What a 2025 season for the New York Mets, right?
What fanfare, what noise! Sign Juan Soto to a 15-year, $765 million deal on Winter Meetings Eve, outbidding the crosstown rival Yankees. Add Steve Cohen signing another former Yankee, All-Star closer-turned starter Clay Holmes. Everything was coming up roses in Flushing when the Mets sat 21 games over .500 on June 12.
And now that the season’s over, Mets fans can now celebrate accordingly with…a trip straight to the golf course. Brand new team and season, same old Mets finish. New York never got it right the rest of the way, even as Soto overcame a slow two months to start the season, and finished 83-79. A loss to the Marlins on Sunday and losing the tiebreaker with the Reds sealed their fate: No playoffs.
The question is, however: Are we really at all surprised?
Believe me, I get it. I’m not one to throw stones here. Anyone who reads this site knows that my work primarily skews Yankees, but that doesn’t matter. Any true baseball fan knows that the sport is at its best when both the Yankees and Mets are good. The Mets signing not only Soto but also gambling (and mostly succeeding) on Holmes as a starter was them making a statement. No more being the little brother baseball team.
Except if that were the case, maybe Cohen would have invested more heavily in pitching? Yes, Holmes ultimately worked out as a starter and pitched a career-high 165.2 innings, but also got tired in the second half before basically being downgraded to an opener of sorts.
And what about Sean Manaea? Re-signing him was the right move, practically required after his successful contract year in ’24. Except he missed the first half with a bum shoulder.
So, who gave the Mets all those innings this year? Well, David Peterson was enjoying a career season before hitting a wall and posting a 7.81 ERA across the final two months of the season. Tylor Megill was looking pretty solid before his elbow gave out. So was Griffin Canning before blowing out his Achilles, or Kodai Senga before he got injured and struggled upon his return, even getting sent to the minors.
And instead of padding the rotation at the trade deadline with someone like Shane Bieber or Merrill Kelly, what did the Mets front office do? Added two bullpen arms in Tyler Rogers and Ryan Helsley, plus acquired outfielder Cedric Mullins from Baltimore. Mullins hit .182 as a Met, Rogers allowed way more baserunners than he did with the Giants, and Helsley tipped his pitches en route to a 7.20 ERA in a Mets uniform.
Throwing money at the problem won’t solve it either. The pitching free agency market isn’t exactly bursting with talent. Bieber’s a former Cy Young winner, but just recently came back from Tommy John despite pitching well in Toronto. Lefties Framber Valdez and Ranger Suarez are ace-adjacent, but not proper No. 1s by any means.
That means as of now, the Mets Opening Day rotation for 2026 looks murky. Forget a Megill comeback, he just had Tommy John surgery and is out for all of next season. Instead, expect a motley crew of:
- Sean Manaea
- Clay Holmes
- David Peterson
- Nolan McLean
- Jonah Tong/Brandon Sproat/Christian Scott
Not exactly ideal for running it back, is it? Manaea’s a year older and injury-prone, Holmes now has a proven track record of second half fatigue. The rest are either young and unproven, streaky, or both.
It wasn’t supposed to be this way. The Mets were supposed to ride high and make a statement, World Series contenders for years to come thanks to Juan Soto now in the lineup!
But instead? Everyone’s going home early. No one knows who’s pitching next season. Pete Alonso, fresh off batting a career-high .272 with 38 home runs and 126 RBI with a 141 wRC+, already plans to opt out of his contract.
The Mets were supposed to be playoff-ready and off to the World Series if everyone got hot. Now, just one year into Juan Soto, the team’s future looks as uncertain as it did in the latter Wilpon days.
FOR FULL STORY ON STANDARD WEBSITE: Just a reminder, the New York Mets did this to themselves | Elite Sports NY