The Mets have become a bad baseball team

The Mets lost a series a at home to the struggling Braves with very few positives to go around

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What’s up with the Mets? ⚾️

• The Mets could’ve beaten the Braves but they decided to lose 4-3 instead in another demoralizing loss (box)

• This was their third consecutive home series loss and the Mets are now just seven games over .500, their lowest mark since April 19

• RHP Kodai Senga was much better on the mound giving up two runs in 5.2 innings pitched. He struck out seven and walked one. Senga has allowed three or fewer runs in 43 of his first 49 career starts which ties him with Jacob deGrom, Lance McCullers Jr., and Paul Skenes for third most in major league history through a pitcher’s first 49 starts

• SS Francisco Lindor went 3-for-4, 2 R, HR, RBI and was one of the bright spots in the lineup. He is now tied with Michael Conforto for eighth all-time on the franchise’s home run list

• 1B Pete Alonso went 1-for-4 with a RBI for his 99th run batted in which is tops in the majors

• RF Juan Soto extended his on-base streak to twelve games and went 1-for-3 with a walk, run, and stolen base

• RHP Ryan Helsley gave up two runs and was responsible for the loss

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Playoff Race 🏁

After another lifeless loss in a long line of lifeless losses the Mets did not gain any ground on the Phillies but are just a half game up on the Reds for the final Wild Card.

Per FanGraphs, the Mets playoff odds sank to 74.5% which is down from 78.7%.

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Stat of the Day 📊

• The Mets are 2-13 in their last 15 games which is their worst record in a 15-game span since 2018

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Who’s Hot? 🥵

• RF Juan Soto is hitting .296/.406/.741 with four home runs, six RBIs, and two stolen bases in his last seven games

• 1B Pete Alonso is hitting .345/.367/.759 with three home runs and eight RBIs over his last seven games

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Who’s Cold? 🧊

• RHP Ryan Helsley is 0-2 with a 5.40 ERA in five innings pitched with the Mets

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Play of the Game 🙃

The back-to-back doubles Helsley gave up in the eighth proved to be the death knell for the team, but one day after the team walked five batters in one inning, it was the walk that killed them once again.

He got a fly out for the first out of the inning, but then walking Marcell Ozuna is what set up the big inning. It spiraled and spiraled quickly from there, and the one-run deficit became too much to overcome for an offense that hasn’t erased a deficit after the eighth all season.

Ozzie Albies’ go-ahead double in the eighth served as the death blow on this night…

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Down on the Farm 🌾

• SS Jett Williams (No. 2 prospect, Triple-A): 3-for-3, R, 2B

• RHP Brandon Sproat (No. 5 prospect, Triple-A): 3.1 IP, 3 H, 6 R, 5 ER, 3 BB, 6 K

• 3B Jacob Reimer (No. 6 prospect, Double-A): 4-for-6, R, 3 RBI, 2B, HR, K

BOX SCORES

Single-A STL | High-A BRK Game 1 Game 2 | Double-A BNG | Triple-A SYR

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Today’s Game 🗓️

Match-up: Mets (64-57) vs. Mariners (67-55)

Where: Citi Field - Flushing, NY

Starters: LHP Sean Manaea (1-1, 4.33 ERA) vs. RHP Luis Castillo (8-6, 3.19 ERA)

When: 7:10 PM EDT

Where to Watch: SNY, MLBN (out-of-market only)

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The 2025 Mets have become an awful baseball team… ✍️

NY Post

For us New York Rangers fans, it is déjà vu all over again. The 2023-2024 Rangers had a phenomenal season and came within two games of heading to the Stanley Cup Final. They ran into the dominant Florida Panthers, who eventually became the Stanley Cup champions.

Expectations were high for the 2024-2025 team to build upon their success from the previous season, and with much of the same talent returning. As their season plodded along, their flaws were exposed on a nightly basis. Goaltender Igor Shesterkin wasn’t otherworldly and couldn’t cover the flaws, and for whatever reason, clubhouse turmoil, toxic work environment, the team quitting, etc., the talent that carried them so far the previous season never showed up. At one point, they lost 13 of 17 games, and Head Coach Peter Laviolette’s response was “We have to be better.” Every postgame from there on out would be more of the same. The coach would stand in front of the cameras and say, “We have to be better. We have the talent on this team to compete. We have to make adjustments and find some consistency.”

Do those quotes sound familiar? They should because Mets manager Carlos Mendoza is now saying some variation of the same on a nightly basis.

Just like the Rangers, this Met team - which is largely the same as the one that got within two games of heading to the World Series 10 months ago, but ran into the dominant Los Angeles Dodgers who eventually became World Series champions. Expectations were high for the 2025 team to build upon their success from the previous season, with much of the same talent returning and the addition of the most coveted free agent on the market.

And just like the Rangers, for whatever reason, they just are not gelling like the previous season.

While I don’t believe there are any clubhouse issues, something is not right when a team finds ways to lose on a nightly basis instead of a way to win. Perhaps it is a depleted starting pitching staff that can’t cover flaws anymore, or maybe Francisco Lindor’s toe is still ailing him, but something is off with this year’s squad. You can’t just assume talent is going to eventually show up and carry you to the promised land. The Rangers tried that. They were sitting at home come playoff time. The Mets’ talent needs to make adjustments and quickly, or they too will be sitting at home when the season ends.

And look, I get Mendoza’s position. What is he supposed to say? That the team is terrible? That’s for us to conclude, and right now, this is a terrible, terrible team. They’re cringeworthy bad. Even with the Mets leading 3-2 in the eighth and one of their prized acquisitions at the trade deadline on the mound, there was just that sneaking suspicion they were going to blow the game up in that moment. After all, it was the same old story with the offense slogging along with five singles scattered around Lindor’s early home run, and a non-existent bottom of the order that went hitless in 16 at-bats.

NY Post

The Mets did get a good-ish start out of Kodai Senga, who at least pitched into the sixth inning, but was unable to complete the frame. But generally speaking, two runs over 5.2 IP is something anyone observing would take at this point considering the Mets rotation has averaged under five since June 13.

But in the end, it was the same old song with these belly-flopped Mets, who now have the Reds right on their tail for the last playoff spot, the sixth seed, in the National League Wild Card race.

And while their precipitous fall should at least in part fall on a dugout staff which has most obviously failed to maximize much of the talent on the roster they claim exists, most of it falls on a front office that grossly miscalculated the sustainability of their knowingly flawed starting rotation, their biggest question mark going in but representing both a stubbornness in brand and style as well as a lack of creativity and proven track record to get through a 162-game schedule.

There’s only so much Mendoza and his staff can do with the roster that’s been presented to them, even with many of their best players and most expensive players often underperforming.

And as is always the case, it’s the players that make a good team good or a bad team bad. Right now, it’s the latter.

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Around the League 🚩

• Major League Baseball is negotiating with Netflix, ESPN, NBC, and Apple for possible broadcast packages (The Athletic)

• With Player’s Weekend coming up, players will get to have some fun and add their own personal touches to the equipment they use during the game (MLB.com)

• RHP Max Scherzer looked like vintage Max Scherzer in the Blue Jays’s 2-1 win over the Cubs

• The Phillies are planning on using a 6-man rotation when RHP Aaron Nola returns off the injured list this weekend (ESPN)

• Yankees 1B Paul Goldschmidt has a low-grade right knee sprain which might land him on the IL before their series against the Cardinals