Mets in a free fall! Swept away by the Braves

The Mets have lost six in a row and relinquished first place to the Phillies. Plus, a look at who could fill the club's glaring holes ahead of the trade deadline

Linda Surovich

Jun 20, 2025

What’s up with the Mets? ⚾

The Mets got blown out 7-1 in yet another lifeless loss to Braves to lose their sixth straight game (box)
OF Juan Soto went 1-for-4 to pick up the 1,000th hit of his career
3B Ronny Mauricio went 1-for-3 with a walk and drove in the team’s only run
C Francisco Alvarez remains completely lost at the plate going 0-for-3 with two strikeouts
RHP Clay Holmes was not great pitching 4.2 innings, while giving up three earned runs, walking six and striking out five.
RHP Huascar Brazobán was also bad in 0.2 innings of work. He walked three and gave up four earned runs
RHP Justin Hagenman was an option to start against the Phillies but he was pressed into service against Atlanta. His final line was 2.2 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, and K
The Mets have now lost six straight games, their longest losing streak of the 2025 season

Injury Updates 🏥

RHP Max Kranick (right elbow strain) was placed on the 15-day injured list retroactive to June 12
3B Brett Baty (right groin tightness) was out of the lineup again but did defensive drills prior to the game

Roster Moves 📰

RHP Dedniel Núñez recalled from Triple-A Syracuse
RHP Justin Hagenman recalled from Triple-A Syracuse

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Play of the Game ⭐️

This was yet another horror show in Atlanta for the Mets in a long series of horror shows, but the one bright spot was Juan Soto reaching a career milestone. He is still just 26 years old and has already collected 1,000 hits for his career.

He joins Mel Ott and Mickey Mantle as the only players to collect 1,000 hits, 200 home runs, and 700 walks before their 27th birthdays.

Hopefully, this is just one milestone of many that he achieves in a Mets uniform.

Down on the Farm 🌾

OF Eli Serrano III (No. 21 prospect, High-A): 3-for-5, 2 R, 2B, K
CF Nick Morabito (No. 16 prospect, Double-A): 2-for-3, R, BB, SB, K
SS Colin Houck (No. 30 prospect, Low-A): 2-for-5, R, 2 RBI, 2B, 2 K

BOX SCORES

Low-A STL | High-A BRK | Double-A BNG | Triple-A SYR SSPD

Today’s Game 🗓️

Match-up: Mets (45-30) at Phillies (45-30)

Where: Citizens Bank Park — Philadelphia, PA

Starters: RHP Blade Tidewell (0-1, 14.73 ERA) vs. RHP Zack Wheeler (7-2, 2.76 ERA)

When: 7:15 PM EDT

Where to Watch: AppleTV+

Amidst this free fall, the Mets needs have become obvious ahead of the trade deadline… ✍️

For most of the season so far, the Mets certainly had their flaws, but they had enough talent to cover them up. The pitching was stellar, so the offense continuously failing with runners in scoring position was more of an annoyance than a problem.

Now with injuries to the pitching staff piling up, all of this team’s flaws are becoming magnified, which means David Stearns should be a busy man over the next month and ahead of the Trade Deadline.

Right now, the most obvious need is pitching.

There is the old baseball truism that a team can never have enough pitching, and the Mets are once again proving that to be accurate both in the rotation and the bullpen. It seemed like they would have enough arms to cover any injuries, but with Kodai Senga, Tylor Megill, Frankie Montas, and Sean Manaea all on the IL, the depth is being exposed. Montas is almost ready to rejoin the rotation, but he has been flat out bad in his rehab appearances, so there is no telling what the team is going to get out of him when he does make his first appearance in a Mets uniform.

Paul Blackburn is healthy, but outside of one good start against the Dodgers, he has not looked good on the mound. Griffin Canning has regressed in his last few starts, so that rotation that had been tops in the league for most of the season is starting to show its cracks. They did get good news on Senga, who should be out about five weeks or so with a low-grade hamstring strain, equating to around 5-6 starts. But the Mets have to get there and right now, every game is starting to look like a trial on the mound.

Of course, with the Rangers struggling, the name that is being floated around is old friend Jacob deGrom. deGrom would be a phenomenal upgrade to the rotation, and when healthy, this would be a downright scary rotation. deGrom does have a no-trade clause, so there is no guarantee he would even want to come back to New York after leaving for Texas. So, Stearns should probably also look elsewhere if he wants to upgrade the rotation in July, assuming they even consider a reunion with deGrom. Sandy Alcantara was a name that came up earlier in the year, but he has struggled mightily in his first year back post-Tommy John and has not looked like the Cy Young winner from 2022.

There are other possibilities as well, although most of the time, when teams struggle, it’s primarily because of their starting pitching. They could look to Arizona if they decide to sell and take a look at Zac Gallen, who will be a free agent at the end of the season. Of course, he has been rather pedestrian in his walk year, but he has a track record of success, so the Mets could conceivably bring him in and work their magic with him to try and get him back to being the ace-caliber pitcher he was before this season. The Mariners - who are middling at around .500 - are always looking to swing a deal, and the Mets could take a look inside their rotation for help. For instance, Luis Castillo - who was reportedly on the block this past winter - is having a solid year for Seattle and would be a healthy add for the Mets rotation.

In addition to rotation help, it has been obvious from the start of the season that the Mets need another bat.

Even with their strong 1-4, the lineup loses its length very quickly. They are not getting anything out of the bottom of the order, and it cannot continue if this team wants to make a deep October run. The attention has mostly been on centerfield, but Tyrone Taylor is a perfectly acceptable option considering how strong he is defensively if the team gets production elsewhere in the lineup. The more glaring issue, in my opinion, is third base.

At third base, it’s simple. The team has not gotten much of anything out of Luisangel Acuña, Ronny Mauricio, Brett Baty, or Mark Vientos. Perhaps when Vientos comes back, he will look more like the player he was in the playoffs last season, but his defense is still a major problem. This is far too critical a position for the team to get almost no production out of. They have all shown flashes, but they have been too few and far between this season. They have one more month for someone to show up and seize the job, but if that doesn’t happen, Stearns needs to make a move.

Finally, while not a necessity, it would be nice if the team upgraded at catcher. Luis Torrens is a fine backup, but he is not a starter. Francisco Álvarez has just completely lost it in all facets of the game and could probably benefit from being sent back down to Triple-A to see if he can figure it out. He is bringing absolutely nothing to the team right now - he’s a net-negative and is actively hurting them when he plays. He is still young enough to turn it around, but he is not the solution this season. The catching market is thin overall, so it might be hard to find an upgrade, but if Stearns can swing a deal for one, he probably should go for it.

All told, there are a lot of needs, and it’s unrealistic to expect the Mets to fortify all of them with dramatic changes. And no matter what they do, they need to get more out of the players who are going to remain, whether that’s in the rotation, in the bullpen, or in the lineup. They’re not going to be able to hit big on all of their moves even if they make some major wholesale changes, so they need to figure the majority of this out internally if they expect to fulfill their championship aspirations in 2025.

Around the League 🚩

When ICE agents were spotted at Dodger Stadium the team put out a statement saying that they denied the agents access to their parking lot (ESPN)
There was a scary incident in Tampa when Rays RHP Hunter Bigge was hit in the face by a foul ball off the bat of Adley Rutschman (ESPN)
The Red Sox are sending rookie Kristian Campbell to Triple-A after continuing to struggle at the major league level
OF James Wood hit two home runs to help the Nationals end their 11-game losing streak