There's a long way for the Mets to go to build trust

New York avoids a sweep by beating the Reds in the series finale, but even wins feel hollow right now

What’s Up with the Mets? ⚾️

• The Mets snapped a five-game losing streak after beating the Reds 4-2 in the series finale in Cincinnati, avoiding a series sweep (box)

• In what was a bullpen game, relief pitching got the job done with RHP Jonah Tong serving as the bulk reliever, giving up three hits and four walks but limiting the damage by allowing just one unearned run over 3.2 innings

• RHP Huascar Brazobán, LHP Brooks Raley, and RHP Luke Weaver all didn’t allow a run to score, while combining for four strikeouts

• RHP Devin Williams loaded the bases in the ninth, walking three, but managed to keep his cool to come through and secure his eighth save of the season

• LF Juan Soto hit a solo blast in the bottom of the first inning - his eighth homer in his last 12 games

• DH Eric Wagaman hit a solo homer in his Mets debut, making it a 2-0 game in the second inning

• RF Carson Benge came up with a pair of clutch two-out hits, driving in two runs and emerging as the real difference maker

• The Mets went 2-for-6 with runners in scoring position, leaving six runners stranded on base

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Injury Updates 🏥

• INF Jorge Polanco (left Achilles bursitis) featured in his first rehab assignment for Double-A Binghamton on Wednesday, going 1-for-2 with a single and a run scored

• SS Francisco Lindor (calf) was taking groundballs at Citi Field prior to Wednesday’s game

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Play of the Game ⭐️

I could have gone with Devin Williams eventually shutting it down for today’s POTG, but let’s face it, Williams got lucky.

Instead, I think the more consequential play happened in the bottom of the seventh inning. With the Reds having cut the lead to just one, Carson Benge came to the plate with two outs and a runner on second.

And, just as he did in the fifth inning, Benge came through with the clutch goods to drive in a run and make it a two-run game. That extra insurance run gave the bullpen some extra wriggle room and would prove crucial.

Overall, Benge played a crucial role in this win and again highlighted his growing importance to this team.

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Just Mets Podcast 🎙️

ICYMI: Rich and Andrew met on the latest weekly recap pod to commiserate about this relentlessly miserable Mets team and to celebrate the NBA Finals-bound New York Knicks!

SUBSCRIBE: YouTube | Apple Podcasts | Spotify

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Who’s Hot? 🔥

• LF Juan Soto now has eight homers over his last 12 games - the 12th different Met to accomplish that feat, and the first in over a decade

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Down on the Farm 🌾

• DH Andy Ibáñez (Triple-A): 1-for-4, 1 R, 3 RBI, 1 HR

• SS Mitch Voit (High-A): 2-for-5, 2 R, 1 RBI, 1 HR, 1 SB

• RF John Bay (High-A): 2-for-3, 2 R, 1 RBI, 2 BB, 3B, 1 SB

• SS Elian Peña (Single-A): 3-for-4, 1 R, 1 SB

BOX SCORES

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

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Today’s Game 🗓

The Mets are off on Thursday. They open a three-game series with the Marlins on Friday night at Citi Field.

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It remains hard to trust this team right now ✍️

Jason Szenes - NY Post

The Mets actually won a game of baseball on Wednesday night.

And, given that they had lost five straight before that, that alone should be worth celebrating.

However, and I’m sorry to play the role of party pooper here, but it is hard to get too excited over just one win.

After all, this is baseball. Even the very worst teams - and the Mets belong in that category - will run into a win every now and then over the course of a 162-game season.

It is hard to get juiced up over one win over the Reds in what was ultimately a series loss because, frankly, it is almost impossible to feel anything good about this entire organization right now.

In other words, welcome to the summer of apathy already.

It makes no sense to get wrapped up in just one win anyway, but it makes less than zero sense in this team’s case because they’ve already proven this year that they aren’t good enough to build on it.

They’ve shown kernels of hope before, only to fall flat on their faces the very next day. As Justin Mears put it so well the other day, it is always one step forward and four steps backwards with the Mets in 2026. That’s why last night will probably prove to be nothing more than a brief mirage in a deep, depressing oasis of misery.

The pitching isn’t built to offer sustained goodness, let alone excellence. The offense is an absolute hot mess that can only put up a handful of runs, if that, on any given night despite the fact that Juan Soto is on an absolute tear right now. And the entire team just seems incapable of playing with a pulse, adjusting on the fly, and showing any kind of ability to turn this thing around on a consistent basis.

This team is just awful and hard to watch, and one win over Cincinnati in late May won’t change my mind or pull me back in. I’m nowhere close to being Al Pacino in Godfather III at this stage.

I mean, look beyond the box score last night, and you will soon discover that the Mets were lucky to win that game. The bullpen did just enough to get the win, despite Devin Williams’ best attempts to throw it all away in the ninth. A.J. Ewing had to make a big play in the field. And, offensively, the lineup struggled outside of homers from Soto and, wait for it, Eric Wagaman, while Carson Benge came through with two clutch hits, both of which came with two outs. Furthermore, the Reds played a big role in their own demise by leaving 17, yes, 17, runners stranded on base.

In other words, the Mets ran into a lot of luck last night.

Jason Szenes - NY Post

And, yes, while it is true you need a healthy dose of luck in order to be successful in any sport, luck alone won’t carry any team to the promised land.

There are still so many fatal flaws that probably won’t be able to be corrected in-season, and even one win these days has to be the result of a lot of good fortune.

The point remains that this is a poorly constructed, fundamentally bad baseball team, and one that is probably dead and buried already.

Even when healthy and with the likes of Francisco Lindor back in the lineup, I am not remotely convinced that this team has what it takes to go on another miracle run like they did in 2024. There are no good vibes in Queens this time around.

Plus, while getting bodies back will help, the likes of Lindor, Jorge Polanco, and Luis Robert Jr. won’t make all that much difference. They didn’t before getting hurt. And Soto is playing out of his skin right now, yet the team still stinks. So I don’t want to hear injuries as an excuse for why this team is so bad.

They just stink. Period.

So, at full health or not, I have no faith in this team to do anything, and winning one game out of three against the Reds isn’t, or shouldn’t, be enough to earn anyone’s trust or benefit of the doubt.

We need to see an awful lot more before we even think about buying back our stock in the 2026 New York Mets.

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Around the League 🚩

• The MLBPA made its first proposal in what is expected to be lengthy negotiations with MLB owners as a labor war beckons (The Athletic)

• Kansas City Chiefs TE Travis Kelce has purchased a minority stake in the Cleveland Guardians, his hometown club (MLB.com)

• RHP Shohei Ohtani became the first Dodgers pitcher since Don Drysdale in 1959 to pitch six no-hit innings and homer in the same game

• LHP Cristopher Sánchez broke a 115-year-old Phillies record by extending his scoreless streak to 44 2/3 consecutive innings

• In just his second game back from Tommy John Surgery, RHP Gerrit Cole tossed 6.2 scoreless innings, striking out 10 with no walks

• OF Ian Happ had five RBIs to help the Cubs beat the Pirates, 10-4 and snap a 10-game losing streak