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Connor Rogers and Joe DeMayo recap a rough week on the latest episode of The Mets Pod.

The guys take a look at the offense, which is mostly missing-in-action, the state of the pitching staff, the struggles of Francisco Lindor, plus roster moves made so far and others that might be ahead. 

Later, Connor and Joe go down on the Farm to talk prospects Cam Tilly and Elian Peña, and discuss how much blame for the Mets' early-season struggles should fall on manager Carlos Mendoza. 

Be sure to subscribe to The Mets Pod at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

The Mets come into town for the first time in 2026.

Monday’s game info

• Teams: Dodgers vs. Mets
• Ballpark: Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles
• Start time: 7:10 p.m. PT
• TV: SportsNet LA & SNY
• Radio: AM 570 (English), KTNQ 1020 AM (Spanish)

Juan Soto hasn’t started a running program at this point, but the Mets are hopeful that he’ll be able to do so in the next couple of days, manager Carlos Mendoza said before Monday's game in Los Angeles. 

Soto didn’t travel with the team as they kick off a road trip against the Dodgers; instead, he stayed at Citi Field to continue progressing his way back from a calf strain. 

The star outfielder hit and played catch for the first time since the injury last week.

If he is unable to take that next step in his recovery, Mendoza said that the team could potentially send him for another MRI, but they are happy with his progress thus far.    

The team remains hopeful that Soto will be able to meet the two-to-three week recovery period that they put out when he first landed on the injured list last week.

While they'll continue to play things safe, they certainly need him back as soon as possible. 

Entering play on Monday night, New York has lost five games in a row and they are averaging just 3.38 runs per game since Soto was placed on the IL. 

They did recall Tommy Pham looking to provide a boost, but they need their superstar slugger healthy. 

“Javier Assad has faced 51 batters without allowing a single barreled ball”. So said the helpful auto-generated commentary in the MLB app’s Gameday feature after Trea Turner grounded out to start the bottom of the first. The next play read “Kyle Schwarber homers (5) on a fly ball to center field”.

Well. Can an AI create a jinx? If a billy goat can, probably (then again, goats may be stronger than robots, since they eat tin cans). At any rate, the Phillies had a 1-0 lead against the visitors from the Senior Circuit’s Chicago club.

It was a battle between sinkerballers: Javier Assad and Cristopher Sánchez. Both got off to a bit of a rocky start: Assad with his inability to reach 52 batters without a barrel, and Sánchez with his putting two on (via liner hit and walk) to open the second. It got worse for Cris when another single loaded the bases, with just one away. What’s a sinker specialist to do when he gets that sinking feeling? Well, rely on ol’ faithful. A trio of low and inside sinkers produced a trio of whiffs for Pete Crow-Armstrong. Sánchez showed one more sinker to Matt Shaw, decided four in a row was enough, and got out number three by inducing a weak grounder on a changeup.

In the second inning, Brandon Marsh got on base with a worm burner through the right side. He stole second, then scored when the Cubbies lost a fly ball from J.T. Realmuto, allowing it to land harmlessly on the grass (well, harmlessly for the ball, less so for the visitors). A bad break for the baby bears, but they got a better one in the bottom of the third, when Turner smacked a ball that went just to the wrong side of the foul pole; a crew chief review confirmed that the Phillies would have to wait for the next ringing of the roundtripper bell.

Not much longer, though. Turner singled to left, and Assad gave Schwarber a two-seamer that hung up in the middle of the zone, and in turn Schwarber ripped open a few more seams on it. The ill-fated sinker went sailing into center, and the Phillies were up 4-0.

They were cruising. Then the robots chimed in. Not the ABS robot (which helpfully confirmed a fourth ball for Brandon Marsh in the bottom third). Rather, it was the Gameday AI, which noted that “Sánchez’s slider is dropping more vs. last season” after Carson Kelly singled. The good news for the Phillies was that the AI didn’t really jinx Sánchez; it wasn’t his slider that cause him trouble. It was his sinker, as Dansby Swanson swatted one over the right field fence to narrow the Philadelphia lead to two in the fourth.

Sánchez faced more trouble in the top of the fifth, as an error by Turner and a walk to Seiya Suzuki put two on with one away. Fortunately, though, a sinker specialist is especially well equipped to navigate that situation: a sinker low and inside to J.A. Happ induced a weak ground ball, as the pitch is designed to do, and the inning ended without further damage.

Sanchez’ sibling in sinkerhood would not be so fortunate. Assad walked Schwarber to start the bottom of the fifth (Gameday AI noted that Schwarber’s bat speed is down nearly 2 MPH from last year, and that one is actually interesting, thank you robots), then allowed singles to Bryce Harper and Adolis García to load the bases with none away. Marsh hit one to center to score two, and Bohm produced a sacrifice fly to score another. Marsh scored soon, since Stott swiftly smacked a subpar sinker to center for a swell single, successfully stretching to second subsequently. Stott himself scored when J.T. Realmuto joined the hit parade, and Assad’s night was done. In the duel of the sinkers, Sánchez emerged as the decisive victor.

Things didn’t get much better for the Cubbies in the sixth. Reliever Charlie Barnes plunked Schwarber, walked Harper, and allowed an RBI double to García before recording an out. Bohm scored Harper with a productive groundout, Realmuto scored García with a single, and the Phillies had a dozen runs.

As the seventh dawned, Sánchez’ day ended, with a 6 hit, 8 K, 2 ER line. Seth Johnson replaced him, and navigated through the inning without allowing a run. The same could not be said of the Cubs. Sorely missing the Friendly Confines, they looked all around for some sign of comfort. But it was BOGO hot dog night, and the Cubs were in the land of the Phillies Frank, not Vienna Beef. Perhaps shaken by the lack of celery salt and sport peppers on the dogs, they allowed a 13th run on a throwing error from Swanson.

They must’ve found a lucky piece of Wrigley ivy in a pocket after the seventh, as Johnson and his fielders struggled mightily in the top of the eighth. The first six runners reached base and four runs scored before an out was recorded, aided by errors from Marsh and Bohm. Johnson got two outs, but allowed another run on a Suzuki single, and was pulled. Orion Kerkering subbed in, offered Happ a trio of sweepers on the outer edge, watched him take all of them for called strikes, and the inning ended. So did the game, after Kerkering’s quick work (leadoff double, then three consecutive outs) in the ninth.

The Phillies are 8-8. They’ll return to action against the Cubs tomorrow at 6:40, with Aaron Nola and Colin Rea scheduled to duel.

Although the next steps have not been officially decided, Gerrit Cole and Carlos Rodón appear to be nearing rehab assignments.

Cole threw 42 pitches over three approximated innings during a simulated game Sunday in Hudson Valley. Rodón completed three “innings” over 50 pitches during a live batting practice in The Bronx on Monday.

Both are expected to pitch again in five days, manager Aaron Boone said Monday, though the club had not decided whether that meant another simulated session or whether they would be ready to begin their climbs through the minors.

Cole, who underwent Tommy John surgery in March 2025, has been checking off boxes and seems just about ready to begin stretching out.

“Stamina was good,” Cole said of his simulated game before the Yankees hosted the Angels. “Pitches are fine right now. They’re good — being a little nitpicky. But everything’s good.”

Rodón also “looks good,” Boone said. Rodón had been on the verge of a rehab assignment before feeling tightness in a hamstring two weeks ago, which prompted the Yankees to pause his progression. After Monday’s session, Rodón ran sprints in the outfield.

Presuming continued health with Cole and Rodón, the Yankees would have rotation decisions to make if both return in May or June. Luis Gil began his year in the minors and probably needs to pitch his way to a more permanent spot, while Will Warren has been mostly dependable, though might not have the ceiling that Ryan Weathers possesses.

The group — down two front-of-the-rotation arms plus Clarke Schmidt — has been excellent.

“I thought we’ve got off to a great start,” Cole said. “A lot of attacking the strike zone. When we haven’t, we’ve paid the price a little bit. But we’ve been able to minimize. We’ve kept ourselves in the ballgame so far every game this year. … A lot of encouraging signs.”

Kyle Tucker insists he hasn’t been pressing in the opening weeks of his debut Dodgers season.

His slow start to the year, he told The California Post on Monday, has simply been because his swing is a little off.

“I’ve missed some pitches that I feel the at-bat should have been over with,” Tucker said. “Then you just get deeper into counts. And then whatever happens after that, happens.”

Such was the simple explanation the four-time All-Star cited to explain some early uncharacteristic numbers.

Entering Monday, Tucker was batting just .246 through the season’s first 15 games, second-lowest on the club among hitters with at least 50 plate appearances. He had just one home run, nine RBIs and a below-league-average .659 OPS despite still reaching base more than one-third of the time.

More surprising were Tucker’s strikeout and swing-and-miss totals, both of which have been noticeably higher than his career-long averages.

With 16 strikeouts in 67 trips to the plate, Tucker has a K-rate of nearly 24%. Over his previous five seasons, it has never been higher than 16%.

Tucker’s plate discipline metrics are also atypical. He is swinging more often (53.6% this year, compared to 41.2% for his career), chasing out of the zone more frequently (24.2% this year, compared to a 17.6% rate the past two seasons combined), and whiffing at an above-league-average rate (27.1%, compared to his 20.4% career rate) –– all of which run counter to his reputation as a contact-minded, selective-swinging, on-base machine.

Because of all that, manager Dave Roberts was asked Sunday whether he felt the team’s new $240 million signing was pressing.

He didn’t exactly say no.

“I think there’s a little bit to that,” Roberts said. “That’s kind of what I see. Typically when guys chase, they’re trying to do a little bit too much.”

Tucker, however, offered a different theory behind the numbers –– which, admittedly, have come in a minuscule 2 ½ week sample size.

Because his swing has been a little off, he feels like he has missed more hitable pitches than usual, leading to more foul balls and deeper pitchers’ counts.

Indeed, Tucker’s foul ball rate is slightly up this year (43% now, compared to 40% last year). His 60 foul balls are also the ninth-most in the majors.

As a result, he said, he has found himself behind in more of his at-bats, forcing him to expand the strike zone and chase pitches –– especially below the strike zone –– he’d probably lay off more easily otherwise.

“I mean, if I did what I wanted to do from the first swing, putting it in play, I don’t think I’d be swinging as much,” he said. “When you’re swinging at strikes and putting a barrel on the ball and staying through the ball well, better outcomes happen. But I kind of cut my swing off a little bit, don’t really stay through it great, and then you start fouling pitches off and chasing some later in some counts. That’s where a lot of the extra swings come from.”

Thus, Tucker is focused on one priority at the plate right now: Trying to hit the ball to center more often, and find a feel that will get his non-traditional swing back in sync.

“It’s just trying to make sure your hands and everything are staying through the ball, rather than cutting across and over,” he said. “That’s when you start getting more foul balls and you start top-spinning balls to right, or getting more ground balls. But if you’re able to stay inside and through the ball a lot better, it starts getting better backspin and you drive the balls to the outfield a lot better.”

In other words, Tucker believes his underwhelming start has been more mechanical than mental –– downplaying the pressure that has come with playing for the two-time defending champion Dodgers, and under the spotlight that accompanied his record-setting contract this winter.

“I play the same regardless of whatever is happening around me,” he said. “The fans make coming to the field a lot of fun. The guys make coming to the field every single day a lot of fun. So it’s been great.”

So too, he said, has been hitting in the Dodgers lineup, where he plays the important role of protecting leadoff man Shohei Ohtani from the No. 2 spot.

“Even if we’re not hitting great that day,” he said, “we always have the potential to put up a big inning.”

The Dodgers have a similar hope with their newest superstar, confident that even though he’s not hitting great now, he’ll inevitably break out at the plate soon.

Mets lineup

1. Francisco Lindor – SS
2. Luis Robert – CF
3. Mark Vientos – 1B
4. Bo Bichette – 3B
5. Jorge Polanco – DH
6. Francisco Alvarez – C
7. Tommy Pham – LF
8. Marcus Semien – 2B
9. Tyrone Taylor – RF

David Peterson – LHP

Dodgers lineup

1. Shohei Ohtani – DH
2. Kyle Tucker – RF
3. Will Smith – C
4. Teoscar Hernández – LF
5. Freddie Freeman – 1B
6. Andy Pages – CF
7. Max Muncy – 3B
8. Santiago Espinal – 2B
9. Miguel Rojas – SS

Justin Wrobleski – LHP

Broadcast info

First pitch: 10:10pm EDT
TV: SNY
Radio: Audacy Mets Radio WHSQ 880AM, Audacy App, 92.3 HD2