Mets winning streak ends as they get set for critical road trip

Plus, is it time to bring up some of their top prospects for the stretch drive?

Justin Mears

Sep 09, 2024

What’s Up with the Mets? ⚾️

The Mets’ nine game winning streak came to an end on Sunday afternoon when they fell to the Reds 3-1 (Box)
In a tie game in the top of the 9th, Phil Maton allowed a two run double from Santiago Espinal that proved to be the game winner
Luis Severino started for the Mets and was strong again, going 6.2 innings and allowing just a run on five hits and two walks while striking out eight
Harrison Bader collected two of the Mets four hits on the day and Pete Alonso reached base three times on Sunday
New York scored its only run on a two out RBI hit from Starling Marte in the 6th
Reed Garrett was excellent in relief, retiring all four of his hitters with three going down by way of the strikeout

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Playoff Race 🏁

The Mets finally lost on Sunday but unfortunately the Braves pulled off an extra inning win over the Blue Jays to pull back even with New York for the third and final Wild Card spot.

Meanwhile, the Padres lost but the Diamondbacks won, adding to the mass chaos of what has become a four teams for three spots game of musical chairs.

There are 19 games remaining.

Per FanGraphs, the Mets have a 50.2% chance of making the postseason.

New York has the ninth hardest schedule in MLB the rest of the way.

Tiebreakers:

vs. ATL: 5-5
vs. ARI: 4-3 (finished)
vs. SD: 5-2 (finished)
vs. CHC: 4-3 (finished)
vs. STL: 4-2 (finished)

Roster Moves

OF D.J. Stewart recalled from Triple-A Syracuse
INF Jeff McNeil (fractured wrist) placed on the injured list

Down on the Farm 🌾

Jonathan Pintaro (Double-A): 6 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 H, 1 BB, 7 K
Boston Baro (No. 16 Prospect, High-A): 3-for-3, 2 RBI, 2 2B

BOX SCORES

Single-A STL | High-A BRK | Double-A BNG | Triple-A SYR

Today’s Game 🗓

Match-up: Mets (78-65) @ Blue Jays (68-76)

Where: Rogers Centre— Toronto, Canada

Starters: RHP Paul Blackburn (5-4, 4.66 ERA) vs. RHP Chris Bassitt (9-13, 4.30 ERA)

When: 7:07 PM EDT

Where to Watch: SNY

Is now the time for the Mets to debut some of their top prospects? ✍️

The Mets had to lose at some point, didn’t they?

It happens. We will cut them a break despite Atlanta tying them in the wild card race.

Anyway, I’m here this morning to talk about the current construction of the back of the club’s roster, following their move to place Jeff McNeil on the injured list before Sunday’s game.

There used to be a time not all that long ago that when the calendar turned to September MLB clubhouses became substantially more crowded. Teams were always permitted to promote as many players on their 40-man roster as they wished, and September contests often became slogs as managers had many more chess moves at their disposal.

These days there are still September call-ups, but they are only two players. One pitcher, one position player. For most of the last several months, the Mets position player addition was all but a foregone conclusion.

Brett Baty began the year as the Mets starting third baseman, and while Mark Vientos supplanted him at that spot in May, to Baty’s credit he didn’t let the demotion demoralize him.

He went to Triple-A Syracuse and raked, homering 16 times in only 58 games, while driving in 43 runs and slashing .261/.358/.428. The Mets began introducing Baty to second base and he already had experience in the corner outfield. He profiled as a well-rounded, experienced, versatile player the team could add and expect to contribute during a pennant race.

Until a broken finger in August thwarted that plan.

With Baty no longer in the mix, the Mets September call-up became ripe with speculation. Some of the team’s top prospects were suddenly being discussed, which could have brought even more juice to an action packed September.

Ultimately, the Mets decided on 31-year-old infielder Pablo Reyes, who has well over 200 games of Major League experience under his belt—albeit with uneven results. He’s gotten into one game as a pinch-runner thus far but it’s become clear manager Carlos Mendoza does not intend to utilize him in any other role.

When McNeil was hit by a pitch this weekend and suffered what is very likely to be a season-ending injury with a broken wrist, again, the conversation centered around who would take his roster spot included high profile prospects.

And again, New York resisted the urge, and instead brought back D.J. Stewart to provide a left-handed bat with some power to come off the bench.

I’m not saying either of these decisions were wrong, but I am pointing out they’re not ones that had to be made.

Luisangel Acuña has as much speed as any young player in the game. His first full season in Triple-A has been a bit uneven, but his .261/.301/.360 slash line is nothing to sneeze at. He’s contributed 33 extra-base hits, driven in 50 runs, and stolen 39 bases. Acuña has played mostly second base this season, but he’s experienced at shortstop and center field, and he certainly could have been an option to come up and help.

Then there’s Drew Gilbert, who missed most of the year due to injury, but has homered three times in the last week and is one of the club’s top position player prospects.

This time of year, teams typically expand rosters with the tools they’re lacking or in many cases, with speed options for late-game pinch runners. The Mets certainly did that by bringing López in, but in the case of Acuña, it seemed like a no-brainer to replace McNeil with him, especially since he’s an infielder with speed who, at a minimum, can be a second late-game replacement on the bases.

With all due respect to Stewart, he doesn’t have that kind of value, and one would assume he isn’t going to see a lot of time in between the lines down the stretch anyway.

In the end the Mets clearly decided to take the safe route and go with more experienced players to round out their roster, but I’m positive these two kids were in the conversation. And with the minor league season ending in two weeks, it’s possible they could still become options before the year reaches its conclusion.

Around the League 🚩

The Blue Jays had a 2-1 lead going into the ninth on the Braves, but Atlanta tied it in the ninth and scored two in the 11th thanks in part to a throwing error to edge Toronto 4-3
The Giants jumped out to a 7-1 lead on the Padres and held off another late surge from San Diego to win 7-6
Pavin Smith homered three times and drove in eight runs in Arizona’s 12-6 win in Houston
Connor Norby crushed two home runs for Miami in the Marlins 10-1 thrashing of Philadelphia