Kodai Senga fell apart again, and now its decision-making time
The Mets have very few legitimate rotation options remaining, but Kodai Senga is un-pitchable at this point in his career
What’s Up with the Mets? ⚾️
The Mets lost their series opener to the Cubs in a game that was much more lopsided than its final score of 9-6 would suggest (box)
Kodai Senga started strong but imploded quickly, burying the team early with another sub-four inning performance in which he gave up seven runs on three hits, thanks to a new season high in walks and another two-homer outing
Both SS Bo Bichette and C Francisco Álvarez homered and posted two-hit days, but overall, the Mets didn’t hit much; RF Carson Benge and 3B Brett Baty provided the remainder of the offense with a hit apiece
The Mets worked seven walks, but struck out 10 times as a unit
Lefties Cionel Pérez and A.J. Minter provided scoreless relief innings, but Tobias Myers struggled again, allowing two runs on four hits and two walks in his two innings of work
Injury Updates 🩺
LF Juan Soto (lower right back tightness) is day-to-day after his back “locked up on him,” per Carlos Mendoza (SNY)
RHP Christian Scott (right hip impingement) ramped up via a series of bullpen sessions and will rejoin the major league team during this weekend’s Phillies series
SS Francisco Lindor (calf strain) had two hits in what should be his final rehab start for Triple-A Syracuse; he is expected to be activated during today’s doubleheader
OF Tyrone Taylor (right hip flexor strain) went 3-for-5 with a double and a two-run homer in his latest rehab start for Triple-A Syracuse; he will spend more time in the Minors before activation
SS Ronny Mauricio (fractured left thumb) went 2-for-4 with three RBI and a stolen base in his rehab start for Triple-A Syracuse on Tuesday; he will also spend some more time in the Minors before activation
David Stearns Speaks 👀
Mets President of Baseball Operations David Stearns met with Mets media to answer a litany of well-earned questions about the season to-date, how to mitigate and salvage the rest of the season, and more.
Play of the Game 🤬
Things got rough early, and they didn’t get much better.
After a 1-2-3 first inning, Kodai Senga started his second frame by putting three straight batters on base to load them up with no outs. After striking out Nico Hoerner, Senga walked home Seiya Suzuki, then allowed Ian Happ to score on a sac fly. Two runs in, but two outs on the board — not the worst place to be after a bases-loaded, no-out start to the inning.
Then Pete Crow-Armstrong came to the plate.
Following a forkball thrown away to get behind 1-0, Senga served PCA a 94 mph meatball special straight through the heart of the zone, which promptly got parked in the visitor’s bullpen. It was his fifth homer in his last six games.
Just Mets Podcast 🎙️
Rich takes on the front office’s decision not to revamp the rotation ahead of the 2026 season in this preview of the latest Just Mets Patreon Pod.
SUBSCRIBE: YouTube | Apple Podcasts | Spotify
Down on the Farm 🌾
RF Nick Morabito (No. 11 prospect, Triple-A): 2-for-4, 2 R, 1 BB, 2 K, 2 SB
LHP Jefry Yan (Triple-A): 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 5 K
LF/RF JT Benson (High-A): 3-for-4, 1 2B, 1 3B, 1 HR, 2 R, 1 RBI
1B Corey Collins (High-A): 2-for-4, 1 2B, 2 RBI
DH Julio Zayas (Single-A): 4-for-5, 1 2B, 3 RBI
BOX SCORES
Single-A SLU | High-A BRK | Double-A BNG | Triple-A SYR
Today’s Games 🗓
Match-up: Mets (34-44) at Cubs (41-37)
Where: Citi Field - Flushing, NY
Game 1 Starters: RHP Nolan McLean (4-4, 3.67 ERA) vs. RHP Javier Assad (5-1, 3.89 ERA)
When: 1:10 PM EDT
Game 2 Starters: LHP Sean Manaea (1-2, 4.64 ERA) vs. LHP Shota Imanaga (4-6, 4.26 ERA)
When: 7:10 PM EDT
Where to Watch: SNY
(Another) Tale as old as time… ✍️
Kodai Senga is unpitchable. It’s as simple as that. The Mets cannot run him back out there at this point.
Blunt, yes, but there really isn’t much more to say. Everything that was said about Senga on this very platform just last week rings equally as true, if not truer, this morning:
New season high in walks? Check ✅
Matched season high in runs allowed? Check ✅
1+ homers allowed? Check ✅
Less than four innings completed? Check ✅
He cannot start another game for this ballclub.
In his postgame comments, Senga explained his struggles: “When I’m trying to find the strike zone, that’s when I’m not finding [it]. When I’m able to throw freely, that’s when the pitches are in the zone.” How many times have Mets fans heard something similar from him? Even before the telltale hamstring injury that’s credited with derailing the Mets’ 2025 season, Senga had missed time before, and also had previously expressed frustrations with mechanical/circumstantial imperfections making it difficult for him to execute.
The problem is, when more than half of your career has been marred by injuries and excuses, you end up leaving yourself with absolutely zero margin of error whenever you actually do set foot on the mound.
His velocity yesterday was solid. He was getting swings and misses. (Three K’s on the fastball! Woohoo!) On the season, he ranks considerably well in whiff rate (29.6%, 83rd percentile) and K rate (24.6%, 65th). Et cetera, et cetera, wash-rinse-repeat. No matter how many silver linings he presents, results never seem to follow. It’s a story fans have been forced to sit through multiple times before: the Neverending Nightmare.
Once again, Senga struggled to find the zone on Tuesday (<60% strike rate) and needed an excessive number of pitches (98, 3.2 IP) to finish his night. Per Fangraphs’ Location+, his pitch placement is grading out about as poorly as it ever has (94), as is supported by his career-high walk rate (14.6%) and HR/9 (2.97). He’s also stranding less than 60% of baserunners, which only looks worse when put alongside his 1.88 WHIP.
There’s very little left of Senga to find appealing: his fastball stuff is relatively flat, which means his breaking stuff is that much easier for hitters to discern and lay off of. His forkball is still effective, but when hitters are averaging ~.300 on the four-seam and cutter, why would they look for anything else? It’s not a coincidence that his chase rate is the lowest it’s ever been while his zone-swing rate is higher than ever; hitters are recognizing his stuff quickly and constantly.
All told, Senga is the worst he’s ever been, and there aren’t any discernible signs of improvement on the horizon.
After the game, Carlos Mendoza let out a deep, prolonged exhale when Steve Gelbs steered the conversation towards Senga. Mendoza spoke about how frustrating it’s been to watch Senga recently, even acknowledging that there’s been some staff-wide confusion watching his performances fall off a cliff the instant the first inning ends:
“That’s the frustrating part. He goes out that first inning, he’s throwing 98-99, using the four-seam and just blowing it by people…and then the second inning, he gets away from it. We’re in the dugout asking ourselves, ‘What’s going on here?’ It happens so quick, it’s frustrating.”
Between Mendoza’s comments and Senga’s remarks about his inability to find the zone, barring a nagging injury that’s not being spoken about (you know those tricky, nebulous back injuries, ever a convenient scapegoat), it doesn’t seem like his struggles can be attributed to anything other than some sort of mental block.
Call it the yips, call it hyperfixation on perfection, call it ‘Can’t Handle New York’ — by any name, Kodai Senga has actively hurt this Mets team. The Mets aren’t exactly swimming in available big-league caliber arms right now, and falling out of the rotation only stretches things that much thinner.
The big-ticket minor leaguers aren’t ready, and to speak freely, there’s nobody particularly appealing at Triple-A that looks like a potential game-changer for the big league rotation. There are plenty of relief candidates lying in wait, but the bullpen doesn’t need much help in Queens; the most intriguing starting option that hasn’t gotten a look at the pro level yet this season is maybe Xzavion Curry. (3.18 ERA with a 1.22 WHIP in his last four starts…sure, why not?)
No matter what direction this front office goes, this has quickly spiraled into as incomplete a major league rotation as you’ll find in the sport. The return of Christian Scott will provide some length, and it goes without saying that a healthy Clay Holmes would change the present equation even further.
But unless there’s a Miracle Mets run on the horizon in which enormous turnarounds from Freddy Peralta and David Peterson come to pass, alongside a continued Sean Manaea resurgence (who could very well prove to be their second- or third-most valuable trade piece at the deadline), this Mets pitching staff currently looks like little more than a collection of arms that should be sold off for the best parts they can fetch, whatever interest there may be.
Around the League 🚩
Down to their final strike, the Phillies rattled off an eight-run rally on eight consecutive hits, besting the Nationals in D.C., 14-9
Marlins ace Sandy Alcántara became Miami’s all-time strikeouts leader with his 1,002nd K in a 6-4 victory over the Rangers
Former Met Brandon Sproat became the first rookie in Brewers history to tally 10 strikeouts and no walks with one or fewer hits in a single start as they shut out the Reds, 2-0
Mason Miller delivered two innings of relief for the first time since 2024, setting up Manny Machado for the 10th walkoff hit of his career to push the Padres past the Braves, 7-6
Royals slugger Jac Caglianone logged his third multi-homer game of the month in a 12-5 stomping of the Rays on the road