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What are Red Sox options with Lucas Giolito sidelined vs. Yankees? originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

Red Sox manager Alex Cora might have to get creative with the season on the line.

That’s the reality with veteran right-hander Lucas Giolito sidelined due to an elbow injury. Giolito was left off the team’s American League Wild Card roster before the best-of-three playoff series against the Yankees. Giolito was expected to start either Game 2 or Game 3, but that’s no longer the case.

Red Sox left-hander Garrett Crochet will start Game 1 against Yankees lefty Max Fried while right-hander Brayan Bello will get the ball in Game 2 opposite left-hander Carlos Rodón.

“We’ll go the first two games, then we’ll decide,” Cora said at Yankee Stadium on Monday before Game 1 on Tuesday night. “Obviously, we have some kids over there who have started lately. But first thing’s first: Crochet, Bello and if we have to make a decision for Game 3, we’ll go from there.”

Here are a few options if the Red Sox and Yankees split the first two games and hold a winner-take-all Game 3:

Connelly Early, LHP

A rookie making his playoff debut at Yankee Stadium? And doing so less than one month after being called up to the big leagues? It would be a nerve-wrecking situation for the Fenway Faithful. But Early feels like the best option for the Red Sox. He struck out 11 batters in his MLB debut and has displayed a pitch mix that helped him produce like Boston’s fourth-best starter after Crochet, Brayan Bello and Giolito. In four starts, the 23-year-old recorded a 2.33 ERA with 29 strikeouts to four walks in 19.1 innings.

Longtime Red Sox insider and current radio host Tony Massarotti believes Boston should give the ball to Early if a Game 3 presents itself. In fact, Massarotti said he would’ve preferred for Cora to go with Early even if Giolito was healthy.

“I like the idea of throwing a lefty in New York,” Massarotti said.

Crochet complimented Early ahead of the series.

“The pitchability is beyond his years, man,” Crochet said. “It’s really good plus stuff. Five pitches for strikes and the swing and miss component. I think he’ll be a huge bolster to the staff here in the postseason.”

Kyle Harrison, LHP

Harrison is another young left-hander, but has more experience despite also being called up to Boston earlier this month. Harrison, who was traded to the Red Sox in the Rafael Devers deal, recorded a 3.00 ERA in 12 innings in Boston. He struck out 13 batters with five walks in three games (two starts).

Harrison has made 37 starts in the big leagues, including 30 starts for the Giants the last two seasons. He hasn’t pitched in a postseason contest, though.

Bullpen game

Cora’s decision could come down to whether or not Early and/or Harrison were used in Games 1 and 2. If the Red Sox use either or both in relief, there’s a chance Cora will go with a bullpen arm in the starting spot. Heck, even if neither are used in relief Cora still could opt for such strategy.

That’s what Massarotti believes will happen.

“That’s my guess,” Massarotti said. “I hope it’s Early. I hope he goes with Connelly Early and then if he gets in trouble goes to the bullpen. Cora, in that situation, will trust himself. He’ll manage the game with relievers and get through it that way.”

Mets owner Steve Cohenapologized to the fans following Sunday's loss, which resulted in the team missing the playoffs after racing out to a 45-24 record.

"Mets fans everywhere. I owe you an apology," Cohen wrote on X (formerly Twitter). "You did your part by showing up and supporting the team. We didn’t do our part. We will do a post-mortem and figure out the obvious and less obvious reasons why the team didn’t perform up to your and my expectations.

"We are all feeling raw emotions today. I know how much time and effort you have put into this team. The result was unacceptable. Your emotions tell me how much you care and continues to motivate the organization to do better. Thank You to the best fans in sports."

The Mets entered the year with World Series expectations, but had one of the worst records in baseball from the middle of June through the end of the regular season.

That resulted in them falling out of playoff position, even though they had a chance in the final weekend to secure a spot in the postseason.

Had the Mets won Sunday's game against the Marlins in Miami, they would've punched their ticket to the Wild Card Series, where the Dodgers were waiting.

Instead, the Mets lost, 4-0, bringing their campaign to a close.

As the Mets look to reshape their roster ahead of the 2026 season, there are lots of burning questions.

Among them: the futures of Pete Alonsoand Edwin Diaz, how to fix the starting rotation, and whether the offensive core will be shaken up. 

Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns will hold his end-of-season news conference on Monday at 3:30 p.m. It will air live across SNY's social media platforms. 

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Cora reveals Lucas Giolito won't pitch in Red Sox-Yankees playoff series originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

Red Sox starter Lucas Giolito will not pitch against the Yankees in the American League Wild Card series, according to manager Alex Cora.

Giolito is dealing with an elbow injury.

“He’s not going to be on the roster,” Cora said at Yankee Stadium on Monday with Game 1 slated for Tuesday night. “He’s been battling with his elbow the last few days.”

Giolito on Monday went to see Dr. Jeff Dugas, an orthopedic surgeon who specializes in shoulder, elbow, and knee injuries in athletes. Cora did not have any details pertaining to the visit. Dugas is the same doctor who performed the internal bracing procedure on Giolito that sidelined him for the 2024 season.

“Hopefully it’s nothing major, but he won’t be ready for this one,” Cora said.

Giolito was expected to start Game 3 in New York if the series reached three games.

The best-of-three playoff series will feature Red Sox left-hander Garrett Crochet on the mound opposite Yankees left-handed Max Fried in Game 1. Right-hander Bryan Bello is now cemented into the second spot and will face New York left-hander Carlos Rodon in Game 2.

If the series extends to Game 3, the Red Sox could give the ball to a rookie starter like Connelly Early or Kyle Harrison. Yankees right-hander Cam Schlittler is expected to take the mound in Game 3, if the two teams split the first two games.

Giolito’s most recent appearance came against the Toronto Blue Jays on Tuesday. The 31-year-old allowed one run on three hits in 4.2 inning while striking out three batters.

Giolito played a key role in Boston’s second-half surge. He recorded a 3.41 ERA across 26 starts (145 innings) and provided the Red Sox with a reliable starter behind Crochet.

The Yankees finished the regular season tied for the best record in the American League. But they didn’t hold the tiebreaker that decided the AL East title, so their initial October reward is…

A best-of-three Wild Card Series against a team that clobbered them for much of the season. Oh, and it’s their bitter rivals, the Boston Red Sox, the same franchise that authored the stunning 2004 ALCS comeback against the Yanks and has beaten them in the two playoff meetings since then, too.

For baseball fans, it’s a spicy matchup, thick with subplots and charged history. For the Yankees? Potentially dangerous. And not just because of whatever lingering karma there might be from those previous playoff losses.

Boston was 9-4 against the Yankees this season, outscoring them, 66-51. In fairness, the Yankees won the last series between the teams, at Fenway Park in mid-September. But Boston’s top two starters, Garrett Crochet and Brayan Bello, were a combined 5-1 against the Yanks and figure to start the first two games. So a series full of potential pinstriped pitfalls begins with two rugged assignments.

Should be a fun few days that adds lore to a cherished baseball rivalry. Your pulse racing yet? 

WHAT THE YANKEES HAVE GOING FOR THEM

Let’s address the 6-7, 282-pound slugger in the room first: At some point, Aaron Judge will put up October numbers more like his regular season rampages, right? If it starts in this series, against this team, an already-all-time Yankee will only add to his mighty rep. 

Judge, who finished on a heater, had yet another historic regular season, winning his first batting title and smashing 53 home runs. He’s only the third player ever to have a 50-homer season while leading his league in hitting, joining Jimmie Foxx and Mickey Mantle, and only the fifth since 1961 to lead MLB in average, on-base percentage, and slugging in a single season. The others are George Brett, Larry Walker, Barry Bonds, and Miguel Cabrera.

Crazy, right? Of course, now is when more attention will be paid to Judge’s postseason numbers – a .205 average with a .768 OPS, well off his career marks. He has 16 homers in 58 games (a 44-homer pace over 162 games), but Yankee fans want more.

Judge was the main cog in the best offense in baseball this season, one that re-tooled after Juan Soto departed, and Yankee slugging overcame pockmarks in other departments. They led MLB in runs, hit the second-most homers in team history (274), and even ranked eighth in stolen bases. Stealth Bombers?

They can send hitters in waves at opponents, including Giancarlo Stanton, who thrives in October. Jazz Chisholm Jr. had a 30-30 season. Cody Bellinger soared in the Bronx. Ben Rice emerged as an exit-velocity king. Only Judge hit more homers than slugging surprise Trent Grisham (34).

The Yanks also have their own formidable 1-2 rotation punch in Max Fried (MLB-best 19 wins and a 2.86 ERA) and Carlos Rodón, who allowed just 6.1 hits-per-nine innings, tops in the AL. Impressive rookie Cam Schlittler, who barely looks like he’s throwing hard, even as he hits 99 miles-per-hour on the radar gun, figures as their third starter. Schlittler had a 2.96 ERA in 14 starts. Overall, the Yanks were fourth in MLB in starter ERA (3.61).

WHAT THE RED SOX HAVE GOING FOR THEM

Crochet, a dazzling lefty, is at least in the conversation about the best pitcher in baseball after he went 18-5 with a 2.59 ERA, led the AL in innings (205.1) and all of MLB in strikeouts (255). The vaunted Yankee offense batted .200 against him with a .601 OPS, and he had 39 strikeouts and only four walks in 27.1 innings against them. Bello was 2-1 with a 1.89 ERA against the Yankees.

That starter combo could be deadly in such a short series, especially when it’s backed by an elite bullpen. The Red Sox had the second-lowest relief ERA in baseball (3.61), led by former Yankee closer Aroldis Chapman. Chapman had an absurd season, notching a 1.17 ERA, holding hitters to a .132 average and striking out 85 in 61.1 innings.

No Roman Anthony hurts the offense, but the Sox still scored the seventh-most runs, even without any spectacular individual seasons. With the Yanks starting lefties in the first two games, platoon guys such as Romy Gonzalez (.978 OPS, seven homers against lefties) and Rob Refsnyder (.959, seven homers) might be factors.

Should mojo count here? The Sox were 5-2 at Yankee Stadium. The Yanks looked bad against them in several of those nine Boston wins. Whatever psychological advantages the Yanks once seemed to hold over the Sox back in the lopsided days of yore when the rivalry was more like a “rivalry” are long gone. Whatever you believe about that sort of thing. 

THE YANKEES WILL WIN THE SERIES IF…

Judge slugs. It’s not all on him, but it kinda is, you know? He’s due. It won’t be easy, though. He’s got two career homers off Crochet, but he’s 3-for-15 lifetime against the lefty with 11 strikeouts. 

The Yankees were good at scoring early, slugging an MLB-record 50 homers in the first inning, and that could be huge in this series. They tallied in the opening frame 65 times during the regular season and were 46-19 (.708) in those games. If they continue to hit home runs in this series, regardless of inning, they will be difficult to beat.

Parts of the Yankee summer were marred by sloppy play, but they cleaned up some of that during their MLB-best 34-14 run to close the season. Bad fundies are part of the bad aftertaste from last year’s World Series thud, so avoiding erratic defense now is paramount. 

Finally, the Yanks have the worst bullpen ERA of any playoff team (4.37, ranked 23rd in MLB). David Bednar has been the best of the relievers added during the deadline makeover, but the bullpen looms as a potential trouble spot.

THE RED SOX WILL WIN THE SERIES IF…

They get a couple of starting pitching outings that allow them to go starter to setup man (Garrett Whitlock) to Chapman. Whitlock, whom the Sox plucked from the, ahem, Yankees in the 2020 Rule 5 Draft, has been terrific (2.25 ERA).

Defense has been a red (Sox) flag all season. Boston had the most errors in MLB. Does that impact the series?

And how does Alex Bregman, a former member of another October Yankee nemesis – the Astros – factor in? He was on three Houston clubs that eliminated the Yanks and had a .924 OPS against them this year, his first season in Boston. Tuesday will be his 100th career postseason game. Seems unlikely he’s not deeply involved in this.

PREDICTION

Yanks in three.

Sure, Boston dominated the season series. Was that timing or something deeper? We’re banking on timing and that Judge has a big series, Stanton has his usual fall power surge, Yankee starters thrive and the club limits its mistakes.

Easy, right? We kid.

Nothing is easy when it comes to Yankees-Sox.

In the wake of the Mets' season ending with them falling all the way out of the playoffs, there will be no shortage of takes about what went wrong with a team that entered the year as an expected World Series contender. 

There will be discussions about the inconsistent offense, the subpar defense, the coaching, the trade deadline, the decisions made by manager Carlos Mendoza, and the team's failure to win a single game they trailed after eight innings.

And while it's understandable to want to point fingers in a whole bunch of different directions, it can be argued that doing so is kind of a waste.

Yes, there seemed to be a spark missing at times.

Sure, the offense could've been more consistent.

And yes, there were injuries that threw a wrench into things.

But as the dust settles on the 2025 Mets and the 2026 team starts to take shape, it's pretty easy to determine the main culprit for what went wrong.

It was the starting rotation. 

The rotation is the nerve center of a team. Everything flows from there. If there isn't enough length provided (the Mets finished 27th in MLB in innings pitched per start) it negatively impacts the bullpen, which becomes overworked. 

If the starting pitching is constantly putting the team in holes, there's that much more pressure on the offense to dig out of it.

It's a vicious cycle.

Take Game 162 for an example.

The Mets had simply run out of starting pitchers to rely on. That led them to start a struggling Sean Manaea, who was pulled after 1.2 innings. From there, it was a march of relievers -- Huascar Brazoban for 1.0 inning, Brooks Raley for 0.2 of an inning, Ryne Stanek for 0.1 of an inning, and Tyler Rogers for 0.1 of an inning.

By the time Edwin Diaz was called on to stop the bleeding in the fifth inning, the Mets were in a 4-0 hole. And the season, for all intents and purposes, was over.

You can question Mendoza's decision to pull Raley as quickly as he did, or to go to Stanek. But the fact of the matter is that he was managing the last three and a half months of the season with one hand tied behind his back. That's because the starting pitching was simply not good enough in any aspect, and it took the rest of the team down with it.

So this was a collapse, sure. But it's one with an asterisk, because it can be easily argued that the 2025 Mets were irretrievably flawed from the start.

Looking at how things were shaping up back on Feb. 18, following Frankie Montas' injury (and the questionable decision to sign him in the first place), the Mets' rotation still had a high ceiling. But the floor was alarmingly low.

As I laid out at the time, there were injury concerns with Kodai Senga, Clay Holmes was transitioning from reliever to starter, Sean Manaea's late-season results in 2024 were perhaps unsustainable, and David Peterson had yet to put together back-to-back strong seasons.

Meanwhile, Griffin Canning, Tylor Megill, and Paul Blackburn were fine as depth options, but counting on two out of three of them in the rotation could be asking a lot. Regarding Brandon Sproat, his initial struggle with the transition to Triple-A meant that it could possibly take longer than expected for him to become a big league option.

To put it simply, there were lots of what-ifs -- too many for a team with championship aspirations. And while the starting staff excelled over the first few months of the season, the cracks were easy to see.

That included regression from Canning, who had a 5.90 ERA from May 23 to June 26, when he tore his Achilles. And it included the struggles of Megill, who had a 5.79 ERA from May 4 through June 14, which was his last appearance of the season as he dealt with injuries.

When the injuries hit Canning, Megill, and then Senga, the Mets -- who were also without Manaea -- were left in a precarious spot.

It would've seriously impacted any team, but the way New York chose to address it was puzzling.

They in effect punted a handful of games as they relied on bullpen games, four starts from Paul Blackburn (losses on June 13, 18, 23, and 28), and one start from Blade Tidwell.

The bullpen game strategy cost the Mets two games in July, and came at a time when Nolan McLean was dominating for Triple-A Syracuse.

Against the backdrop of David Stearns choosing to not promote McLean, the Mets kept losing games that were winnable.

It's impossible to know how McLean would've fared if he was called up a month or so before his debut on Aug. 16. But it's hard to believe his presence in the rotation wouldn't have led to at least one more win, which would've resulted in the Mets making the playoffs.

You can also point to not adding a starting pitcher around the trade deadline, but the scarcity of available arms and the high price tags make that one a lot more understandable than the strategy they employed over the summer as the injuries mounted -- when it at times felt like New York thought a giveaway loss here or there wouldn't matter.

Still, it all comes back to the way the starting rotation was put together during the offseason. There was just not enough certainty, and it put the team in a precarious spot really quickly -- one Stearns and Co. were unable to wrest themselves out of.

Given Stearns' history of success and analytical nature, it's fair to believe he'll take a different approach to the rotation for 2026 -- one that places an emphasis on track record over hope.

Giants come to grips with another end-of-season firing after Bob Melvin ousted originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

SAN FRANCISCO — The timing was odd, and looking back, it makes even less sense. 

At 1:05 p.m. on July 1, the Giants sent out a press release announcing that they had picked up the 2026 option on manager Bob Melvin. The lead quote in the release was from president of baseball operations Buster Posey, who said later that day he had spent months watching Melvin closely and weeks having internal discussions about whether to make the move. 

“We believe he’s the right person to continue guiding this team forward,” Posey said that day, even though the Giants had lost six of seven. 

Three months later, the Giants sent out another press release. Melvin had been fired, with Posey saying this time that a change of leadership was needed.

It is an unfortunate end for Melvin, a Bay Area native who viewed this as his dream job and ideally his final MLB job. But, more than anything, it’s a bad look for everyone involved.

At the end of the 2023 season, Gabe Kapler was fired. A year later, it was Farhan Zaidi, with Posey taking over. This time, it’s Melvin. There were plenty of reasons why each move was made, but still, this is a stunning stretch for an organization that wraps itself in “Forever Giant” talk and had incredible continuity while winning three titles. 

“It’s not ideal, right?” Posey said Monday. “It’s definitely not ideal. But unfortunately, we talked about it a lot, what the standards are for the Giants, and we have high standards and I hold myself to those same standards. I understand fully the position that I’m in now.”

The front office is not blameless, and Posey knows it. He hoped to boost morale by picking up Melvin’s option, but it became an expensive mistake. He made decisive moves in acquiring Rafael Devers and selling at the deadline, but the Giants also ran out of pitching, and looking back at the offseason, it’s clear they put too much faith in internal options at several positions. They certainly need to be more active with the roster this winter and build more depth. 

This is also a tough day for many in the clubhouse. Ultimately, they’re the ones taking the field, and for a second time in three years, they have watched a manager get fired. Melvin was popular to the end, and it was a somber scene on Sunday afternoon as some players realized he would take the fall for their inconsistency on the field. 

This all comes after more than a decade of stability under Brian Sabean and Bruce Bochy, but now, the Giants have a streak of three straight years in which they either fired their manager or president of baseball operations. 

Posey must know that there’s more work to be done behind the scenes. He has spent 12 months watching what goes on at every level of the organization, and he knows this wasn’t just about the manager. Something at Oracle Park just isn’t clicking. 

“Without a doubt, you hope there can be consistency in these leadership positions,” he said Monday. “We’ve got to get back to a place where we’re getting in the playoffs, we’re making runs in the playoffs. That’s what our fan base deserves. That’s what the city deserves. 

“When seasons don’t go the way you want them, it’s never one person’s fault. It’s never one group’s fault. But when they don’t go the way you want them, you can’t — in my opinion — sit there and say we’re going to come back and do the same thing that we did this year for the next year. Having said that, that’s part of why we landed where we landed.”

Zaidi hired Melvin in part because he was the opposite of Kapler, who had become unpopular by the end despite leading the Giants to 107 wins in 2021. Melvin is old school, and he brought along longtime coaches like Matt Williams and Ryan Christenson, who could not have been more different than the ones that were let go. 

The Giants made a show of cutting back their analytics department, ignoring the fact that the rest of the good teams in their division, the Los Angeles Dodgers in particular, continue to expand. Multiple players said this season that it is one area where the team is lacking. 

In retrospect, it’s clear there was a middle ground — and Stephen Vogt represented that. But the Giants played it safe, and they’re now paying for it. As they fell out of the race this year, Vogt — with a staff filled with former Kapler disciples — led a historic comeback in Cleveland. 

Vogt once backed up Posey, who now will lead the search for his own hand-picked manager. It is a decision that most lead executives only get to make once, and Posey must get it right. 

He is all-in with the core of this roster, and his choice must be strong enough to lead the Giants to the postseason in 2026. The next manager must also be someone who can grow with Posey and general manager Zack Minasian. The Giants don’t want to do this all again in two years. They have already done it far more often than expected. 

The tradition at Oracle Park last decade was holding postseason games in October. This decade, they have held press conferences to explain a firing, and no matter what one might feel about the individual decisions, there’s no denying that, taken all together, it’s a bad look.

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Here's what happened in Mets Land on Sunday, in case you missed it...

• Needing a win to reach the playoffs as the Reds lost to the Brewers, the Mets were shut out by the Marlins, 4-0, in Miami on Sunday as their season came to a close
• SNY MLB Insider Andy Martino reports on what's next
• Analyzing what went into the Mets' collapse
• Carlos Mendozaowned New York's "unacceptable" playoff miss
• As expected, Pete Alonso will be opting out of his contract
• Kodai Sengadiscussed the disappointing end to his season
• WATCH: A dejected Francisco Lindor talked about what went wrong for New York
• WATCH: Juan Soto and Edwin Diaz talked about the season coming to a close
• WATCH: Brandon Nimmo put the blame on the players, not the coaching

Giants fire manager Bob Melvin after two disappointing seasons with team originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

Once known for their stability on the top step of the dugout, the Giants now will embark on a search for a new manager for the second time in 25 months. 

Manager Bob Melvin was let go on Monday morning, ending his run with his hometown organization after two mediocre seasons. The decision came about three months after president of baseball operations Buster Posey picked up Melvin’s option for the 2026 MLB season, a move that was popular in the clubhouse but did nothing to jolt a slumping team.

“After careful evaluation, we determined that making a change in leadership was in the best interest of the team,” Posey said in a statement. “The last couple of months have been both disappointing and frustrating for all of us, and we did not perform up to our standards. We now turn our focus to identifying a new leader to guide us forward.”

After Posey’s decision in July, the Giants went into yet another second-half collapse. They lost six straight ahead of the MLB trade deadline, pushing Posey to sell. At one point, the Giants lost 15 of 16 games at Oracle Park, a historically-bad run that cut into the attendance and enthusiasm gains they had seen in the first half. 

That stretch brought up new questions about Melvin’s job security, but the Giants briefly righted the ship in late August and early September, only to once again fall apart after moving into a tie for the final postseason spot. They were eliminated on Tuesday night and finished 81-81 after going 80-82 in Melvin’s first season.

For the 63-year-old, this could be the end of the road. A Palo Alto native who played for the Giants in the 1980s, Melvin viewed this as a dream job. He had hoped this would be his final big league stop, although that might change given the way it ended. Melvin previously managed in Seattle, Oakland, Arizona and San Diego.

The Giants brought Melvin up the coast after firing Gabe Kapler at the end of the 2023 season. In just about every way, Melvin stood as the opposite of Kapler, and his hire generally was met with solid reviews. 

In two years, he has had the backing of his players, particularly Matt Chapman, who played for Melvin in Oakland and has said he is a major reason why he signed a long-term deal with the Giants. Players who spoke about Melvin this past week said they hoped to see him back in 2026, noting he wasn’t the reason the season fell apart. Posey himself said the same three months ago. 

On July 1, after losing six of seven, Posey picked up Melvin’s option for next season. He said that day that he had spent months watching the manager and did not make the decision hastily. Posey said the team’s failures were on his shoulders, as well as a talented roster that was underperforming. 

“From my perspective, and also my perspective as a player, sometimes when you’re going through a rough patch there’s a tendency to want to point the finger at coaches, and ultimately I believe we have great players, and I still believe in that group of players, but it boils down to them needing to play better baseball,” Posey said back then. “If anybody deserves any blame from the top it should be on me, it shouldn’t be on the manager or coaching staff. I’m the one who sets the roster. I felt like, with all those things considered, this was a good time for me to show my belief in Bob and this coaching staff.”

Chapman and Logan Webb were among the players who said that day that they agreed with the decision, but the Giants continued their freefall. They were 11 games over .500 when Posey traded for Rafael Devers and five over when he said Melvin would be back in 2026, but ended up missing the playoffs for the eighth time in nine years.

Heading into his second offseason in charge of baseball operations, Posey now will lead a managerial search, and he has to get it right. The Giants have a roster of highly-compensated players in their prime, and everyone involved is sick of finishing around .500. 

There are sure to be Bruce Bochy rumors, although that seems an unlikely path for many reasons, most notably the fact that Bochy currently is managing elsewhere and might be headed back to retirement. This is a chance for Posey to pick a long-term leader for the clubhouse and partner for the front office. It might be the most important decision he makes as president of baseball operations, but it’s also one he never imagined having to think about in October 2025. 

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The longer it went on, the more it felt like a telling statistic: The Mets went 0-70 in games in which they trailed after eight innings – the only team in the majors that didn’t pull off such a comeback win this season.

Especially considering the 'OMG' Mets of 2024 were largely defined by their late-inning comebacks, it’s hard not to see relevance in the 2025 Mets’ failure to have one of those steal-a-win type games that create chemistry and good vibes on a ballclub.

They had one last chance to do it, down 4-0 on Sunday in Miami against the Marlins. And by the time the Mets came to bat in the ninth inning, they knew the Cincinnati Reds had lost in Milwaukee, putting their postseason fate back in their hands one last time.

A winning rally at that point would have been the mother of all comebacks, sending the Mets to Los Angeles for a wild-card series with the Dodgers. Instead, despite getting their seventh walk of the game to start the ninth, they went quietly, with Francisco Lindorgrounding into a season-ending 4-6-3 double play.

It’s not a surprise they’re out, as poorly as they’ve played for months, and yet it’s still kind of hard to believe, considering the payroll and the level of talent.

To be sure, there are bigger reasons than intangibles as to why the Mets played 17 games under .500 starting June 13, a date so infamous by now that it practically rivals June 15, 1977, the day they traded Tom Seaver.

The biggest reason of all was front-and-center on this do-or-die day: Carlos Mendoza didn’t have a starting pitcher he felt he could trust. On a day when he used eight pitchers, David Peterson didn’t even see the mound, a reflection of his 9.28 ERA in September.

And Sean Manaea was used as more of an opener than a starter, getting pulled in the second inning after a couple of walks. That too was a reflection of how poorly he’s pitched for, really, his entire season, which was delayed until July by an oblique injury, and perhaps also the loose bodies in his elbow.

Finally, Kodai Sengacouldn’t even pitch his way back onto the roster after his ineffective starts that led to a minor-league demotion. In that sense, perhaps the turning point of the season was that day before June 13, when Pete Alonso’s high throw almost certainly caused Senga to pull his hamstring, at a time when he had a 1.47 ERA.

Senga, Manaea, and Peterson, after all, were supposed to be the No. 1-2-3 starters in the rotation this season, and their combined ineffectiveness largely doomed the Mets, especially with so much at stake late in the season.

But even that doesn’t explain why this team didn’t hit with runners in scoring position, save for the month of August, or why they played such dreadful baseball at times, especially in September, making both mental and physical mistakes that cost them games.

Throw in the lack of depth in the bullpen, which David Stearns, thought he addressed at the trade deadline, and those were the on-the-field issues that added up to all that losing baseball for more than three months.

And yet for all that, it’s still hard to ignore the intangibles that are more difficult to define but perhaps too often taken for granted.

Were J.D. Martinez and Jose Iglesias together the secret sauce to the 2024 season, Martinez providing veteran wisdom even when he stopped hitting down the stretch, and Iglesias driving the intensity higher on a daily basis with the way he grinded at the plate and hustled his way to more infield hits than you could count?

Martinez was done after last season, and certainly from a big-picture standpoint, it made sense to make room for young, home-grown players like Luisangel Acuña and Ronny Mauricio, in addition to Brett Baty and Mark Vientos, rather than bring back Iglesias.

But I thought it was a mistake at the time, not valuing what Iglesias did for the ballclub. And though he didn’t have nearly the season in San Diego that he did with the Mets, it’s still hard not to wonder if his presence would have added some of the intensity that seemed to be missing at times this season.

Put it this way, with Iglesias around, I have to believe they would have won at least one of those games in which they were trailing after eight innings. And if so, they’d likely be in the postseason.

That’s perhaps too simplistic, but it helps make a larger point.

That is, it seems relevant to note that Stearns, in some ways made a similar decision as Milwaukee Brewers’ GM, failing to anticipate the impact on his team’s clubhouse when he traded closer Josh Hader at the 2022 trade deadline, after which the Brewers fell out of contention.

A couple of years later, Stearns said he regretted that trade, implying reasons tangible and intangible, yet moving on from Iglesias felt a little bit like the Hader decision.

All in all, I don’t put as much blame on Stearns as I see fans doing on social media. Those pitching injuries/underperformance cut the legs out from these Mets, but that also leads to my biggest issue with the Prez of BB Ops: his refusal to bring up Nolan McLean at least a month earlier than he did, when he was instead using career minor leaguers to fill in for an injury-riddled starting rotation in July.

Even a handful of more starts from McLean might have assured the Mets of holding onto a wild-card spot.

That’s not necessarily about intangibles, but it is about having a feel for what the ballclub needs, and for not recognizing the obvious poise and competitiveness in McLean, in addition to his elite stuff, that made him major league-ready.

Stearns values analytics; we know that, but does he appreciate everything else that goes into building a winner?

It sure looked that way in 2024 when the Mets surprised everyone by going to the NLCS, but it’s a fair question now. Not only because this season goes down as an all-time failure, but because significant changes need to be made with this roster.

Only it’s not obvious how to make them. Alonso proved his worth and unless the Mets are signing Kyle Schwarber, which feels unlikely, Stearns needs to lock him up. However, between Alonso, Juan Soto, Lindor, and to some extent, Brandon Nimmo, whose contract would be difficult to trade, the Mets don’t have a lot of room for maneuvering.

The Mets now have a foundation of young pitching, as we’ve seen, and in top prospect Carson Benge they may have a difference-maker with the bat who can play center field, perhaps as early as sometime next season.

But Stearns can’t count on that. Nor can he fall back on his formula of signing undervalued pitchers, which worked in ’24 but not for the long run in ’25. He’s going to have to bring in at least one high-priced pitcher from a group that includes Michael King, Dylan Cease, Ranger Suarez, and Framber Valdez.

And he’s going to have to improve the offense by trade or free agency as well. Of course, no amount of money can necessarily assure a team of having OMG magic, if you will, but finding a glue guy or two ought to assure that your team won’t go 0-70 when trailing after eight innings.

Which is what now seems fitting as an epitaph for the ’25 Mets.