What’s up with the Mets? ⚾️
The Mets won their penultimate game of 2026, beating the Nationals 7-1 (box)
RHP Jonah Tong was excellent in his final big-league start of the year, allowing just one run on three hits while striking out nine in his five innings
RF Carson Benge added another three-hit game to his resume, notching his 22nd double of the season and scoring two runs
2B Ronny Mauricio and CF A.J. Ewing provided most of the day’s offensive firepower with three homers and six RBIs between them; Mauricio’s
Brett Baty got the first start of his career at shortstop while Francisco Lindor handled DH duties; both went 0-for-4
LF Juan Soto left the game after getting in the hand by a pitch from none other than Dicky Lovelady; his X-rays were negative
The bullpen was characteristically excellent, combining for four perfect innings of relief save for a baserunner incurred on an error; RHP Dedniel Núñez came away with the win
Roster Moves 📰
RHP Chayce McDermott recalled from Syracuse
LHP Jefry Yan outrighted to FCL Mets
Plays of the Game ⭐️
Ronny Mauricio hit two homers. A.J. Ewing homered. Carson Benge was Carson Benge. Tong dealt. The bullpen was nails. They scored seven runs in the final three innings.
I couldn’t pick a single play of yesterday’s game. Just enjoy them all.
The Just Mets Podcast 🎙️
ICYMI: Rich and Andrew got together on the latest JM pod to take some accountability for their worst preseason predictions.
SUBSCRIBE: YouTube | Apple Podcasts | Spotify
NL Rookie of the Year race 🏆
Heading into Game 162 on Sunday, Carson Benge’s 4.1 fWAR is the second-highest among National League position player rookies, 0.4 points behind JJ Wetherholt. Wetherholt was recently activated from the injured list:
Meanwhile, Nolan McLean leads all National League pitchers by a significant margin with a 3.5 fWAR:
Today’s Game 🗓
Match-up: Mets (74-87) at Nationals (76-85)
Where: Nationals Park - Washington, DC
Starters: LHP Sean Manaea (6-7, 4.67 ERA) vs. LHP DJ Herz (0-1, 9.00 ERA)
When: 1:05 PM EDT
Where to Watch: SNY
Assessing Sean Manaea’s value heading into the winter ✍️
Remember this quote?
“I consider myself a starter. To not be that is frustrating. But at the end of the day, I'm going to let my pitching do the work in whatever capacity that is and go from there.”
—Sean Manaea, March 21, 2026
Well, well, well. Guess who’s starting Game 162?
Several years into one of the most turbulent love-hate relationships I can remember existing in this fanbase, the trials and tribulations of Sean Manaea are well known to Mets faithful.
That’s not without reason — the precipitous fall-off of Manaea’s performance from his 2024 campaign to today is well-documented. He didn’t make things easy for himself: in his first season in New York, Manaea put together his best big-league season, posting a 3.84 ERA with a 1.08 WHIP and 184 strikeouts over 181.2 innings. His performance helped him garner the first Cy Young votes of his career and propelled the team to the NLCS.
It has been a much different story since. Over the last two seasons, Manaea’s pitched to a 4.95 ERA over 205.1 innings in 47 games played, with 30 starts in that time. That’s alongside a 4.43 FIP and 1.27 WHIP, good for an ERA+ of 82. Some of that’s due to injury, of course, but safe to say it’s a far cry from what was expected when he signed for three years and $75 million in December of 2024.
And yet…I just can’t quit this guy. Maybe it’s my lefty loyalty talking, but even when he’s been at his worst, I’ve never wanted to stop hoping that this dude would find just a little more gas somewhere in his tank.
Entering 2026 Spring Training, Manaea told a story about sending a league-wide email that offered chess meetups whenever other interested players were in town. Steven Kwan was reportedly the only one to respond.
However, while his initial outreach may not have fetched much interest among other vets, Manaea was able to capture the attention of some certain youngsters in camp: Carson Benge, Nolan McLean, Jonah Tong, Christian Scott, Ryan Clifford, Jacob Reimer, Jack Wenninger.
Huh…there are some big leaguers in there. I don’t think that’s a coincidence.
If they weren’t playing chess, they were talking shop at Manaea’s locker. If they weren’t doing that, they were probably playing Super Smash Bros. Manaea’s clubhouse energy has been described as many things, but ‘infectious’ is probably the most common descriptor affixed to him. That’s a key quality in a veteran clubhouse presence regardless of who’s in the room with them, but especially when your roster is the eighth-youngest in baseball and only skewing younger.
Through all his struggles, Manaea remained a beacon of positivity, effective leadership, and professional work ethic. He built his velocity back up, earned his starts (18), and finished the season with 144.2 more innings under his belt. His 4.67 ERA certainly may not be anything to write home about, but his minuscule 6.9% walk rate is at least nice to look at.
Despite the setbacks, though, Manaea ended up turning in a fairly standard Sean Manaea season. While it got off to a slow start, his season mostly ended up looking a lot like his 2022 in San Diego: comparable strikeout and walk rates, nearly identical ground ball and homer rates, both 1 fWAR seasons; you get the picture. That’s the sort of statistical stability Manaea’s made his career on, and I don’t think it’s crazy to suggest it’s left an impression on some key members of the aforementioned rookie chess club.
It’s not lost on me that two of those names in those spring training chess sessions ended up being key role players on this Mets team. Despite the doldrums, fans were treated to an all-time franchise rookie season from Carson Benge and a very promising full-time debut on the mound from Christian Scott. Both Benge and Scott spoke glowingly of Manaea’s welcoming presence upon arrival in Florida last February, and Scott spoke specifically last winter about the importance of consistency in the day-to-day and in the clubhouse, regardless of whether you’ve had a good day or not. Jonah Tong has spoken of how Manaea emphasized the cruciality of trusting yourself and sticking with process in moments of doubt.
If consistency in the face of adversity isn’t emblematic of Sean Manaea’s entire ethos, I don’t know what is.
So, am I largely crediting this historic group of Mets rookies’ success to my fellow left-hander? No, of course not. But I do think it’s worth acknowledging that even in a season where his on-field value was often in flux, he remained a vital piece of this clubhouse and was directly involved in making the team’s most successful players this season feel immediately welcome among the big leaguers from the moment camp started.
Who’s to say that extra level of veteran attention isn’t already starting to pay dividends?
Around the League 🚩
Former Met Justin Verlander called it a career on a very emotional day at Comerica Park; he allowed just two runs on five hits (two homers) over 5.1 innings with six strikeouts (MLB.com)
Former Met Max Scherzer will take the mound for the Blue Jays’ final game of the season, just 10 strikeouts shy of Verlander’s 3,560; he has yet to decide on retirement, and said he won’t do so until later in the offseason (MLB.com)
Following a brutal 12-1 loss at home, the Phillies are on the brink of completing the second-worst collapse in franchise history; with one game left to play, they have a one-game lead over the Diamondbacks, who own the tiebreaker
The Guardians clinched their seventh AL Central title in the last 11 seasons, including their third straight under manager Stephen Vogt