Mary Gilmore, Staff Writer
The 2025 New York Mets season will be remembered as one of the most dramatic collapses in recent MLB history. The team began the year with championship aspirations and the highest payroll in the National League. However, a shut out by the Miami Marlins on the final day of the regular season officially eliminated the Mets from playoff contention.
Just months ago, the Mets were riding high. According to FanGraphs, on June 13, they had the best record in baseball at 45-24. They held a staggering 96.2% chance of making the playoffs. Their rotation led the league in ERA and featured star hitters: Francisco Lindor, Pete Alonso, and Juan Soto.
From mid-June onward, the Mets had a 38-55 record, one of the worst in the majors over that span. Only the Rockies, Nationals, Twins, and White Sox had worse records. The team’s playoff odds plummeted to 33.4% by the final weekend. Their fate was then unfortunately sealed when Lindor grounded into a double play to end the season in a 4-0 loss.
Multiple issues caused the unraveling of the Mets. Injuries took the pitching staff by storm, beginning with Kodai Senga, who left on June 12 due to a hamstring injury. At the time, Senga had a 1.47 ERA through 13 starts. When he returned, he had a 5.90 ERA across nine outings and eventually left for Triple-A Syracuse to work on his mechanics. The Mets released a statement following this decision, saying that, “Healthwise, he’s 100 percent fine. There’s no issues with him. He’s not favoring anything.”
From there, the Mets just kept on getting worse. The Mets finished 27th in MLB in innings pitched per start. This overtaxed the bullpen and forced manager Carlos Mendoza to make game changing decisions.
In the final game of their 2025 season, The Miami Marlins shut out the Mets 4-0. Mendoza started Sean Manaea, who only lasted 1.2 innings. Francisco Lindor grounded into a double play to end the game. When it mattered the most, the Mets did not get hits, and their pitching staff couldn’t hold the line.
As ESPN’s Jorge Castillo put it, “The Mets were playing like a team with the second-highest player payroll in the majors should play. After that, they morphed into a bottom feeder.”
This collapse of the 2025 season is a stark contrast to the Mets 2024 run. The Mets began last season slow, appearing to be a team that would not make it into the postseason. Then, the Mets surged late in the season and clinched a Wild Card spot.
Mets fans felt the pain and shock of the downfall of this season. Mets enthusiast Matt Febbraio, 21, explained, “I’d say I’m really disappointed because it’s really hard to miss the playoffs when you were the best record in baseball in May. When you don’t have a single comeback when you’re down in the 9th, it’s hard to convince anyone that you are a playoff caliber team.”
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