The weekend proved to be disastrous for the New York Mets. They dropped two of three contests to the Washington Nationals in sloppy fashion and fell behind the red-hot Cincinnati Reds for the final National League Wild Card spot.
If the Mets have designs on making an October run, they will need their entire roster to step up during the final week of the regular season. In particular, Cedric Mullins, Ryan Helsley, and Sean Manaea must show they are ready to embrace the challenge in front of them.
Cedric Mullins
Mullins has been largely disappointing since New York acquired him ahead of the trade deadline. Across 40 games with the Mets, the outfielder has only hit two home runs and posted a .577 OPS.
New York has attempted to have Mullins bat in different spots in the lineup. More recently, he has hit ninth in the order. If he could provide a boost from that position and turn the lineup over to Francisco Lindor, Juan Soto, Pete Alonso, and others, New York could get hot at the right time and steal the final NL playoff spot.
The Mets hoped Mullins would resemble the player who mashed 30 home runs in 2021, and the 30-year-old has roughly a week left to show that he can make an impactful contribution.
Ryan Helsley
Much like Mullins, Helsley has not been impressive since arriving in New York. Over his first 17 innings with the Mets, he has surrendered four home runs and posted an 8.47 ERA. Before being traded, he posted a 3.00 ERA and only gave up four home runs through 36 innings of bullpen work with the St. Louis Cardinals.
According to Baseball Savant, he ranks in just the 21st percentile in Pitching Run Value and the second percentile in Fastball Run Value.
Helsley has been somewhat better lately. He has not allowed a run since September 10 and has continued to provide quality outings. New York will need him to help reach closer Edwin Diaz and fortify their bullpen during the final week of the season.
“I’ve been saying, we need him,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza told SNY. “This is a guy that’s proven before in this league. It’s good to see him out there in that situation, up two in the seventh in high-leverage for him to get three outs was huge.”
Sean Manaea
Sean Manaea was arguably the best starter during the Mets’ 2024 Postseason run. 2025 has not been nearly as kind to the 33-year-old. He only made his season debut in July and has yet to look like the pitcher who graced the mound last October.
He has posted a 2-4 record and a 5.59 ERA over 58 innings this season, and New York has started to use him as both an opener and reliever along with Clay Holmes.
“It helps when we’re making these decisions the fact that they’ve done it in the past,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza told the New York Post. “Again, they want to start, and we consider them starters. But this is where we are, given where we’re at.”
“They’re all on board. They understand. But when it comes down to us making those decisions, they know what it takes to come out of the bullpen. It’s a completely different routine, but they’ve done it before, so that helps.”
In his latest appearance against the Washington Nationals, Manaea let up three runs in three innings.
“I thought the life on the fastball was there, but he just wasn’t able to elevate it,” Mendoza said following the Mets’ 3-2 loss to the Nationals on Sunday. “They got him any time he came in the strike zone.”
The Mets are 80-76 with six games remaining. Only time will tell if they can avoid a complete collapse.
