Category: Baseball

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.

Download and follow the Giants Talk Podcast

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. 

Download and follow the Giants Talk Podcast

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.

Mets right-hander Kodai Senga's third MLB season is officially over with Sunday's 4-0 loss at the Miami Marlins, a result that kept New York out of the playoffs and ended any speculation over whether or not the 32-year-old would be on the team's postseason roster.

Senga was with the Mets in Miami but inactive while on a throwing program in Port St. Lucie, Fla., after being optioned to Triple-A Syracuse earlier this month.

His 2025 season ends with him going 7-6 and posting a 3.02 ERA in 22 starts for New York, plagued by the second half.

"I think it comes down to my body," Senga said through an interpreter. "I wasn't able to control my body the way I wanted to after that injury and, unfortunately, that showed up in the results on the field, too, and very disappointing that I wasn't able to contribute in that last month or so."

The Mets placed Senga on the 15-day injured list on June 13 with a right hamstring strain. He returned to New York on July 11 but was never the same, going 0-3 with a 5.90 ERA in his final nine starts through Aug. 31.

"I want to rebuild from Step 1," Senga said. "My body's changed after this injury and after various things. My body's changed, so not reflecting back on, 'My body used to do this or used to do that,' it's Step 1 again, head into the offseason, come back strong next year."

Senga elaborated on what he meant by his body changing.

"When you get injured and after you come back from injury, you're not the exact same as you were before -- that's just what that means," Senga said.

Injuries limited Senga to one start in 2024. He went 12-7 with a 2.98 ERA in 2023, his first season with the Mets.

"For example, last year, where I kind of ended the season off an injury, still kind of had to do a similar thing," he said. "But if I can make the most of the time that I have in the offseason, I can come back strong."

Senga enters the fourth season of a five-year contract that he signed in December 2022.

"That latter half of the season, it was disappointing that I wasn't able to perform out there," Senga said. "Ultimately, the decision came down to we think that somebody else pitching instead of me is going to help the team win. So, that's what it kind of comes down to."

One personal note before we start dispensing information: Mets fans deserved better this year. You gave so much of yourselves.

Steve Cohen asked you to show up, and you did. You were loud. Your energy rocked Citi Field nearly every night. You made Queens the center of New York baseball, even as the collapse worsened. It’s such a waste that the team didn’t give you a playoff run.

Anyway, here are a few reported items in the immediate aftermath of the 4-0 loss in Miami that ended the Mets’ season.

What just happened?

David Wright once told me that while the 2007 Mets choked, the 2008 Mets were just not quite good enough, especially in the bullpen once Billy Wagner went down. This year felt far more like ‘08 than ‘07. The Mets were short on pitching and defense, period. There isn’t a stat for choking on Baseball Savant, so my point isn’t provable — but I didn’t see a lot of what looked like a choke job. I saw guys playing hard and going about their business (full disclosure, I wasn’t in Miami).

In the end, the team simply failed to prevent runs well enough. They didn’t have enough pitching, or even close. And they might have squeaked into the postseason with better defensive personnel.

So how will that improve?

On the pitching side, don’t be surprised if the Mets are aggressive off this debacle in trying to acquire an ace.

David Stearns does not believe in using free agency to overpay top starting pitchers. But what if Paul Skenes or Sandy Alcantara can be pried from their teams? If there is a way to land one of those two without trading Nolan McLean, why wouldn’t the Mets be aggressive?

Stearns will also need to reflect on the flawed process that led to wasting money on Frankie Montas. It’s easy from my seat to cherry-pick moves that did not work, but this one stuck out as a possible example of weighing data over an overwhelming human argument against the player.

Stearns wants to be great here, running the team he has loved since childhood. He is intelligent and ambitious enough to take a long look at how he and his group arrived at certain decisions that smart folks around the industry — not just the closed-minded haters — didn’t understand.

The Mets’ young pitching depth continues to be a reason for significant optimism regarding next year’s team.

As for the defense, that will improve over the years that Stearns is running the Mets. Look at the versatile and athletic Milwaukee Brewers. Stearns mostly inherited this position player group. He will gradually bring in better defenders.

Will the manager survive?

According to sources with direct knowledge, the Mets have no plans to fire Carlos Mendoza. A change would require a series of events that was not at all in motion as the Mets finished off their collapse on Sunday evening.

You should, however, expect notable and perhaps widespread changes to the coaching staff. This feels like the biggest news to watch in the immediate aftermath.

What will happen with Pete Alonso, Edwin Diaz and other stars?

It is entirely possible that both stars with opt outs played their final game at a Met on Sunday. These situations could go either way.

Obviously, there are Mets officials who would make an internal case to spread their money around on players other than a thirty-something first baseman and closer. Buckle up for more Alonso free agent uncertainty. 

And would the Mets go so far as to explore a trade market for stalwarts Francisco Lindor and Brandon Nimmo? You can rest assured that the team’s leadership will reflect as deeply as possible on how to keep the Mets pointed in the right direction.

The Yankees have known they were going to be playing October baseball for a couple of days, but they found out their opponent Sunday as the 2025 regular season came to an end.

With the Toronto Blue Jays winning the AL East title, New York (94-68) earned the top wild-card spot and will host the Boston Red Sox (89-73) in the AL Wild Card Series. All games will be played at Yankee Stadium.

Game 1 of the best-of-three set will be on Tuesday, September 30 at 6:08 p.m. on ESPN. 

Game 2 will be on Wednesday, October 1 (time TBD) and, if needed, Game 3 will be on Thursday, October 2.

New York and Boston are tied 12-12 in all-time postseason matchups, with the Red Sox winning the past three playoff series between the bitter rivals (2004 ALCS, 2018 ALDS, and 2021 Wild Card Game).

The Yankees last postseason series win over the Red Sox came in the 2003 ALCS.

The 2025 Metsmissed the playoffs with Sunday's 4-0 loss at the Miami Marlins, a season-ending result that second-year New York manager Carlos Mendoza owned.

"It's hard to describe," Mendoza said. "I just got done addressing the team and there's no word to describe what we're going through. It's pain, it's frustration — you name it. Came in with a lot of expectations and here we are, going home.

"Not only we fell short, we didn't even get into October. And this is a team that is built not only to get to October but to play deep into October. And again — pissed, sad, frustrated, you name it."

The Cincinnati Reds' 4-2 loss Sunday at the Milwaukee Brewers meant that, with a win, the Mets (83-79) could have still found a way in. However, Mendoza's team did not do itself any favors while getting blanked by Miami (79-83).

"That's a question that we're going to have to answer here because, the whole year, I kept saying, 'We've got the talent, we've got the talent,' and here we are — we're going home," Mendoza said of why the Mets' talent could not get the results.

"I take responsibility. I'm the manager. It starts with me, and I've got to take a long look here — how I need to get better. That was a message to the whole team as well. This is unacceptable."

Mendoza, 45, led the 2024 Mets to an 89-73 record as the third wild card and reached last year's NLCS in his first year as New York's manager. He was asked if he had "any concerns at all about" his "own future, potentially, in the organization." SNY MLB Insider Andy Martino reported Sunday after the Mets' loss that the team has "absolutely no plans" to fire him. 

"Since Day 1, when you're in this chair, you're on the hot seat — as simple as that," Mendoza said. "When you're managing a team that has a lot of expectations and you go home, questions like this are going to come up and that's part of it. That's it. I'm responsible, and I have to be better — as simple as that."

The Mets lost 4-0 to the Marlins in Miami on Sunday, ending their season in frustration as they were eliminated from postseason play.

New York had the incentive of knowing the Cincinnati Reds were losing in Milwaukee, and then lost to the Brewers, meaning they could earn the third wild-card spot by winning their game.

Yet they went quietly, finishing the season as the only team in the majors that lost every game in which it was trailing after eight innings.

Here are the takeaways...

-- The Marlins gave the Mets plenty of opportunities, allowing seven walks, in addition to five hits, but Carlos Mendoza’s team went 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position, a fitting ending of sorts for a team that was so inconsistent offensively all season, especially in RISP situations.

Their last gasp came in the eighth inning when they put runners at first and second with two outs against reliever Calvin Faucher, as both Jeff McNeil and Francisco Alvarez struck out chasing pitches out of the strike zone.

In Alvarez’s case, on a 3-2 pitch he chased a slider outside that would have been ball four, loading the bases. He then snapped his bat in half over his knee in anger.

Marlins starter Edward Cabrera held the Mets to two hits over five innings, but also walked five hitters.

-- The Mets’ pitching plan became clear early when Mendoza pulled Sean Manaea in the second inning, after two walks put runners on first and second with two outs. He brought in Huascar Brazoban, who got out of the inning, and from there he tried to piece nine innings together by his high-leverage relievers in the early innings.

Brazoban and Brooks Raley got the game through three innings with the game scoreless, but the plan -- and the game -- unraveled in the fourth inning.

The two primary culprits were Ryne Stanek and Tyler Rogers. With a runner on first, Stanek paid for hanging a couple of sliders that Eric Wagaman and Brian Navarreto hit to the wall in left-center for RBI doubles to give the Marlins a 2-0 lead.

Rogers then came in and gave up two hard-hit balls, a triple to left-center by No. 9 hitter Javier Sanoja and a line single to center by Xavier Edwards for a 4-0 lead.

-- Doing anything to keep the game close, Mendoza went to Edwin Diaz in the fifth inning, and the Mets’ closer delivered two scoreless innings as the game stayed at 4-0.

Ryan Helsley and then Gregory Soto each pitched a scoreless inning.

-- The Mets had their best chance in the fifth inning. Trailing 4-0, they loaded the bases against Cabrera on three walks, to Ronny Mauricio, Francisco Lindor, and Juan Soto.

With two outs, Pete Alonso hit a laser toward left-center at 115.9 mph off the bat. At that exit velocity, and launch angle, the expected batting average on such a ball was .780. Yet, the speedy left fielder Sanoja sprinted to his left and made the catch on the run, as Alonso stopped in the first base line and stared, seemingly in disbelief.

Two innings earlier, with the game still scoreless, the Mets had another opportunity when Tyrone Taylor reached on an infield single to deep short, and Lindor walked.

With one out, Soto hit a ground ball up the middle, and with shortstop Otto Lopez playing him that way, it turned into an easy 6-6-3 double play to end the inning.

Game MVP: Edward Cabrera

The Marlins’ right-hander shut down the Mets over the first five innings, giving his team time to build a 4-0 lead that held up.

Highlights

Sean Manaea strikes out two in the first! pic.twitter.com/1cPYV4Llzd

— SNY (@SNYtv) September 28, 2025

Francisco Lindor charges Otto Lopez's ground ball and makes the play for the out pic.twitter.com/RIWbUFWrBe

— SNY (@SNYtv) September 28, 2025

Brazobán comes on and gets out of trouble! pic.twitter.com/gX4kHF3Zvs

— SNY (@SNYtv) September 28, 2025

Francisco Lindor talked with Pete Alonso after Alonso's 116-MPH lineout to end the fifth inning pic.twitter.com/HXvMtDO6dS

— SNY (@SNYtv) September 28, 2025

Francisco Alvarez snaps his bat over his leg after striking out to end the 8th pic.twitter.com/EdPzkQYfq8

— SNY (@SNYtv) September 28, 2025

It was one last batter. One last strikeout. One last ovation for a future Hall of Famer.

And it ended, fittingly, on a helplessly empty swing.

In the top of the sixth inning on Sunday afternoon, in the final regular-season outing of his illustrious 18-year career, Clayton Kershaw snapped off a trademark slider that ducked below the zone. Eugenio Suárez waved at it for a strikeout like so many countless others before him.

With that, Kershaw had his seventh strikeout of the day and the 3,052nd of his career. He had completed 5 ⅓ scoreless innings, lowering his career ERA to 2.53 — the best among any starting pitcher with 1,000 career innings in the live ball era (since 1920).

Read more:Nine concerns the Dodgers should have about facing the Reds in the NL wild-card series

In the dugout, manager Dave Roberts motioned to fellow veteran Freddie Freeman, sending the first baseman out to the mound to remove Kershaw from his last career start.

When he got there, the two exchanged an embrace, Kershaw hugged the rest of his infield teammates, and then he acknowledged a cheering T-Mobile Park crowd as he walked back to the dugout.

He donned his cap, waved his arm and disappeared down the stairs — for perhaps the very last time.

If Kershaw is to take the mound again before retirement this winter, the Dodgers will have to advance through the first round of the playoffs.

Ahead of his scoreless 5 ⅓ inning start in the Dodgers’ 6-1 win against the Seattle Mariners in Sunday’s regular-season finale, Roberts said Kershaw would not be on the team’s roster for next week’s best-of-three wild card series against the Cincinnati Reds.

The decision isn’t shocking. Kershaw was not going to feature in the starting rotation for the series. And though he could have been an option in the bullpen, the Dodgers already have an abundance of left-handed relievers.

Thus, the Dodgers (who finished the season 93-69) will have to reach at least the National League Division Series for Kershaw to pitch in a major league game again. Roberts noted that, if the team does advance, Kershaw could be an option in any capacity.

“You just don’t know how things are gonna play out,” Roberts said. “I can see him starting a game. I can see him coming in for a short burst. I can see him in long relief. I can see him in a lot of ways. I don’t think anyone can predict how that’s gonna play out. We gotta get through the wild card series, and see who’s standing after that.”

If this is the end of the line for Kershaw, he is going out on his own terms.

After being limited by injuries for much of the past three seasons — including missing all of last year’s World Series run with toe and knee injuries that ultimately required offseason surgery — the 37-year-old decided to return to the Dodgers this season for one last crack at a championship chase.

He wound up turning in one of his most impactful performances.

Though Kershaw’s 11-2 record and 3.36 ERA are no career highs, his ability to consistently produce over 23 outings this season (including a ninth-inning appearance as a reliever last week) proved to be invaluable for the Dodgers. He was a steady veteran presence early in the year, when the team was battling a wave of rotation injuries. He was a losing-skid stopper on multiple occasions over the second half, when the team nearly squandered a division lead that once was nine games.

Take a bow, Clayton. pic.twitter.com/ha33b8N8Hr

— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) September 28, 2025

“I don’t think we’d have won the division,” Roberts said, when asked where the team would have been without Kershaw this season.

“He delivered 10 times over for us.”

Roberts acknowledged that Kershaw exceeded all of his expectations for the aging pitcher this season. He relished watching the all-time Dodgers icon write one last memorable chapter to his legendary, record-setting MLB career.

“He doesn’t want handouts, he doesn’t want freebies, he doesn’t want to be a token,” Roberts said. “He was a big part of what we accomplished this year.”

And, if the Dodgers can get through this week’s wild-card series, he still might be at some point in the playoffs as well.

Ohtani sets career, club HR mark

A year after breaking the Dodgers’ single-season home run record with a career-high 54 long balls last season, Shohei Ohtani reset the high mark once again Sunday.

After two-run home runs from Hyeseong Kim and Freeman early in the game, Ohtani extended the Dodgers' lead with a solo blast to center field in the seventh. It was his 55th homer of the year, leaving him one shy of Kyle Schwarber for most in the NL.

Sign up for more Dodgers news with Dodgers Dugout. Delivered at the start of each series.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.