BREAKING: The Mets won a baseball game!
With the losing streak over, can the Mets actually put together a late season run?
What’s up with the Mets? ⚾️
The Mets finally snapped their eight-game losing streak on Sunday, topping the Rangers 5-2 in extra innings (box)
1B Pete Alonso crushed a walk-off three-run home run in the bottom of the 10th to win it
Alonso now has five career walk-off home runs, the most by any single player in Mets history
RHP Nolan McLean started for the Mets and was sensational again, firing six scoreless innings and striking out seven
LF Brandon Nimmo connected on his 23rd homer of the season — tying his total from last year and putting him just one shy of his career high
After blowing a 2-0 lead in the 7th inning, RHPs Tyler Rogers, Edwin Díaz and Ryne Stanek all threw scoreless innings of relief to end the game and set the stage for Alonso’s heroics
Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said the club will be piggybacking both Clay Holmes and Sean Manaea on Tuesday against the Padres - Holmes will start and Manaea will relieve him
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 Mets finally had a good day in their quest to reach October. In addition to their victory on Sunday, they got losses from both San Francisco and Cincinnati. The Diamondbacks did win.
Heading into play this week the Mets are 1.5 games clear of the rest of the field in the race for the final Wild Card spot.
Per Fangraphs, the Mets have an 80.7% chance of qualifying for the postseason.
Play of the Game ⭐️
With the Mets absolutely reeling and freefalling in the standings over the last week, it makes this an exceptionally easy decision. The play of the game simply has to be the one that ended the club’s eight-game losing streak. After keeping the Rangers off the scoreboard in the top of the 10th, Francisco Lindor trotted out to second base to be the Mets’ free runner in the bottom of the frame. Texas predictably walked Juan Soto intentionally, setting the stage for Pete Alonso to crush an opposite-field three-run homer to walk off the Rangers and send the Citi Field faithful home happy.
Stat of the Day 📊
Pete Alonso hit his fifth career walk-off home run, the most in franchise history breaking a tie with Mike Piazza, Cleon Jones, Wilmer Flores, Chris Jones and Kevin McReynolds
Down on the Farm 🌾
CF Yonatan Henriquez (High-A): 4-for-6, HR, 6 RBI, 2 runs scored
SS Marco Vargas (High-A): 5-for-5, 3 runs scored
RHP Will Watson (No. 11 Prospect, Double-A): 5.2 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 9 K
CF Carson Benge (No. 1 Prospect, Triple-A): 1-for-4, 2B, 3 RBI, 2 runs scored
SCORES
High-A| Double-A BNG | Triple-A SYR
Today’s Game 🗓️
The Mets are off today and will continue their final homestand of the season on Tuesday night against the Padres
Can the Mets put a good two weeks together to secure a spot in October?✍️
Last October, Pete Alonso saved the Mets season with an opposite-field, three-run home run in Milwaukee to pull the Mets back from the dead and into the Division Series, saving their season in the process.
Did he do the same on Sunday with his opposite-field, three-run home run?
On Sunday, the Mets snapped their longest losing streak since 2018, one of three (!!!) losing streaks of seven games or more in 2025. It mercifully came to an end on Sunday afternoon thanks to another strong showing from Nolan McLean, a day where the bullpen showed up and when the Mets got just enough offense in the end.
The win couldn’t have come at a better time either, considering where things seem to be going and the help they got on the out-of-town scoreboard.
On Tuesday, they’ll attempt to build on that momentum and put together a good enough final 12 games to punch a ticket into October.
Despite an infuriatingly difficult stretch to begin the month of September, the Mets still enter play today with a 1.5-game bulge separating them from the rest of the field pursuing them for the final playoff berth on the senior circuit.
Most of us would agree that these 2025 Mets certainly do not have the look of a team capable of making a deep October run. Whether they get in or not, a lot of changes are needed. They need to re-think how they build their starting rotations, they need to reimagine their offense around Francisco Lindor, Brandon Nimmo, and Juan Soto, and be less risk-averse when it comes to roster building in general.
But exactly a year ago, we were having a similar conversation about the Mets’ chances of a deep October run, and they got to within two wins of the National League Pennant.
Baseball is an interesting sport, in that you play games that count for more than six months, and in the end, it all comes down to who can get hot at the right time and win a short series in the playoffs. It’s an overplayed and cliché expression to say you just have to get in to have a chance, but at the end of the day, that is entirely true.
The Mets have four series and twelve games left to prove they deserve a spot in the dance.
Beginning tomorrow against the Padres, the Mets simply need to have their best players step up to finish this.
Pete Alonso and Brandon Nimmo homering on Sunday was exactly what the doctor ordered, and the two of them, along with Juan Soto and Francisco Lindor, must team up to lead an offense that less than a month ago was scoring six or seven runs every game.
Nolan McLean and Brandon Sproat continue to shine on the mound, and the objective for the Mets right now simply has to be to give their young hurlers an opportunity to put themselves on the national map on the postseason stage.
They’re going to clearly need to be creative if they’re going to get there, and that starts tomorrow when the Mets package both Clay Holmes and Sean Manaea in a piggyback start as they attempt to get through their next game. And at this point, creativity, winning innings, and simply getting through each day needs to be the goal considering how broken the roster is and how far this club has fallen over the last three months.
Every game is a must-win. There’s no more margin for error. They can worry about how to fix this starting in six weeks or so. For now, they need to use yesterday as a building block for survival into October.
They can change the narrative. Winning is the cure-all.
Can they do it?
We’ll find out starting tomorrow.
Around the League 🚩
Salvador Perez homered and drove in five runs in the Royals 10-3 win over the Phillies
Ozzie Albies and Sandy Leon each drove in three runs for the Braves in Atlanta’s 8-3 home win over Houston
George Springer and Alejandro Kirk each contributed three hits in the Blue Jays 11-2 drubbing of the O’s
Tyler Glasnow fired 6.2 excellent innings, allowing just a run on three hits in the Dodgers 10-2 win in San Francisco
Mickey Moniak homered and drove in five runs but it was not enough for the Rockies to beat the Padres, as Colorado fell 9-6 to its division rival
One thing I'm not going to do is ask if this is the "turnaround game". How many times have people said that about a game this season only for the Mets to get pummeled the next game? We'll know if it was or not soon enough. While making the playoffs is always exciting, I'm still concerned that it will be an excuse to only make tweaks in the offseason. Playoffs or not, BIG changes are needed in the offseason...players, coaches, philosophy, etc. Will Stearns and Co. do what's needed to be done?
Finally going to piggy back Manaea and Holmes is encouraging. Great back to back starts from Sproat and McLean. 12 innings 0 runs and we go 1-1. The offense is still maddening.