For a while, it seemed that the Mets’ bullpen plan had finally come to fruition. In a setup role, Edwin Diaz was more effective. Dellin Betances had thrown five consecutive scoreless innings at one point. Jared Hughes, Justin Wilson, and Brad Brach were performing reasonably well. Seth Lugo was there to close games.

But in the blink of an eye, it all went bad. Lugo was moved to the starting rotation, which essentially meant that everyone else had to up their games. They have not.

The bullpen began leaking on August 19th, the day that Seth Lugo was tabbed to go to the rotation (he was set to start the next day, but the Mets were shut down by positive COVID-19 tests). In the August 19th game, Jacob deGrom provided six innings of shutout baseball against Miami. Jeurys Familia, Wilson, Betances, and Diaz combined to allow three runs in three innings pitched, losing the lead and costing deGrom a victory in a game the Mets would later win.

Fast forward a week to August 26. Once again it was deGrom (7IP, 1 ER), and once again the bullpen, on this night a trio of Wilson, Diaz, and Brach, could not hold a three-run lead against the Marlins. Combined, they allowed three runs (all charged to Wilson) in two innings pitched, costing deGrom another win. The Mets eventually won the game.

That was just the beginning. On Saturday at Yankee Stadium (after the bullpen was effective in both games of Friday’s doubleheader), Betances was the culprit, as he allowed the winning run in the bottom of the ninth on a wild pitch.

In game one of Sunday’s doubleheader, the bullpen had an epic meltdown. With the Mets leading 7-2 going into the bottom of the seventh, Luis Rojas called upon Jared Hughes to get the final three outs. This was a curious choice, as Hughes had pitched the prior two days. Hughes was able to record two outs and had a runner on first with the score still 7-2 Then the wheels came off.

Hughes walked Tyler Wade, then hit Estrada with a pitch. After a Luke Voit single on which an out should have been recorded at third base, Diaz got the call to face Aaron Hicks. Diaz uncorked a wild pitch to score one run, then on a predictable fastball, served up a game-tying hime run to Hicks. Diaz had spiked his slider in the at-bat, and appeared to lose confidence in the pitch. Hicks knew it, and was waiting for a fastball to drive. Diaz took the loss in the bottom of the eighth.

In game two of the doubleheader, Lugo allowed one run over 3.2 IP. Chasen Shreve and Familia kept the Yankees off the board until Drew Smith took over to start the eighth inning in a tie game. Smith teed up a fastball to Gary Sanchez with the bases loaded. Sanchez clobbered it for a grand slam, and the Mets went on to lose 5-2.

The Mets have blown three save opportunities the their last nine games. Though they won two of those games, the bullpen’s troubles do not appear to be going away.

Betances, whose velocity has generally been around 92-93 mph (occasionally higher), is now on the injured list with a strained lat. Steven Matz, relegated to the bullpen after his start on August 15th, pitched one inning in relief on Saturday  and is now on IL with shoulder discomfort.

The biggest concern in the bullpen is the closer’s role. Edwin Diaz is once again struggling as the closer, but Luis Rojas wants to, or has to, stick with him.

Whether or not Diaz can figure it out as closer remains to be seen. He seems to lose confidence in his slider, his out pitch when he was dominant with Seattle, and rely on his fastball. Though he averages 98 mph on his fastball, even Rojas has said Diaz cannot be effective as a one-pitch hurler.

Beyond Diaz, the Mets have little else from which to choose. Justin Wilson has closed games in his career. He has 18 total saves, with 13 of them coming in 2017. He has four saves for the Mets in 2019. Familia appears to be far from his 2016 season, when he saved 51 games.

With 26 games to go, the Mets have no margin for error. The bullpen has shown itself to be generally unreliable over the last nine games. The Mets need to find some solutions, and find them quickly if they hope to remain relevant in the 2020 sprint.