could’ve easily lost in devastating fashion. Remember - it was Edwin Díaz who had to escape his own bases loaded, no out situation in Cincinnati and pulled a Houdini Act to get out of that mess for the win. Then there was Sunday’s game which the Mets led early but the bullpen blew the lead late which was the same old, same old for this team until Pete Alonso pulled a rabbit out of his hat and won it with a three-run home run.
So as bad as it has been over the last 11 days, it could easily have been worse.
The problem is, the Mets have been so bad for so long this season, this is just how we have been made to feel and what our expectations are of this team. Sure, there’s always hope. Every day I hope the Mets will turn it around, and I am hopeful Sunday’s win served as the spark that lights the Mets the rest of the way in 2025 into the playoffs and beyond.
But there’s no hiding from their 32-49 record since June 13. There’s no hiding from the fact that even today, the Mets are being forced to get creative with their pitching just to get through the game and piggyback two starters making a combined $48 million with only the hope they pitch well for 5-6 innings combined.
But I suppose that is the key for the next 13 days for this team. They need to find the right combination to win sequences, win innings, and go moment by moment. They’re now tasked with finding what version of Clay Holmes, Sean Manaea, David Peterson, and soon Kodai Senga works for these Mets. They have to hide their many weaknesses in the bullpen as best as they can, and figure out how to get this offense going again as well, that which has been absent again for the last two weeks of play.
They’re in survival mode.
Quite honestly, I don’t know how the Mets are going to do it. I find it remarkable enough that they haven’t lost their grip on their playoff position yet, although there have been times when it has looked inevitable. It may still be inevitable, and that fate is just being prolonged. There’s just no evidence that the Mets can get any sort of quality from this rotation outside of what the youngsters are giving them, and it remains unfair to expect them to pitch them to the promised land anyway. Sure, I like that they’re trying to limit the exposure of both Holmes and Manaea today; the Mets are desperate to simply get anything meaningful out of these veterans, and what else are they supposed to do right now anyway?
And that’s just today. They don’t even have a scheduled starter set for tomorrow or Thursday.
The future of this Mets rotation certainly looks like it’s going to be some combination of Nolan McLean, Brandon Sproat, and Jonah Tong, although I could see Tong perhaps going back to Triple-A to start next season. As exciting a talent as he is, he obviously needs a little more seasoning, which is okay considering they rushed him to the big leagues after only two starts at Triple-A. The rest of the rotation has to be up in the air in 2026, even with Senga, Holmes, Peterson, and Manaea all expected to return since they’re under contract. David Stearns simply can’t hope these guys turn the corner and are what they need them to be. They need to re-think how they build rotations and go with more certainty over a large number of reclamation projects they think they can transform. Yes, it did work in 2024 to an extent, but to say it didn’t work in 2025 is understating the obvious, and they spent a lot of money on hopeful projects and clearly got very little in return.
But that’s a discussion for whenever it is the Mets are done. Hopefully, that’s not for another six weeks or so.
Around the League 🚩
Pete Crow-Armstrong hit his 29th home run as the Cubs blanked the Pirates 4-0
The Rangers committed two errors to help spoil an otherwise good start from Jack Leiter in a 6-3 loss to the Astros
Simeon Woods-Richardson struck out 11 over six scoreless innings as the Twins blanked the Yankees 7-0
The Phillies won the NL East on Tuesday in a see-saw affair against the Dodgers in extra innings, taking the first game of their series 6-5 in LA
If the Mets went 6-6, it would not take a Herculean effort for a team to pass them, but it would take a good two weeks. Which no other wannabee team has shown an ability to do of late.
Was hoping to see some tiebreaker info today, Michael.