FLUSHING, NY — This is not what the doctor ordered for the New York Mets. Losing often and not finding a proper formula was not their prescription for September. Or for that matter, losing has been the reason why the Mets find themselves out of playoff position.
Sunday afternoon at Citi Field the Mets lost another series again to the lowly Nationals. This 3-2 loss, losing two-of three on their final homestand of the season, hurts. The Mets after 170 days in position are looking on the outside as the third and final NL Wild Card spot belongs to Cincinnati, who is in control of their destiny.
The Reds have the tie-breaker. They continued their resurgence and defeated the Cubs 1-0. This is not what the doctor ordered for the Mets and their quest to reach the postseason a second consecutive year.
With Sunday’s loss to the Nationals, the Mets have gone 4-11 in their last 15 games – Image Credit: George Napolitano/Latino Sports
Though this is a Mets team not resembling one of last year that had a second half surge. They surprised the Brewers, Phillies, and lost to the Dodgers in the NLCS.
Six games remain, the Mets are not resembling a playoff team. Their destiny comes this week at Chicago vs. the Cubs and in Miami vs. the Marlins. Must wins for sure while hoping the Reds and Diamondbacks find a way to lose. Major League Baseball can smile because this final Wild Card is what their doctor ordered for pennant stretch baseball.
On the other hand, the Mets need a healthy prescription of playing cleaner baseball and situations that go their way instead of two spectacular catches in center field by Jacob Young. In the fifth inning, the Nationals outfielder reached and snagged a Brett Baty line drive that he lost in control. But the Mets got a bad break, Young played it off his foot and made the rebound.
And in the ninth inning, Young grabbed a line drive off Francisco Álvarez and leaped, almost certain that it was headed out of the ballpark.
But the Mets can blame other aspects to how they lost this finale. And how they have managed ways to lose and put them in this position. A postgame clubhouse was looking for answers as players quietly looked at their phones and packed their bags for a final road trip that will determine their destiny.
“In the stretch we’re in, where every win matters, to see plays like that definitely deflates a little bit,” Cedric Mullins said about the Young plays in center. “We’ve got to take some tough losses on the chin.”
Tough loss for sure, then again the Mets also committed five errors in the series. Good baseball teams and striving for a playoff position can’t continue to look this bad. It surely as a team has the Mets asking themselves, what has gone wrong?
“If we want to be where we want to be, those things can’t happen,” said Francisco Lindor who was charged with a throwing error in the second inning which led to a Nationals run. Lindor, though, launched a solo home run in the sixth that extended his hitting streak to 10 games.
And as Pete Alonso said, “We could have played better for sure.” He had another multi-hit game, 46 tied for fifth-most in the National League. But the only numbers meaningful at this point for the Mets is finding a right prescription to win ballgames this week.
Sunday’s 3-2 loss to the Nationals could have potentially been Pete Alonso’s final game as a Met at Citi Field as the right-handed slugger is a free agent this winter – Image Credit: George Napolitano/Latino Sports
“It’s been happening right in front of our eyes, so yeah, I can definitely believe it,” said Brandon Nimmo. “We’re down to the last week of the season and our playoff hopes are in front of us. We’ve got to play winning baseball.”
Do or die? That seemed to be the prevailing attitude after this loss. Piggyback starter Sean Manaea said, “We’ve got to figure this out” after allowing three runs over 3.0 plus innings, shortest outing of the season. Manager Carlos Mendoza followed with Clay Holmes, two starters in a new role this past week that would hopefully provide the Mets bullpen some needed rest during this important stretch.
In their last two games, Clay Holmes and Sean Manaea have piggybacked one another in starts (9/16 vs. the Padres and 9/21 vs. the Nationals) Image Credit: George Napolitano/Latino Sports
“I think everybody here knows where we’re at and what’s ahead of us,” said Holmes, who threw 3.2 scoreless innings in relief of Manaea. “But as a player I think there’s still the opportunity to make something special happen. It’s still there. It’s just up to us to go out and see what we can do with it.”
But not much time remains, as the manager kept referring two weeks ago there was plenty of baseball to play. Then the Mets were losing and have lost 13 of their last 16 games decided by a run since July 28.
With one week to go for the 2025 regular season, the Mets at 80-76 have six games remaining on their schedule (three @ Cubs and three @ Marlins) – Image Credit: George Napolitano/Latino Sports
“You’ve just got to win,” said Alonso. “It’s simple. Winning solves everything at this point. We’ve just got to do it.”
And the Reds and Diamondbacks have to lose, the right prescription also for the Mets to get this final NL Wild Card. Regardless this is not what the doctor ordered.
Rich Mancuso is a senior writer and columnist at LatinoSports.com – X: @Ring786, Facebook.com/Rich Mancuso
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