The New York Mets squandered away a golden opportunity to make the playoffs, and they have no one to blame but themselves.
This goes far beyond the events of Sunday afternoon, when the Mets were all lined up to make the playoffs with a win against the Miami Marlins. The Milwaukee Brewers did their bidding for them, defeating the Cincinnati Reds, but the Mets faltered when the moment mattered the most and lost 4-0 to the lowly Marlins.
For a franchise lauded as one of the biggest laughing stocks in the league, the Marlins have now booted the Mets from the postseason contention on the final day of the regular season on three different occasions – in 2007, 2008, and 2025. But Sunday's game is only just the surface of why this Mets team squandered away its playoff spot.
After all, it sat in a playoff spot almost every day since April 5 before they lost control of their own destiny on Sept. 21. The Mets had the best record in baseball at one point at 45-24, yet sputtered their way to finish the season with a 83-79 record.
There is no other way to put it — it was one of the greatest collapses in MLB history.
The Mets have a ton of fingers to point the blame to when looking at why missed the postseason despite their hot start to the season.
Red-hot pitching cooled off completely
At one point, Kodai Senga had one of the best ERAs in all of baseball at 1.49, but after he suffered an injury, he never came back the same. He pitched in nine games after returning to the lineup in June and went 5-4 with a 5.90 ERA. The Mets sent him down to Triple-A- Syracuse to finish the season after he gave up five earned runs and a home run in a 5-1 loss to the Marlins.
After being one of the best stories from New York's playoff run in 2024, Sean Manaea did not look like himself either when he returned from an injury he suffered during Spring Training. He went 2-4 with a 5.80 ERA in 11 starts and did not seem to find his stride until the Mets shifted him to a piggyback role with Clay Holmes in the final weeks of the season. He pitched an inning and two-thirds as the starter in the Mets' loss that secured their fate on Sunday night.
Perhaps the prior two cases could point to the reason why Frankie Montas was not able to find his footing when he, too, returned from an injury that kept him out for the entire first half of the season. He came in and started seven games and ended up with a 3-2 record with a 6.28 ERA before the Mets shifted him to the bullpen and eventually shut him down entirely.
The Mets tried plugging their holes in the starting rotation with rookies Nolan McLean, Brandon Sproat, and Jonah Tong, and although they each had standout performances at some point down the stretch, it is impossible to rely on a group with so little experience in such important moments.
They did end up making trades to bolster up their bullpen at the deadline when it, too, was showing signs of decline in late July, but none of the pieces they acquired ended up living up to their expectations. Ryan Helsely (7.58 ERA) and Gregory Soto (4.70 ERA) were both massive disappointments. Tyler Rogers did fine, pitching to a 2.00 ERA. However, he was acquired at the hefty cost of Jose Butto and prospect Drew Gilbert, who has already cracked San Francisco's major league roster.
But that is just the surface as to why the Mets missed out on the postseason despite holding such a large lead over the wild card field in late July.
Mets didn't strike when iron was hot
New York played in over 70 games where it trailed after the eighth inning and won zero of them. They had multiple opportunities to make late-game rallies and pull off the upset. They even forced extra innings in some cases. Unfortunately, they could not muster up the heart to finish the job.
This Mets team might have looked like it had more talent than the 2024 squad that made the NLCS, but it lacked the heart and the character that brought it back from one of the worst records in the majors in June to a postseason appearance.
The exact opposite thing happened because this year's group just got too complacent.
Some people will try to point the finger at Juan Soto for coming in with his massive $750 million contract and shaking up the culture, but he is not to blame. There were legitimately some points where he looked like the only player who cared while putting up MVP numbers to boot.
After missing the All-Star Game and dealing with loads of pressure from a disappointing first half, Soto blasted 20 home runs, 49 RBIs, and stole 27 bases while boasting a .953 OPS and a .268 batting average after the All-Star Break.
He was the star, and absolutely nobody else followed in his footsteps at times.
If the Mets want to make the playoffs next year, they will have to find answers to their pitching woes and find a way to reawaken the character of the 2024 team that was clearly lost this year.
