Photo by Ed Delany of MetsMinors.net.

Good morning, Mets fans!

The St. Lucie Mets won the East division in the Low-A Southeastern league with a 60-55 record. They won four of their last five games to take the edge over the Jupiter Hammerheads (61-56), an affiliate of the Miami Marlins.

It’s the first time the St. Lucie Mets have won any division titles since 2016. The Mets’ Low-A affiliate saw partial seasons from some of the Mets’ top prospects, including: Francisco Álvarez (15 games, 1.213 OPS), Jaylen Palmer (66 games, .764), Jose Peroza (64 games, .847 OPS) and J.T. Ginn (8 starts, 2.59 ERA).

The St. Lucie Mets will not play in the playoffs despite winning the division. The minor-league playoffs (in Double-A, High-A and Low-A) have an adjusted playoff format where the top two record holders of each league will advance to the playoffs, and there are two teams in the Southeastern’s West division with better records than St. Lucie.

Now let’s get into the morning briefing.

Latest Standings

NL East

ATL: 77-70, .524
PHI: 76-72, .510, 1.0 GB
NYM: 72-77, .483, 5.5 GB
MIA: 63-86, .423, 15.0 GB
WSH: 61-88, .409, 17.0 GB

Wild Card

LAD: 96-54, .640, +16.0 GB
STL: 79-69, .534

CIN: 77-73, .513, 3.0 GB
SD: 76-73, .510, 3.5 GB
PHI: 76-73, .514, 3.5 GB
NYM: 73-77, .483, 7.0 GB

Latest Mets News

The Mets beat the Phillies 3-2 Sunday night, avoiding a sweep and their sixth-straight loss. Read the recap here. The team has Monday off and will play two games in Boston Tuesday and Wednesday.

Jon Heyman says the Mets short list of candidates they want for a president of baseball operations include Billy Beane (executive vice president of the A’s), Theo Epstein and David Stearns (the current POBO for the Brewers), plus “one or two others.” There’s no guarantee the Mets will be able to get any of their top options, though. Sandy Alderson is expected to remain the president of the Mets despite whomever they hire to run baseball operations.

Noah Syndergaard threw 15 to 20 pitches–all fastballs and changeups–off a mound Sunday. The next step for Syndergaard will likely either be a rehab assignment in Syracuse or pitching with the Mets.

Jacob deGrom, on the other hand, still has not thrown off a full slope of a mound, but that is the next step in his recovery.

Pete Alonso is the first Met since Mike Piazza in 2001 to lead the team in hits, home runs, RBI and runs, as ESPN‘s Buster Posey points out. Alonso will likely end the year the leader in all those categories as there’s no chance anyone catches up to him in hits (135), home runs (33) and RBI (87). Francisco Lindor is just seven runs behind Alonso but unlikely to outscore him in the last two weeks.

Latest MLB News

In an article for The Athletic, Ken Rosenthal, Dennis Lin and Britt Ghiroli detailed the leadership vacuum in the Padres’ dugout resulting in Fernando Tatis Jr. and Manny Machado getting into a verbal altercation on Saturday night.

The article said manager Jayce Tingler, who was ejected before the altercation, “is facing increased scrutiny and second-guessing in his own clubhouse” and his job status is up in the air. (The Padres have fallen out of a near-guaranteed Wild Card spot to multiple games back with two weeks left.) Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune wrote a column citing sources that agreed.

“Others say Tatis can be immature, somewhat pouty and that his energy — both negative and positive — is contagious in the Padres dugout,” the article said. “Machado, who has committed immature acts in the past, evidently wanted to prevent Tatis from making a similar mistake.”

Hyun-jin Ryu was placed on the injured list with a neck strain, and the expectation is he’ll just need to miss one start, according to The Athletic‘s Kaitlyn McGrath.

Reds rookie TJ Friedl hit his first career home run Sunday. Mookie Betts got the attention of the fan who caught it, and Betts got the ball and threw it in to the Reds’ dugout. In exchange for his kindness, Betts brought the fan one of his own bats.

The Astros had a “Dress Like Zack Greinke” day.

Latest on MMO

Joe D wrote about how the Mets “lost their will to fight.”

Haley Zemek recapped Carlos Carrasco‘s solid start from Saturday night.

On This Date in Mets History

Happy birthday to former Mets AJ Ramos (35), Jason Bay (43) and Dennis Ribant!

Also on this day in 1973, Willie Mays officially announced his retirement from baseball as a member of the Mets. He spent the last year-and-a-half of his storied 23-year career with the Mets and was honorarily named an All-Star in his final season.

Pete Alonso also hit his 50th home run during his spectacular rookie season on September 20, 2019. He launched it at Great American Ballpark off the Reds’ Sal Romano.