The New York Mets entered Sunday’s regular-season finale against the Miami Marlins with a singular goal: win. That was the only thing manager Carlos Mendoza’s fading team could still control in their bid to reach the postseason. But those hopes dissipated in one decisive inning.
New York could not overcome a four-run fourth by the Marlins, and the Mets were eliminated from the playoff field with a 4-0 loss.
“Pissed, sad, frustrated – you name it,” Mendoza said when asked how he felt about the end of his team’s season.
The Mets missed the postseason a year after reaching the National League Championship Series and after holding the best record in the majors in mid-June – a stunning collapse for the star-studded club with a major league-high $322.6m payroll on opening day.
New York’s loss meant the Cincinnati Reds earned the final NL wildcard spot despite falling to the Milwaukee Brewers 4-2 on Sunday.
The Reds and Mets entered the day with the same record, but because Cincinnati owned the head-to-head tiebreaker – the Reds won four of six meetings with New York this season – they’re heading to the playoffs for the first time since 2020.
Mendoza had been adamant during the series in Miami that the Mets put themselves in that position with their poor second half of the regular season.
New York had the best record in the majors at 45-24 – a season-high 21 games over .500 – after beating Washington 4-3 at home on 12 June.
But starter Kodai Senga injured his hamstring in that game, which seemed to mark a turning point in the Mets’ season. They lost their next seven games and 10 of the next 11. Unable to overcome a series of pitching woes, they went 38-55 the rest of the way.
The collapse was an all-too-familiar outcome for many Mets fans, who endured similar endings in 2007 and 2008.
In 2007, New York failed to hold a seven-game division lead with 17 games left in the season, and in 2008, they wasted a 3.5-game advantage with 17 games remaining. Their playoff fate then was also pushed to the last game of the season, when losses to the Marlins ended their hopes.
“It’s a failure,” star outfielder Juan Soto said. “Anytime you don’t make it to the playoffs or win a championship, it’s a failure. That’s how we’re going to look at it, and that’s how we’re going to go through things in the offseason.”
It was also a reversal from last season, when the Mets got into the postseason as a wildcard on a head-to-head tiebreaker over the Arizona Diamondbacks. New York then knocked Milwaukee out of the playoffs with a thrilling comeback in the decisive Game 3 of their NL Wild Card Series.
Before a sellout crowd Sunday of 34,660 that included plenty of New York fans, the Mets were in position to mount a comeback in the fifth when they loaded the bases with two outs on three walks. But Pete Alonso lined out to left field, and that was New York’s best threat.
With runners on first and second in the eighth, Francisco Alvarez struck out to end the inning and snapped the bat over his knee in frustration as many Mets fans headed for the exits.
MLB wildcard series
American League: Detroit Tigers v Cleveland Guardians; Boston Red Sox v New York Yankees.
National League: San Diego Padres v Chicago Cubs; Los Angeles Dodgers v Cincinnati Reds.
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