The 2025 New York Mets are in a position that seemed unfathomable halfway through the season.
After racing out to a 45-24 record on June 12, New York is 17 games below .500 since then as what would be an epic collapse has unfolded slowly and painfully.
There's plenty of blame to go around, and with the immense talent level on the Mets' roster, manager Carlos Mendoza will get some of it. But he can't hit or pitch for his players, and it's been a combination of underperforming and untimely lapses that has done the Mets in over the past three months.
As of Tuesday, the Mets are now out of playoff position for the first time since April 5. Though they are technically tied with the Cincinnati Reds for the National League's final wild card spot, the Reds own the tiebreaker, having won the season series. If the Mets are going to make the playoffs, they may have to do something they haven't done in over a month— win consecutive series.
“We put ourselves in this position, so we’ve got to find a way to get out of it,” Francisco Lindor said via Anthony DiComo of MLB.com. “And that comes down to winning.”
Assuming that doesn't happen, here are some of the players whose performances have been most detrimental to the team down the stretch.
Mets reliever Ryan Helsley has been a deadline disaster
Despite the impending catastrophe, you do have to give the Mets some credit; they really did try to avert disaster at the trade deadline. Knowing they needed to strengthen their bullpen, the Mets went out and got Ryan Helsley from St. Louis.
The season after Helsley led the league with 49 saves, he had been off to a strong start in 2025, even if he wasn't producing at quite the same level he did last year. Then, the Mets acquired him for three minor leaguers and it all fell apart.
Helsley had a 3.00 ERA in 36 appearances for the Cardinals in the first half, but has an 8.47 ERA for the Mets in 20 games. His walk rate has jumped to 12% since coming to New York while opponents are hitting for a 1.009 OPS against him.
Mets fans can approach the final days of the season with some cautious optimism, however, as Helsley has not allowed a run in his last four appearances (4.0 IP). He has allowed just one hit in that span. Time will tell if it's too little, too late.
Cedric Mullins also has not panned out
The Mets also traded for Baltimore Orioles slugger Cedric Mullins at the deadline, and while he was having a mediocre season in Baltimore, his performance has downright cratered in Queens. The lefty centerfielder is hitting .188 with a 65 OPS+ in his 40 games with the Mets.
Digging into his splits, there's not much to cling to either, as he's been miserable against righties and lefties, and in both high- and low-leverage situations.
To make matters worse, Mullins has had some costly blunders on the field and the bases in recent days. In one instance, he misplayed a fly ball from Daylen Lile, leading to an inside-the-park home run for the Washington Nationals outfielder.
His base-path blunder also involved Lile. Mullins hit a fly ball that Lile dove for, but as Lile's glove hit the ground, the ball popped out. Mullins lingered at first base while the ball sat untouched on the ground.
Clay Holmes' performance has further taxed the Mets' bullpen
The former New York Yankees closer hasn't been bad for the Mets, per se, though his recent outings have started to trend in that direction. Since July 8, he has a 4.68 ERA and has thrown 65 innings in 14 appearances — or fewer than five innings per start, though his last time out came out of the bullpen.
In that last appearance, he followed Sean Manaea as a piggyback as Holmes is already 85 innings past his previous career high. The problem is that outside of the back end of the bullpen, the Mets relief corps has been awful. Mets relievers have an ERA north of 5.00 since mid-June.
Ironically, if the Mets do make the playoffs, Holmes could be part of the solution. Team president David Stearns indicated last week that he would be willing to move starters into relief roles to shore up the pen moving forward, as Andy Martino of SNY named Holmes, Brandon Sproat and Kodai Senga as likely candidates.
But the Mets need to get into the playoffs first, and if the regular season ended today, they would be watching from home.
