Category: Sports News

The Mets came back from four runs down by taking advantage of some shoddy defense by the Los Angeles Angels to grab a 7-5 win on Monday night at Citi Field.

Kodai Senga, lacking sharpness and striking no fear in the Angels -- who showed no fear in laying off the Ghost Fork below the strike zone -- managed to go just three frames as his streak of 31 starts of allowing three runs or fewer ended. But New York's bullpen bought enough time for the bats to respond with a three-run seventh and two-run eighth to improve to 57-44 on the season and 35-16 at home.

Here are the takeaways...

- Down three in the seventh, the Mets came alive when Francisco Alvarez, in his first game back after his demotion, led off with a walk and Luisangel Acuña singled up the middle to knock out Angels starter Tyler Anderson who had been terrific. Reliever Reid Detmers came on and plunked Brandon Nimmo to load the bases. Francisco Lindor grounded into a run-scoring 6-4 fielder’s choice, beating the relay to first and then swiping second without a throw. That proved big as Juan Soto, in a 3-for-30 skid, knocked a base hit up the middle to score a pair and tie the game. 

- Down 1-0 with one out in the second, Jeff McNeil looped a single over the second baseman's head and Mark Vientos followed with a lined smash to left, but the Mets failed to do anything with the opportunity against Anderson, as Brett Baty and Alvarez grounded out.

Baty, with two down and McNeil on first after he walked, redeemed himself in the fourth, clubbing a 2-0 Anderson sinker in the lefty happy zone 404 feet to right for a two-run shot to halve the deficit. The 106.3 mph rocket was Baty's 11th on the year and first against a southpaw. McNeil finished 1-for-3 with a walk and a strikeout. Baty finished 1-for-3 with a walk and a strikeout. Vientos went 1-for-4.

- Alvarez got another chance with the go-ahead runner on first and one down in the eighth, and came up big, taking a low-and-away 97 mph fastball and driving it off the wall in right for a double, aided by Angels right fielder Chris Taylor misplaying the 375-foot smash. 

With runners on second and third, Ronny Mauricio (pinch-hitting for Acuña) grounded it to third, but Yoán Moncada’s throw home was off target and got past the catcher to allow Baty to score the go-ahead run on a play he should have been out on by 10 feet. Nimmo added a sac fly to right to give the Mets a 7-5 lead.

At the plate, Alvarez looked much quieter and worked a pair of walks, to finish 1-for-2 with two walks.

- Edwin Diaz, looking to shake off a blown save in Sunday’s win, struck out the side on 14 pitches to nail down the win.

- Other than Soto’s two-RBI hit, the struggles for the Mets’ heart of the order continued. Lindor, who entered the game in an 0-for-21 slump, popped out twice on the infield as he went 0-for-5 with an RBI. Soto made three straight first-pitch outs, making solid contact on a flyout to center as he went 1-for-4. And Pete Alonso, with just eight hits in his last 48 at-bats (.167) over his last 14 games, went 0-for-3 with a walk and strikeout.

- Senga opened the game by allowing the first batter to reach for the ninth time in 15 starts with a walk, but a strikeout and two good defensive plays on balls in the infield saw him settle into the game.

With two down in the second, Logan O'Hoppe got a center-cut cutter and drove it into the visitor's bullpen for a 401-foot solo home run, 107 mph off the bat.

Senga’s lack of sharpness was apparent with two down in the third. He surrendered a leadoff infield hit to third before getting the next two, but then walked Mike Trout as the Angels continued to have little interest in chasing the splitter. Then Taylor Ward took a 2-1 cutter that got too much of the middle of the plate for a two-run double to left. The Mets probably should have got Trout at the plate, but Nimmo's throw to Lindor was a bit high and the shortstop’s throw to the plate went over everybody’s heads. Jo Adell took a first-pitch fastball to right for a single to make it a three-run inning. Senga issued one more walk before ending the inning with a strikeout on his 37th pitch of the frame.

His final line: 3.0 innings, four runs on four hits and three walks with five strikeouts on 73 pitches (39 strikes). Senga's average velocity was down at least a mph on all of his pitches, with the average forkball velocity down 2.2 mph and the average sinker velocity down 1.9 mph. He managed 10 whiffs on 26 swings, but half of those came on pitches inside the strike zone.

- Called on early, the bullpen responded well at first. Righty Kevin Herget worked 2.1 scoreless innings, allowing just two singles. Chris Devenski entered with a man on first and one out in the sixth, and got a strikeout and groundout. 

But Devenski had nothing in the seventh, after a single and caught stealing, a walk, a hit-by-pitch, and a single to right scored the Angels’ fifth run and put runners on the corners.

Huascar Brazobán got a 5-2 putout with Baty and Alvarez combining well before a strikeout stranded two runners in the seventh. Brooks Raley allowed a two-out single in a scoreless eighth.

- Part of the reason Alvarez was sent down was to work on his receiving, blocking, and all things defense. In the first, he had plenty of opportunities to block and pick balls as Senga struggled to find the zone or get chases. He did well to pounce on a little dribbler in front of the plate and snap a throw to first to get the final out. Alvarez later gunned down Zach Neto trying to steal second for the first out in the seventh, aided by a fine tag by Lindor.

Game MVP: Bullpen

The work from Herget, Devenski, Brazobán, Raley, and Diaz kept the Mets in the game and shut the door after Senga failed to get to double-digit outs.

Highlights

Kodai Senga fans Mike Trout with the ghost fork 👻 pic.twitter.com/oHkSb8W81z

— SNY (@SNYtv) July 21, 2025

Brett Baty cuts the deficit in half with a two-run blast! pic.twitter.com/WdPrkdEpIR

— SNY (@SNYtv) July 22, 2025

Francisco Alvarez throws out Zach Neto with help from Francisco Lindor pic.twitter.com/bUwe9p73Nz

— SNY (@SNYtv) July 22, 2025

Brett Baty makes the acrobatic play on the ground ball and the throw home to get Mike Trout! pic.twitter.com/DXodGMdysR

— SNY (@SNYtv) July 22, 2025

JUAN SOTO TIES THE GAME! pic.twitter.com/8Y6quQg1E7

— SNY (@SNYtv) July 22, 2025

Francisco Alvarez hits a long double off the wall! pic.twitter.com/RkilSuuNbL

— SNY (@SNYtv) July 22, 2025

BAD FUNDIES BY THE ANGELS!

THE METS HAVE THE LEAD! pic.twitter.com/d2rYjPj4Nt

— SNY (@SNYtv) July 22, 2025

EDWIN DÍAZ STRIKES OUT THE SIDE IN THE 9TH! pic.twitter.com/cFQwz3Vxxv

— SNY (@SNYtv) July 22, 2025

What's next

The two sides are right back at it Tuesday night for a 7:10 p.m. first pitch in Flushing.

Right-hander Frankie Montas (5.03 ERA, 1.169 WHIP in 19.2 innings) climbs the hill for New York in his fifth start of the season. Righty Kyle Hendricks (4.88 ERA, 1.292 WHIP in 96.0 innings) toes the rubber for Los Angeles for his 19th start of the campaign.

The Yankees lost the series opener against the Toronto Blue Jays on Monday night by a score of 4-1.

Here are the takeaways...

-Things were going okay for Carlos Rodón until a four-run fifth inning put an abrupt end to his night. Holding on to a 1-0 lead, Rodón began the inning with a walk to George Springer. It was his fifth walk of the night as the lefty had trouble with his command. Up until then, the walks didn't come back to bite Rodón, who maneuvered through traffic on the basepaths, including twice with the bases loaded.

-Things started to cave in, though, during the fifth following the leadoff walk. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. singled and Bo Bichette drove in two with a double, which gave Toronto the lead. After retiring the next two batters, Rodón's defense let him down.

-Throwing errors by third baseman Oswald Peraza and shortstop Anthony Volpe on routine ground balls scored two more runs, both unearned. Rodón was finally able to put the inning to bed by striking out Joey Loperfido, but not before throwing 40 pitches in the inning (which included a 14-pitch at-bat against Davis Schneider that resulted in a pop out).

-Rodon's final line: 5 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 2 ER, 5 BB, 4 K on 107 pitches (66 strikes).

-Offensively, the Yankees were outmatched by Kevin Gausman, who handled them over seven innings. He allowed a run on four hits and two walks while striking out eight.

-The only run New York scored came in the fourth inning on Giancarlo Stanton's leadoff home run. The blast, Stanton's fifth of the season, gave the Yanks a 1-0 advantage as the designated hitter stayed red-hot. Stanton is now slashing .421/.522/.947 with three home runs over his last seven games.

-Trent Grisham had a two-out double in the third inning, but after Gausman intentionally walked Aaron Judge, the right-hander struck out Jazz Chisholm Jr., who was batting third in the lineup. Despite phenomenal numbers against Gausman, Judge finished 0-for-3 with a walk and two strikeouts.

Game MVP: Kevin Gausman

In command all night, Gausman was able to silence the Yankees' hot bats.

Highlights

GIANCARLO STANTON OPENS THE SCORING WITH A HOME RUN pic.twitter.com/xytlEhaBxI

— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) July 21, 2025

What's next

The Yankees continue their series against their division-leading rivals on Tuesday night. First pitch is scheduled for 7:07 p.m.

RHP Cam Schlittler (1-0, 5.06 ERA) will make his second career start and will be opposed by veteran RHP Max Scherzer (1-0, 4.70 ERA), who is making his sixth start of the season and 463rd of his career.

Phils offense disappears, but they catch a break in win over Boston originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

When you’ve been around the game of baseball for forty years the way Phillies manager Rob Thomson has, there aren’t many things that are going to surprise or shock you. Check that box not once, but twice. And all in the span of a couple of weeks.

The Phillies beat the Boston Red Sox Monday at Citizens Bank Park on a – get this – walk-off catcher’s interference in the 10th inning for a 3-2 series-opening victory.

Edmundo Sosa, who pinch-hit earlier in the game for Bryson Stott, was the beneficiary of the unimaginable, game-ending play when he reached for a 1-2 slider from reliever Jordan Hicks and made contact with Red Sox catcher Carlos Nervaez’ glove. This forced home the winning run in one of the oddest endings in Thomson’s career. The other came on July 8 in San Francisco when the Phillies lost on an inside-the-park, three-run home run.

“There’s two things this year that I’ve never seen before in 40 years and one is a walk-off inside-the-park home run and one is a walk off catcher’s interference,” Thomson shrugged.

The end came after a night of oddities in the game. Pitcher Zack Wheeler, who had a 0.79 ERA in his last five games at Citizens Bank Park, gave up a leadoff home run to Jarren Duran to start the game and put the Phillies in a 1-0 hole. As expected, he battled all night though his stuff wasn’t his best. The Phillies gave him a 2-1 lead in the fourth when Bryce Harper doubled and scored on a Nick Castellanos single.

Castellanos then took second on a wild pitch and scored on a single by J.T. Realmuto. The Red Sox scored a run to tie it on three consecutive hits in the sixth off Wheeler, before he struck out the last two batters of the inning. That was his night after six, as he gave up just the two runs and struck out 10.

After Realmuto’s single in the fourth, the Phillies sent 22 hitters to the plate. They got just one hit but were able to push through the winning run to improve to 57-43 on the year. They still hold a half-game lead over the Mets atop the East.

“It was a little rough for me, I was a little bit out of sync,” said WheeIer. “I felt great, but just a little out of sync. Aggressive team and you have to get back in there but not too much in the zone. It wasn’t as crisp as I’d like, but we got out of it. Every game’s a big one, from the first game of the year to the last one. The wins, they add up. If you don’t think every game’s a big game, at the end of the season you might be going home early. Got to win that game, got to win the series.” No matter how oddly you do it.

Phillies reliever Max Lazar came in for the tenth inning with Rob Refsnyder placed at second base. Lazar paid no attention as he got a strikeout, groundout and another strikeout to end the top of the tenth. Then things got really strange.

With Brandon Marsh place at second, Otto Kemp got a four-pitch walk from Hicks. A wild pitch put runners and second and third and the Red Sox intentionally walked Max Kepler to load the bases. Up stepped Sosa, who had the lone hit during the Phillies dry spell from the fourth inning on. After looking at two strikes, he laid off a 101 mile-an-hour sinker and fouled off another before becoming part of one of the strangest endings any of us will ever see. Including a man that has been in the game for 40-years.

“I just thought of defending the zone, staying short to the ball.” said Sosa. “Then he goes out with that slider away and I go after it. I feel my barrel is a little late on the pitch and as I go with my swing path I feel like I hit the catcher’s glove and I told the ump that I thought I felt something. We all saw that afterwards. 

It’s the first time it happened in my career like this. This feels like a home run because the most important thing about it is we end up winning the game and that’s what we go out to do.”

Asked if it was his first walk-off of his career, Sosa couldn’t remember. “In Philly it’s the first one for sure.”

And certainly one he’ll never forget.

None of it would have been possible if it was for the gutsy performance by Lazar, who picked up his first win of his major league career.

“Being in the minor leagues for the past few years we’re kind of the test dummies for what MLB is implementing so I’ve had experience with the pitch clock and the ghost runner on second,” said Lazar. “I think that definitely helped. I’ve pitched in a lot of situations this year. That’s what you’ve got to do when you’re a young guy. So just being ready every day. Whenever that inning comes or that phone rings I can go out there and give it my all.”

And it may just lead to you winning your first major league game in absolutely unforgettable fashion.

Phils offense disappears, but they catch a break in win over Boston originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

When you’ve been around the game of baseball for forty years the way Phillies manager Rob Thomson has, there aren’t many things that are going to surprise or shock you. Check that box not once, but twice. And all in the span of a couple of weeks.

The Phillies beat the Boston Red Sox Monday at Citizens Bank Park on a – get this – walk-off catcher’s interference in the 10th inning for a 3-2 series-opening victory.

Edmundo Sosa, who pinch-hit earlier in the game for Bryson Stott, was the beneficiary of the unimaginable, game-ending play when he reached for a 1-2 slider from reliever Jordan Hicks and made contact with Red Sox catcher Carlos Nervaez’ glove. This forced home the winning run in one of the oddest endings in Thomson’s career. The other came on July 8 in San Francisco when the Phillies lost on an inside-the-park, three-run home run.

“There’s two things this year that I’ve never seen before in 40 years and one is a walk-off inside-the-park home run and one is a walk off catcher’s interference,” Thomson shrugged.

The end came after a night of oddities in the game. Pitcher Zack Wheeler, who had a 0.79 ERA in his last five games at Citizens Bank Park, gave up a leadoff home run to Jarren Duran to start the game and put the Phillies in a 1-0 hole. As expected, he battled all night though his stuff wasn’t his best. The Phillies gave him a 2-1 lead in the fourth when Bryce Harper doubled and scored on a Nick Castellanos single.

Castellanos then took second on a wild pitch and scored on a single by J.T. Realmuto. The Red Sox scored a run to tie it on three consecutive hits in the sixth off Wheeler, before he struck out the last two batters of the inning. That was his night after six, as he gave up just the two runs and struck out 10.

After Realmuto’s single in the fourth, the Phillies sent 22 hitters to the plate. They got just one hit but were able to push through the winning run to improve to 57-43 on the year. They still hold a half-game lead over the Mets atop the East.

“It was a little rough for me, I was a little bit out of sync,” said WheeIer. “I felt great, but just a little out of sync. Aggressive team and you have to get back in there but not too much in the zone. It wasn’t as crisp as I’d like, but we got out of it. Every game’s a big one, from the first game of the year to the last one. The wins, they add up. If you don’t think every game’s a big game, at the end of the season you might be going home early. Got to win that game, got to win the series.” No matter how oddly you do it.

Phillies reliever Max Lazar came in for the tenth inning with Rob Refsnyder placed at second base. Lazar paid no attention as he got a strikeout, groundout and another strikeout to end the top of the tenth. Then things got really strange.

With Brandon Marsh place at second, Otto Kemp got a four-pitch walk from Hicks. A wild pitch put runners and second and third and the Red Sox intentionally walked Max Kepler to load the bases. Up stepped Sosa, who had the lone hit during the Phillies dry spell from the fourth inning on. After looking at two strikes, he laid off a 101 mile-an-hour sinker and fouled off another before becoming part of one of the strangest endings any of us will ever see. Including a man that has been in the game for 40-years.

“I just thought of defending the zone, staying short to the ball.” said Sosa. “Then he goes out with that slider away and I go after it. I feel my barrel is a little late on the pitch and as I go with my swing path I feel like I hit the catcher’s glove and I told the ump that I thought I felt something. We all saw that afterwards. 

It’s the first time it happened in my career like this. This feels like a home run because the most important thing about it is we end up winning the game and that’s what we go out to do.”

Asked if it was his first walk-off of his career, Sosa couldn’t remember. “In Philly it’s the first one for sure.”

And certainly one he’ll never forget.

None of it would have been possible if it was for the gutsy performance by Lazar, who picked up his first win of his major league career.

“Being in the minor leagues for the past few years we’re kind of the test dummies for what MLB is implementing so I’ve had experience with the pitch clock and the ghost runner on second,” said Lazar. “I think that definitely helped. I’ve pitched in a lot of situations this year. That’s what you’ve got to do when you’re a young guy. So just being ready every day. Whenever that inning comes or that phone rings I can go out there and give it my all.”

And it may just lead to you winning your first major league game in absolutely unforgettable fashion.

Phils offense disappears, but they catch a break in walk-off win over Boston originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

When you’ve been around the game of baseball for forty years the way Phillies manager Rob Thomson has, there aren’t many things that are going to surprise or shock you. Check that box not once, but twice. And all in the span of a couple of weeks.

The Phillies beat the Boston Red Sox Monday at Citizens Bank Park on a – get this – walk-off catcher’s interference in the 10th inning for a 3-2 series-opening victory.

Edmundo Sosa, who pinch-hit earlier in the game for Bryson Stott, was the beneficiary of the unimaginable, game-ending play when he reached for a 1-2 slider from reliever Jordan Hicks and made contact with Red Sox catcher Carlos Nervaez’ glove. This forced home the winning run in one of the oddest endings in Thomson’s career. The other came on July 8 in San Francisco when the Phillies lost on an inside-the-park, three-run home run.

“There’s two things this year that I’ve never seen before in 40 years and one is a walk-off inside-the-park home run and one is a walk off catcher’s interference,” Thomson shrugged.

The end came after a night of oddities in the game. Pitcher Zack Wheeler, who had a 0.79 ERA in his last five games at Citizens Bank Park, gave up a leadoff home run to Jarren Duran to start the game and put the Phillies in a 1-0 hole. As expected, he battled all night though his stuff wasn’t his best. The Phillies gave him a 2-1 lead in the fourth when Bryce Harper doubled and scored on a Nick Castellanos single.

Castellanos then took second on a wild pitch and scored on a single by J.T. Realmuto. The Red Sox scored a run to tie it on three consecutive hits in the sixth off Wheeler, before he struck out the last two batters of the inning. That was his night after six, as he gave up just the two runs and struck out 10.

After Realmuto’s single in the fourth, the Phillies sent 22 hitters to the plate. They got just one hit but were able to push through the winning run to improve to 57-43 on the year. They still hold a half-game lead over the Mets atop the East.

“It was a little rough for me, I was a little bit out of sync,” said WheeIer. “I felt great, but just a little out of sync. Aggressive team and you have to get back in there but not too much in the zone. It wasn’t as crisp as I’d like, but we got out of it. Every game’s a big one, from the first game of the year to the last one. The wins, they add up. If you don’t think every game’s a big game, at the end of the season you might be going home early. Got to win that game, got to win the series.” No matter how oddly you do it.

Phillies reliever Max Lazar came in for the tenth inning with Rob Refsnyder placed at second base. Lazar paid no attention as he got a strikeout, groundout and another strikeout to end the top of the tenth. Then things got really strange.

With Brandon Marsh place at second, Otto Kemp got a four-pitch walk from Hicks. A wild pitch put runners and second and third and the Red Sox intentionally walked Max Kepler to load the bases. Up stepped Sosa, who had the lone hit during the Phillies dry spell from the fourth inning on. After looking at two strikes, he laid off a 101 mile-an-hour sinker and fouled off another before becoming part of one of the strangest endings any of us will ever see. Including a man that has been in the game for 40-years.

“I just thought of defending the zone, staying short to the ball.” said Sosa. “Then he goes out with that slider away and I go after it. I feel my barrel is a little late on the pitch and as I go with my swing path I feel like I hit the catcher’s glove and I told the ump that I thought I felt something. We all saw that afterwards. 

It’s the first time it happened in my career like this. This feels like a home run because the most important thing about it is we end up winning the game and that’s what we go out to do.”

Asked if it was his first walk-off of his career, Sosa couldn’t remember. “In Philly it’s the first one for sure.”

And certainly one he’ll never forget.

None of it would have been possible if it was for the gutsy performance by Lazar, who picked up his first win of his major league career.

“Being in the minor leagues for the past few years we’re kind of the test dummies for what MLB is implementing so I’ve had experience with the pitch clock and the ghost runner on second,” said Lazar. “I think that definitely helped. I’ve pitched in a lot of situations this year. That’s what you’ve got to do when you’re a young guy. So just being ready every day. Whenever that inning comes or that phone rings I can go out there and give it my all.”

And it may just lead to you winning your first major league game in absolutely unforgettable fashion.

With 10 days before the MLB Trade Deadline, it's not a matter of if the Mets will be buyers, it's a matter of who they'll bring in.

At 56-44 entering Monday's series opener against the Los Angeles Angels, New York is firmly in the market to acquire players it thinks can help the team. Speaking to reporters pregame, president of baseball operations David Stearns added a little more clarity as to who those players might be.

Like most contending teams, the Mets are not without their faults.

After starting the season as one of MLB's best teams, they've had ups and downs since then. Recently, injuries to their pitching staff have become their biggest hurdle to climb and its effects have been felt from the starting rotation to the bullpen.

It's been difficult for New York and manager Carlos Mendoza to navigate on a nightly basis, and while the starters are finally beginning to get healthier, a few of them are still on pitch counts or getting close to innings limits which puts a ton of pressure on the relievers to get a bulk of the outs on any given day.

Not only is that hard to execute consistently, but it's taken its toll on some of them with a myriad of Mets relievers either recovering on the injured list or shut down for the season.

"We’ve been hit with injuries to the pitching staff, I think specifically the bullpen, and so we will be active there," Stearns said. "I think providing our group some reinforcements in the bullpen would be great. There generally are relievers traded at the deadline and so I’m sure there will be some this (year) as well. So we’ll be involved in that. Ideally, we find deals that make sense, bring guys in that we think can help us."

While making it clear that New York will target bullpen help at the deadline, Stearns did not completely shut the door on potentially bringing up some of the team's talented pitchers in the farm system to give them a chance to pitch in relief -- players like Brandon Sproat and Nolan McLean, who have pitched well in Syracuse.

Of course, Stearns is apprehensive of doing that and it seems like that would only happen if all else failed.

"If (trading for relievers) doesn’t happen for some reason, then we’ll probably have to think about some of the arms in Triple-A and whether those guys at some point can impact us in the bullpen." Stearns said.

Another glaring weakness for the Mets has been the offensive production coming out of center field.

After beginning the season with the plan of platooning Jose Siri and Tyrone Taylor at the position -- already sacrificing offense for elite defense -- that plan went out the window when Siri fractured his tibia in April, which currently has him on the 60-day IL.

Siri's injury has resulted in Taylor being the everyday center fielder and while his defensive prowess has been impressive, his offensive output, which he's not exactly known for to begin with, has taken a huge hit.

In 88 games, Taylor is slashing .211/.264/.309 with two home runs and 17 RBI in 256 at-bats. His .573 OPS so far this season is more than 100 points lower than his career .706 OPS.

"Positionally, the one position where we haven’t gotten the level of production that we probably anticipated coming into the year is center field, and I don’t think I’m saying anything that’s gonna surprise anyone," Stearns said.

What's helped New York in this area has been the defensive flexibility of Jeff McNeil and his willingness to play center field on a somewhat-consistent basis for the first time in his career during his age-33 season.

McNeil has played 24 games in center this year, the second-most at a position behind his natural second base and for the most part, he's handled it well. He's out there once again on Monday night while batting fifth as his offense has been more than adequate.

The emergence of McNeil as an option in center field (and Taylor's exceptional defense despite his offensive shortcomings) has made Stearns think twice about upgrading at that position.

"I really like the defense that Tyrone Taylor brings and how he contributes to this team, and I also think Jeff is growing more comfortable out there," Stearns said. "So, I think, for me at least, the bar to improve center field has probably risen over the past let’s say two weeks because of maybe Jeff’s comfort level a little bit more out there and also continuing to recognize the secondary skills that Tyrone can provide."

He continued: "I’m certain we’re gonna be engaged, but we got to clear a bar that we actually think makes us better given the price that I think these things are gonna cost."

As for third base, a position that has been a bit of a revolving door this year after Mark Vientos hasn't been able to replicate his 2024 season in which he usurped Brett Baty and other Mets prospects for the starting job, Stearns has been pleased with the production that New York is getting from those same young players that Vientos leapfrogged last year.

For example, Baty, who has gotten the lion's share of reps at the hot corner (50 games), has been better at the plate and has shown great resiliency with his career-high 10 home runs after being sent down earlier in the season.

"I think our younger players have taken a step forward when we’re talking about Brett Baty and Ronny Mauricio, both those guys have contributed," Stearns said.

Not only have Baty and Mauricio shown glimpses of what they can provide offensively, but both players can also play multiple positions around the infield.

So, while fans may be craving a big acquisition at the deadline, Stearns will likely do something similar to what he did in his first year with the Mets and what he's generally done during his entire career: make smart deals that perhaps aren't flashy, but that help the team improve.

"I try not to look at it as the size of the splash, I think that can get a little dangerous this time of year," he said. "I think we try to look at how good is the player coming back and how does that particular player fit the team needs. I also don’t know how many big splash players are actually getting traded this deadline. I think that remains to be seen a little bit.

"So, we’ll see. We got 10 days to go, there’s still a number of teams that are trying to figure out where they are and my guess is we’ll have a little bit more clarity on some of this six, seven days from now with then three days leading into the deadline."