Despite another disappointing finish in the postseason, the Phillies are likely to extend president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski. Dombrowski has made several great moves in charge of the Phillies, but he also has underperforming veterans such as Trea Turner and Aaron Nola on the books for a lot of money for a long time. It appears Dombrowski is set to continue building the Phillies as they enter a pivotal offseason.

Oct 11, 2023; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Phillies first baseman Bryce Harper (3) hits a three run home run during the third inning against the Atlanta Braves in game three of the NLDS for the 2023 MLB playoffs at Citizens Bank Park. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports

Latest Mets News

Mets prospects Jefferson Rojas and Sammy Stafura were named by Baseball America among 25 prospects who improved their exit velocity in 2026.

Steve Cohen appeared on the Jimmy Kimmel Live show on Friday night.

Latest on MMO

Matt Mancuso recaps the Brooklyn Cyclones’ season.

Robert Colonna ponders which current Mets could break all-time franchise records.

Robert Colonna discusses if Francisco Alvarez‘s defense is underrated.

On This Date in Mets History

2008: After serving as interim manager, Jerry Manuel signed a two-year deal to remain manager of the Mets.

Born On This Date: Jack Lamabe (1936)

The post Morning Briefing: Dave Dombrowski Extension with Phillies Likely appeared first on Metsmerized.

“He’s not a particularly good catcher, though.” “There are no out-and-out dispositive traits here, but Álvarez is fringy across the board. He’s a snatchy framer that lacks the kind of twitchy athleticism to block balls or hold a quiet setup/receiving position.” “Receiving is a teachable skill, and Álvarez has improved in that regard, but given his frame and recent lower-body injury, it’s reasonable to wonder if he can handle the rigors of everyday catching,” Baseball Prospectus, 2023

“While the Mets consistently note how Álvarez has improved his framing, he remains below-average defensively because of his limited athleticism,” Pipeline, 2023

Those were the scouting reports for Francisco Alvarez‘s projected defense heading into 2023 before he was called up. By the end of 2023, he ranked in the 95th percentile in fielding run value with his 97th percentile in framing leading the way. He rated as a roughly league-average blocker but struggled to throw out runners despite his plus pop time.

In 2024, he was still a plus-framer, but the blocking got markedly worse. Where he did improve was throwing out runners, grading out roughly league average in caught stealing according to Statcast. Overall, for the second season in a row, he rated out as an above-average defensive catcher, this time sitting in the 65th percentile in fielding run value.

2025 saw his defensive markers fall off a cliff, however. His plus framing dropped to the 16th percentile, and he continued to struggle with blocking, but he was well above-average in limiting base running.

Fast forward to 2026, and Alvarez was back to grading as an above-average framer, he still threw runners out at an above-average rate, and still struggled with blocking. Overall, his fielding run value placed him below average in the 37th percentile.

So, what can we make of this and what does it mean for his future?

Robert Edwards-Imagn Images

Francisco Alvarez’s Weird Defensive 2026 Season

So much has happened that it can be easy to forget that Alvarez began the 2026 season with a hamate injury on his glove hand. This seemed to have impacted his ability to grip the ball and frame pitches, and by mid May, he was ranking below average in framing and caught stealing. Then, on May 12, he tore his meniscus on a swing and his defensive metrics dropped further. A month after his return, he was averaging over two seconds on his pop time, going from the 70th percentile to the 18th. It would make sense that a knee injury would impact the ability to stand up quickly. As a result, he struggled to throw out baserunners.

As the season went on, though, his defense improved. The Mets changed Alvarez’s stance, and it seemed to help with his pop time, as it dropped back down to 1.92. Mark W. Sanchez of the New York Post touched on this, writing, “On the other side of surgery, Alvarez is more upright in his squat. A big part of the goal in adjusting the stance was to cut down on the amount his head moved as his left hand whizzed to catch and present the pitch.”

As the season came to a close, Alvarez was back to rating above-average in caught stealing.

Catching coach J.P. Arencibia spoke on this, stating, “Alvy has some of the quickest hands in baseball. And so once we were able to get to a good posture where his head wouldn’t move, essentially all the leverage was going onto the glove — into the movement of the glove — and so that’s really what’s changed the game for him.”

Per Baseball Prospectus’s Fielding Leaderboard, from August 15 on, Alvarez ranked fourth in framing runs at +2.5. His blocking runs at -0.3 was still below average, though.

One area Alvarez has struggled heavily in is ABS challenges. Only Samuel Basallo had a worse Overturns vs. Expected, per Statcast. In terms of net runs, Alvarez rated essentially the same at third-worst instead of second.

So, what does this mean for 2027?

Alvarez’s Defensive Future

Alvarez has yet to turn 25. The closest he has had to a healthy season was 2023, where he began the season returning from ankle surgery. Since then, he has torn his UCL in both thumbs, broke his hamate, had a minor wrist injury, a minor shoulder injury, and most recently tore his meniscus. A better defensive 2027 likely begins with a healthy 2027. To steal a line from James Schiano of NBC/Mets’d Up/The Windup, “You are injury prone until you’re not.”

Alvarez’s return as a plus framer in the second half is a good sign, even if ABS has somewhat lessened the impact it has. He has continually shown that he can utilize his plus pop time to throw out runners at an above-average rate, and we saw that in the second half of 2026 as well.

Alvarez’s biggest issue is blocking. He has graded out as a below-average blocker every year except 2023, and even in the second half where he looked better, he is still below-average.

How important is blocking compared to the other defensive metrics though? Michael Rosen of Fangraphs released a great analysis on catcher defense early in 2026, writing, “Blocking sort of falls between those two catcher activities. It’s somewhat visible, but the difficult blocks happen relatively infrequently. And the value is muted: Savant estimates each block above (or below) average grades out to a quarter of a run. Even Ramírez’s record-breaking season, then, only resulted in -7 runs of blocking value.”

His analysis found that while blocks impact the game on average more than caught stealing does, it does not impact the game nearly as much as framing. It would make sense then why the Mets have focused so much on improving Alvarez’s framing over the years. Ideally with a full year of ABS under his belt, Alvarez can see improvements in that area as well.

Could He Improve Further Removed From Injury?

Alvarez tore his meniscus during the 2026 season and it is likely that impacted his defense in the summer. The data backs that up too. As mentioned, his pop time was much worse and he rated in the bottom of the league in BP’s blocking and caught stealing metrics.

J.T. Realmuto is a recent example of a catcher who had meniscus surgery and has not bounced back to what he was before. Heading into 2024, he had previously ranked in the 96th and 97th percentile in blocking. In 2025, he rated in the 13th percentile in blocking and in 2026 he was in the 22nd percentile. One thing that Alvarez has on his side that Realmuto does not is age, as the latter is more than a decade older than Alvarez. That said, Manny Piña, who tore his meniscus at age 33, saw his blocking numbers return to normal the following season. That was also his second torn meniscus.

Salvador Perez tore his meniscus at age 22 in 2012. Unfortunately, the first year we had blocking data from Statcast was in 2018, but he boasted multiple above-average blocking seasons from then onwards.

The good sign is that meniscus surgery does not seem to be one that a catcher cannot bounce back from with time. Hopefully with an offseason to rest, Alvarez can return back to his above-average defensive form he has flashed over the years.

The post Is Francisco Alvarez’s Defense Underrated? appeared first on Metsmerized.

Hits – David Wright – 1,777

As is the case for many offensive categories, the Mets’ hit leader record is not one of the largest in MLB. Only four teams have a smaller record. Even the Washington Nationals, who formed in 2005, have a higher hits leader in Ryan Zimmerman, who has 1,846.

Juan Soto – Almost Definitely

• Currently at: 262
• Amount Away: 1,515
• Needed Per Season: Roughly a .185 average per season (630 at-bat season average)

Juan Soto is a cheat code for these rate statistics as a future Hall-of-Fame hitter on a long-term contract. At his career batting average of .281, if Soto stays healthy, he should break this record during his age-36 season. 580 is roughly the number of at-bats Soto had in the 2025 season. With an additional four seasons after that, something would have to go very wrong for Soto to not beat this before the end of his contract.

Francisco Lindor – Very Unlikely

• Currently At: 862
• Amount Away: 915
• Needed Per Season: Roughly a .290 average per season (630 at-bat season average)

Francisco Lindor has never hit above .270 as a Met and has not hit over .290 since his age-22 season in 2016. He is also not getting younger. Had he played a full season in 2026 amassing 170 hits like he paced the previous two seasons, this would be more attainable. That would require him to hit .267 across his last five seasons. Still a very lofty goal for his age 33-to-37 seasons, but more attainable. Unfortunately, his 2026 injury likely made this impossible. 630 is roughly the number of at-bats he has had per year at the top of the lineup.

Carson Benge – Definitely Possible – Requires At Least A Four-Year Extension

• Currently At: 168
• Amount Away: 1,609
• Seasons Needed: Nine at a .270 average per season (630 at-bat season average)

Carson Benge hit .299 from May 1 on, though that has come with a .360 BABIP so it would be wise to stick with the .282 average he has on his season line. You can argue that is conservative. The 630 at-bats assume he moves up in the lineup so that could be viewed as aggressive. Of course, this would require Benge signing with the Mets long-term in order for him to break the record.

Benge did break the Mets’ rookie hits record in 2026 as well.

Home Runs – Pete Alonso – 264

The Mets’ home run record is also one that is not particularly impressive. Only four teams have less and they are even behind Giancarlo Stanton, who has 267 with the Miami Marlins. The Marlins formed in 1993.

Juan Soto by Roberto Carlo

Juan Soto – Almost Definitely

• Currently At: 70
• Amount Away: 194
• Needed Per Season: 15

Even in a year where he missed half of the season, Soto had 27 home runs. As a Met Soto has averaged 42 home runs per 162 games. At that pace, barring more injuries, he will break this record during his age-33 season.

Francisco Lindor – Unlikely But Not Impossible

• Currently At: 162
• Amount Away: 103
• Needed Per Season: 20

Lindor needs to stay healthy, be an everyday player through all five years left on his contract, and stack home runs the next two-to-three years in particular. Despite only playing in 105 games this season, Lindor hit 21 home runs.

If Lindor can hit 30 home runs the next two seasons, this becomes a lot more possible. A lot needs to go right, though, and 2027 will paint a clearer picture.

Francisco Alvarez – Unlikely But Not Impossible – Requires At Least A Five-Year Extension

• Currently At: 64
• Amount Away: 200
• Seasons Needed: 8.7 at 23 per season

Francisco Alvarez needs to stay healthy. That is the biggest roadblock here. But I do not want every category to be just Soto and Lindor, so we’re including Alvarez here. He’ll need to start stacking some 20-plus homer seasons, though, and he hasn’t done that since his rookie year in 2023.

RBIs – David Wright – 970

RBI’s, like most offensive categories, is very attainable for multiple Mets players on the current roster.

Juan Soto – Almost Definitely

• Currently At: 173
• Amount Away: 797
• Needed Per Season: 61

Soto drove in 105 runs in 2025 and 68 in 111 games in 2026. Put his yearly pace at 100 RBIs, and Soto is there during his age 35 season. With a stronger lineup surrounding him, he could reach it even earlier.

Francisco Lindor – Possible But Difficult

• Currently At: 494
• Amount Away: 476
• Needed Per Season: 95

Lindor does have two seasons with more RBIs than 96 as a Met. He has also recorded up to 107. RBIs are also very situational, so a stronger lineup could help him stack some high RBI numbers the next few seasons, but he really needs three seasons with 100+ RBIs the next three years to have a shot.

Carson Benge – Definitely Possible – Requires At Least A Seven-Year Extension

• Currently At: 65
• Amount Away: 905
• Seasons Needed: 11.5 seasons at 80 per season

Benge was in the middle of the Mets lineup for the latter part of 2026, and hitting with Soto on base is an easy way to amass RBIs. He would need an extension to get to the record, but in eleven years he will only be in his age-34 season.

Runs – David Wright – 949

As with RBIs, runs are also attainable.

Juan Soto – Almost Definitely

• Currently At: 183
• Amount Away: 766
• Needed Per Season: 59

Soto scored 120 runs in 2025 and had 63 in 111 games in 2026. Set the line at 110 runs, and Soto is there in his age-35 season. With better hitters behind him, he could get there even quicker.

Francisco Lindor – Definitely Possible

• Currently At: 566
• Amount Away: 383
• Needed Per Season: 77

This is likely more possible than RBIs if Lindor spends a few more seasons as the leadoff hitter. He has scored as many as 117 runs in a season and three seasons of 100 means he only needs 90 more runs scored across the final two seasons of his deal. This will largely come down to where he is in the lineup, which takes us to A.J. Ewing.

A.J. Ewing – Definitely Possible – Requires At Least A Four-Year Extension

• Currently At: 55
• Amount Away: 894
• Seasons Needed: 10 Seasons at 90 per season

If there is a roadblock to Lindor setting the runs record, it could be Ewing and his speed pushing him out of the leadoff spot. Ewing was uneven in that role this year as a rookie, but he has the skill set to be that type of player in the future. Even at only 90 runs scored a season, he would hit that record in his age-31 season so if he stays with the Mets, so it seems more like a matter of “when” not “if”.

Like Benge, Ewing could break the Mets’ rookie stolen base record of 28.

Stolen Bases – Jose Reyes – 408

The Mets’ stolen base record is not one of the largest but it is nothing to sneeze at. Still it is beatable, especially with the larger bases and pickoff rules.

Juan Soto – Possible But Difficult

• Currently At: 47
• Amount Away: 361
• Needed Per Season: 28

Juan Soto stole 38 bases in 2025. Even with hurt legs, he had nine stolen bases in 111 games. We will have a better idea whether or not a healthy Soto will go back to stealing at a high rate as he did in 2025, but he will need some 35-40 stolen base seasons the next few years to get there, as it is unlikely 40-year-old Soto is stealing 28 bags.

A.J. Ewing – Very Likely – Requires At Least A Three-Year Extension

• Currently At: 25
• Amount Away: 383
• Seasons Needed: 8.5 seasons at 45 per season

Ewing needed some time to adjust to stealing in the majors, but in the second half he turned it on and finished with a franchise rookie record of 25. In the minors in 2025, he stole 70 bases. With a better on-base percentage and potentially hitting at the top of the lineup, 45 stolen bases a season could be more of a floor than anything else. It is possible he could even do that across the six seasons before he hits free agency.

Carson Benge – Unlikely But Not Impossible – Requires At Least A Nine-Year Extension

• Currently At: 22
• Amount Away: 386
• Seasons Needed: 13 seasons at 25 per season

Benge will need to up the stolen base numbers from his 22 as a rookie and get some 30-plus stolen base seasons mixed into there. He has speed, and if he is here enough years it is possible.

fWAR Hitter – David Wright – 51.3

The Mets do not have a single player who has a career fWAR that would put them in the Hall of Fame. Ideally this will change with the current group of players.

Juan Soto – Almost Definitely

• Currently At: 8.8
• Amount Away: 42.5
• Needed Per Season: 3.3

Soto has put up multiple 6 fWAR seasons and even an 8 fWAR season during his career. He could conceivably break this record in his age 35 season or earlier if he has some true prime seasons mixed in.

Francisco Lindor – Possible But Unlikely

• Currently At: 31.8
• Amount Away: 19.5
• Needed Per Season: 3.9

Lindor has to age incredibly well to make this happen. His defense seems to have taken a step back, and if it does not bounce back next year, that does limit his fWAR ceiling a bit. Even with his issues this season, he was on pace for 4 fWAR/162. Could he potentially put up back-to-back 5 fWAR seasons at age 33-34? Definitely. But that would still require him to have better than a three-win season in each of his age 35-37 seasons. Realistically, Lindor probably would need to not only age very well, but stay with the team past his current contract.

A.J. Ewing – Definitely Possible – Requires At Least A Six Year Extension

• Currently At: 2.0
• Amount Away: 49.3
• Seasons Needed: 12.5 seasons at 4 WAR pace

Ewing’s biggest asset is that he provides elite defense at a premium position in center field. 4 fWAR seems like it could be more of a safe projection than a lofty one as a result. If he is here into his mid 30’s, Ewing seems like a prime candidate to pass this fWAR threshold.

Carson Benge – Possible But Difficult – Requires At Least A Seven-Year Extension

• Currently At: 4.3
• Amount Away: 47
• Seasons Needed: 12 seasons at 4 WAR pace

Benge put up 4.3 fWAR even after a dreadful start and an uneven defensive performance in the outfield. He has parts of his game he can clean up to become a consistent 4 fWAR player, and if he were to do that he could beat this record during his age-34 season if extended that long. A 3 fWAR average would take him to age 38.

Strikeouts – Tom Seaver – 2,541

Tom Seaver‘s strikeout amount is unlikely to be beat. Pitchers do not throw as many innings as they used to.

Nolan McLean – Unlikely But Possible – Requires At Least An Eight-Year Extension

• Currently At: 251
• Amount Away: 2,900
• Seasons Needed: 14 seasons at 180 per season

Averaging 180 per season for Nolan McLean may seem low, but this would take him through his age-38 season and assumes he is healthy for all of them. That should show how difficult this record will be to beat. It is not impossible – he could rattle off a few 230-strikeout seasons and make this more attainable. He had 194 strikeouts in 179 2/3 innings this year.

Jonah Tong – Probably Unlikely – Requires At Least A Nine-Year Extension

• Currently At: 56
• Amount Away: 2,485
• Seasons Needed: 14 seasons at 180 per season

Coming in roughly two years younger than McLean, age is the only thing that would really work in Tong’s factor to even make it a possibility. He ended the season strong, which could potentially lead to him earning a rotation spot in 2027. It is still very improbable, but I did not want this to be McLean alone in all of the pitching categories.

Wins – Tom Seaver – 198

Similarly to strikeouts, it is much harder for pitchers to stack wins in the modern game, making this one difficult to beat.

Nolan McLean – Possible But Unlikely – Requires At Least A Nine Year Extension

• Currently At: 17
• Amount Away: 181
• Seasons Needed: 15 seasons at 12 wins per season

This one seems like it could be more possible if McLean is on a number of good Mets teams. As good as Seaver was, he pitched for some bad Mets teams, which kept this record low. Throw in some fifteen win seasons and see McLean take a long-term extension and this becomes more of a possibility.

ERA – Jacob deGrom – 2.52

Jacob deGrom is one of the best in the history of the sport and the Mets had his entire prime. That makes this difficult to beat.

Nolan McLean – Possible But Unlikely

• Currently At: 2.93
• Seasons Before FA: Five
• Pace: 240 earned runs total assuming 900 innings pitched across five seasons (2.40 ERA)

Jacob deGrom will go down as one of the best pitchers in Mets history. If he makes the Hall of Fame, it is likely with a Mets cap on. So beating this means I am essentially saying McLean would need to be a Hall of Fame-level pitcher. He needs to take a big jump forward next year to have a shot. This is also a case where not being extended makes more of a possibility because then we have no veteran seasons inflating that ERA.

fWAR Pitcher – Tom Seaver – 67.7

Seaver is one of the greatest pitchers to ever play the game, which will make this hard for any pitcher, even one who spends their entire career with the Mets, hard to beat.

Nolan McLean – Possible But Unlikely – Requires At Least A Nine Year Extension

• Currently At: 4.7
• Amount Away: 63
• Seasons Needed: 14 seasons at 4.5 WAR pace

This is one that really depends on longevity for McLean. The more seasons he is here, the more of a chance he has. He also needs to stay healthy. With 4.7 fWAR through his first 39 career starts, this is saying he needs to average slightly better than he has so far through his age-38 season. Realistically he needs a few very strong seasons over the next few years and a very long extension to get there.

The post What Current Mets Could Break All-Time Franchise Records? appeared first on Metsmerized.

Alas, frequent injuries to key players and uneven first-half production proved to be the club’s undoing. Despite gaining reinforcements from the Mets’ deadline sell-off, the club ended 2026 with a 57-74 record, plunging to 27 games out of first place in the SALLY.

The change in personnel extended to the skipper’s seat. After racking up 137 wins during two years at the helm, Gilbert Gomez received a well-deserved promotion to fill the major league club’s first base coach vacancy.

Brooklyn named Eduardo Nunez – no, not that 2020 Met – as Gomez’s replacement early in the year. Nunez made it clear from the beginning that while winning is always important, it comes secondary to development.

“Of course, you want to win, but at the end, this is a process of developing,” he said.

His Opening Day roster contained 25 players in various stages of their professional development. Mitch Voit and Antonio Jimenez represented the cream of the crop of the Mets’ 2025 draft class. Meanwhile, Cyclones stalwarts Noah Hall and Colin Houck, the latter a former Mets’ first-round draft pick, anchored the team’s veteran core.

Mitch Voit
Photo by Ed Delany of Metsmerized

Yet, despite the high draft picks augmenting the club’s lineup, the starting nine fell flat in the first half.

Voit remained a bright spot in Brooklyn’s otherwise tepid lineup. It took two months for him to find his stride, but as the summer heated up, his bat followed. In June, Voit posted a .906 OPS, a particularly impressive figure given the pitcher-friendly reputation of the Cyclones’ home ballpark of Maimonides Park.

On the mound, the aforementioned Hall eclipsed Jaison Vilera as Brooklyn’s all-time starts and strikeouts leader, surely becoming an answer to a trivia question in a Brooklyn bar in the process. For the third consecutive season, the season’s opening frame belonged to the former Gamecock. With a sparkling June, he earned SALLY Pitcher of the Month honors and, as an award, was quickly given the bump to AA.

Hall joined 1B Corey Collins, OF John Bay, and RP Garrett Stratton as Cyclones to take their talents north to Double-A Binghamton.

As the quartet exited the Brooklyn clubhouse for fresher pastures on the other side of the Mario Cuomo Bridge, a slew of prospects new to the organization took their place on the roster, including four top-30 prospects.

SS Sammy Stafura, after a breakout first half in the Pirates’ system, headlined the club’s package of prospects.

Stafura’s acquisition received the most publicity out of all of the Mets’ deadline deals, and for good reason: it’s no secret why he was so excited to join the Mets.

Stafura popped 14 home runs in an 18-game span in the two weeks prior to the deal, and while it would be foolhardy to expect that level of production in the future, his midseason swing change primes him for sustained power numbers in 2027. In 21 games with Brooklyn, Stafura procured a .244/.357/.415 triple-slash.

In addition to Stafura, the club acquired center fielder and fellow hobbyist, Aidan Smith, as part of their deadline haul. Smith may not have made as drastic swing adjustments as Stafura, but still posted a .938 OPS in Brooklyn, 300 points higher than his OPS with the Rays.

In 2025, Smith was in the discussion for national top-100 prospect lists, but his offensive production ultimately kept him out of the rankings. Now, if he can replicate his .930 OPS in 2027, those conversations may begin anew.

Stafura and Smith were far from the only impactful position player additions. John Spikerman (Brooks Raley deal) provided a litany of up-the-middle defensive highlights to the Coney Island faithful. 3B Cole Mathis (David Peterson deal) fought through an injury-marred campaign. He will continue his season as part of the Mets’ AFL contingent.

As the club inched closer to the SALLY playoffs in August, the organization called up Aiden Robbins and Elian Pena from Single-A to reinforce the club’s lineup. Both players are relative newcomers to the organization.

Robbins was drafted with the 91st pick of the 2026 draft; “Baseball Jesus” posted a .273/.371/.455 with four dingers in Single-A, earning an expected promotion to Brooklyn.

Meanwhile, Pena, the Mets’ highest-ranked player from their 2025 IFA class, earned the nod after recovering from a frigid start to his professional career, where, in 2025, he started out 0-for-34 in rookie ball. Despite the unfortunate streak, the 18-year-old eventually found his footing. At the time of his promotion to Brooklyn, Pena’s season slash line sat at a league-average .271/.388/.397 with a .354 wOBA/.297 xwOBA.

He faltered down the stretch with Brooklyn, but Pena is expected to highlight the club’s 2027 Opening Day roster.

On the pitching side, the club ended the season with arguably the best starting-5 in the system.

Daviel Hurtado, Emilio Obispo, and Nicolas Carreno all quietly enjoyed excellent campaigns. The southpaw Hurtado ended the year with the second-best ERA in the SALLY. He posted the best start of the season for Brooklyn on August 15, shutting out the division rival Jersey Shore Blueclaws over seven magnificent frames.

The club brought in Luke Gabrysh in the Raley deal to complement the young guns; the 23-year-old quickly earned a promotion to AA.

Rafi Vazquez and Irving Cota both starred out of the pen, producing two of the most underrated years in the system, powering the club’s backend with a 2.41 ERA and 0.73 ERA, respectively.

Injuries waylaid Exit Velocity God Randy Guzman for the majority of the season, but when he was healthy, riders on the nearby Cyclone rollercoaster had to take cover. The aforementioned 2025 third-rounder Jimenez and backstop Daiverson Gutierrez deployed midseason swing changes and parlayed the adjustments into much improved second-half OPSs. Calvin Ziegler and Wyatt Hudepohl both made triumphant returns to the hill.

To echo Nunez’s earlier point, Single-A success is not dictated by on-the-field record. From a developmental standpoint, the season could be deemed a success. Throughout the season, oodles of Cyclones made intentional changes to fulfill a certain developmental goal.

Teams ending the year with their farmhands’ skills stuck in concrete indicate that the organization has taken a rudderless approach towards player development. That did not epitomize the Brooklyn squad, who brought their best Frankstein impression to the ballpark every day.

Stafura, Jimenez, and Gutierrez made swing changes to produce more pop. Pitchers procured peculiar pitches, seemingly on the daily.

One example: the Mets challenged Gabrysh to throw a ‘triangle of fastballs’, a technique mastered by Yankees’ ace Cam Schlittler.

Lower levels of minor-league baseball, especially High-A, are always used as a platform to mold and form a team’s future core. Record always takes second fiddle.

The proof is in the pudding. Carson Benge, A.J. Ewing, Nolan McLean, and Zac Thornton, homegrown big leaguers on the Mets’ roster, all made stops at Brooklyn during their minor-league journey. None of them were on the roster for Brooklyn’s championship series last year.

And while gripes can rightfully be made about the Mets’ 2026 campaign, few can argue that the steps made in the lower levels of the minors led to the conundrum. Instead, the infusion of youth has primed the Mets for sustained success at the major league level.

The post Brooklyn Season Recap: A Young Core Takes Form appeared first on Metsmerized.

Robert Colonna

The biggest disappointment from this season has to be Jorge Polanco. I was very excited for him and thought he was the perfect player to make up for Brandon Nimmo’s production. He was coming off a great season, and all the reports of his time learning first base between games with the Mariners were very positive. He looked great defensively in the few games we saw him there, but injuries prevented the bat from showing up at all. He ended up being one of the worst players in the game, and with how late in the season he got the surgery, it is hard to project when and if he’ll play for the 2027 Mets, or what he will look like.

The next disappointment was Francisco Lindor. He struggled with multiple injuries, and when on the field he did not look like himself. There is a lot under the hood offensively to say he should have been closer to his 2023 and 2025 offensive self, so I won’t get too bogged down by wonky results across a partial season. But this is the third year in a row that his defense has dropped significantly, and it is getting to the point where the Mets may need to question if he is capable of playing shortstop anymore. He is fast  approaching the age where the majority of players move off the position. He made constant mental mistakes, and the range was not there to make up for the arm. We can only hope that next year, when healthy, he has enough of a defensive bounce-back to counteract being a year older.

The final disappointment was Freddy Peralta. Freddy Peralta has been one of my favorite pitchers for a long time, and I was thrilled to acquire him. For the first 13 starts, he had a 3.63 ERA, and he looked as expected. Then he put up the worst six weeks of his career and helped cement the Mets as sellers at the deadline. The Mets got a good haul back for him, but he went from a player I wanted to extend to one that I couldn’t wait to see off the team.

David Melendi

Stearns, Peralta and Polanco

I was a fan of Stearns, but I have lost confidence in him. Overall, his moves failed. There is an exciting, young core to build around so hopefully he gets this offseason right.

I thought Peralta, in his prime at 29 and coming off three straight 200-strikeout seasons, would be the ace the Mets needed. And Polanco would handle the adjustment to first base and drive in a lot of runs batting cleanup behind Lindor-Soto-Bichette. This is probably what Stearns envisioned too.

Brandyn Pokrass

When I look at the Mets’ 2026 season, the main disappointments in my eyes are Freddy Peralta, Jorge Polanco, and Mark Vientos.

Peralta, for what the Mets gave up for him, fell flat in so many ways. Early in the year, it was mainly command issues. He would strike out batters, but his inability to give the Mets length taxed the bullpen early. As the season went on, he started giving up much more hard contact, spurred by further command issues. Whatever New York tried with the righty, it simply didn’t work. Peralta has seemed to figure things out with Tampa, but it will always be a what-if when it comes to his tenure with the Mets.

As for Polanco, it feels like the infielder’s health and the Mets’ poor roster management with him led to the disappointment. He never found his footing as a player in New York this year, especially after the injury flared up around Opening Day. New York should never have relied on him as a primary or semi-primary first baseman. However, a relatively healthy Polanco may have done enough to make the lineup a bit deeper. With his absence and struggles, the bottom of the order continued to struggle for large stretches in 2026.

Lastly, Mark Vientos. What more is there even to say? 2024 looks to be a true mirage in every sense. His fielding has never improved, his plate discipline fell off a cliff, and his power vanished for large stretches of time. I could have highlighted a few other options here, but it feels like the Mets were counting on Vientos to contribute in a decent capacity. That just simply never transpired. Maybe Vientos can rebound on a new team, but it feels like his tenure in New York is over.

Andrew Steele-Davis

My three biggest disappointments are David Stearns, Freddy Peralta, and Francisco Lindor.

Stearns never really learned from his mistakes in 2025. In fact, he doubled down on them, which was just an absolute disaster. I still think Stearns got it wrong by letting Pete Alonso go, but he’s got to make the moves he thinks are right for the team. However, you will never convince me that thinking replacing Alonso with a combination of Jorge Polanco and Mark Vientos was ever going to be a smart idea. Stearns made a ton of other mistakes too, but the whole Alonso debacle really set the tone for the entire year.

I think we all thought Freddy Peralta was going to be a stud in Queens, and it is still somewhat perplexing as to why things never really worked out. I always loved watching Peralta pitch, and it was really disappointing that he couldn’t be the ace this team needed.

Finally, I found the entire discourse around Francisco Lindor so frustrating and disappointing. Yes, Lindor had arguably one of the toughest years of his career, although it was clear that injuries played a part in disrupting his whole game. However, there were sections of the fanbase that made Lindor out to be some kind of bust in a Mets uniform, when the stats and the eye test tell a completely different story. And all the trade talk was just garbage. Lindor is still an important player for this franchise, and I am confident that he will have a big bounce-back season in 2027

Jorge Eckardt

It’s obvious, and it’s been said already, but the biggest disappointment for me this season was Freddy Peralta. Acquired to be this team’s ace, he was anything but. There were very fair reasons to believe his 2025 season was an outlier, and the perception of him was a little inflated coming into the year, but anyone who claims they expected him to be as bad as he was is lying. There was no way to see this level of ineptitude coming.

Next up is Bo Bichette. Similar to Peralta, there were reasons to be concerned about Bichette. And I’m not talking about moving to third, either. He wasn’t great there, but he was fine (1 OAA when playing 3B). The drama over him playing “out of position” was always incredibly silly. He’s a shortstop moving down the defensive spectrum. That happens all the time. Unfortunately, his mediocre defense was just about the best part of his season. Bichette disappeared offensively early in the season when the Mets badly needed him to step up while Soto was out. When you sign the contract he did, the onus is on him to step up. He didn’t. And don’t buy the line about him “getting better” in the second half or “figuring it out.” In four of the six months, his OPS was .708 or lower. That includes July and September. And he never hit in the clutch, which really was the main thing the Mets signed him to do. Being “clutch” is generally something that isn’t very sticky … except for Bichette it almost was. His high-leverage OPS this year was .682. Before this year, he was never below .792 in a full season. Even in 2024, when his overall OPS was .598 in 81 games, his high-leverage OPS was .774. In just about every way imaginable offensively, Bichette was a massive disappointment. Now, the Mets are likely stuck with him.

Finally, the third one is Mark Vientos. It’s probably popular (and fair!) to blame the decision-makers, but at some point I think you also need to hold the players accountable. Many of the failures this year, especially related to the two listed above, stem from players having seasons well below what even the harshest critics could have expected. Jorge Polanco will be the popular answer here, but I have a hard time truly blaming a guy who just could not stay healthy. Disappointing for sure, but I’m going to be more critical of the players who actually did play and fail. That leads us to Vientos. It’s really very simple here. After 2024, he looked like a potential foundation piece for the future. His 2025 was brutal, but he earned an opportunity to try and rebound. His 2026 cemented the fact he should never take another at-bat as a New York Met.

Mojo Hill

Three disappointments that stick out are Kodai Senga, Freddy Peralta and Jorge Polanco.

I believe I picked Senga in one of these roundtables before the season as a player I predicted to have a big year. Not only did he not have that, but he failed spectacularly in the rotation — so much so that he got demoted to the bullpen. He was better in the bullpen, even collecting more saves than Edwin Díaz for the Dodgers, which was a fun thing to follow, but his bullpen ERA still ended up pushing 5. His season ERA was a brutal 7.34 with a WAR approaching -2. Even with some good bullpen outings mixed in, it was just a miserable season for a guy who was fantastic as recently as the first half of last year.

Peralta’s season was just objectively disappointing, as others have discussed. If you’d said before the season that Peralta wouldn’t be on the Mets by the end of the year, you’d know things must have gone wrong. I actually thought Peralta was okay for his first handful of starts, with the caveat that he wasn’t going very deep into games. But he went from okay to disastrous in a hurry, and overall had a rough go of it during his brief tenure in Queens.

And then Polanco, who was a risky signing from the beginning, but had upside if he could be anything like his 2019, 2021 or 2025 self. Instead, he had by far the worst season of his career. I mean, the fact that he got hurt isn’t terribly surprising on its own, but he played in his fewest games since 2015 and had the worst hitting stats of his career. Even a hypothetical worst-case scenario before the season probably would have looked better than the way things ended up going. And to see Pete Alonso simultaneously have a great year in Baltimore undeniably runs salt in the wound.

Jack Ramsey

The biggest disappointments to me were the Mets’ leadership: Mendoza, Stearns, and Cohen. At the end of the 2024 season, it seemed as though the Mets had the leadership at the top that would lead them into the next generation. Over the last 14 months, any ideas close to that have come crashing down, and it has begun to cost jobs. Their 2025 collapse still seemed to plague Mendoza at the start of the season, and it was clear that his time with the team was coming to a close. He was responsible for their on-the-field play, and it was among the worst in the game under him. Cohen and Stearns waited too long to make a move with Mendoza, and it cost the team the chance to turn the season around in time. In a season where two interim managers took their teams to the playoffs, it is hard not to speculate if changing managers in May would have allowed the Mets to take a different deadline approach. Cohen and Stearns seemed to be the dream duo as recently as last August, but they now need to regain the trust of the fan base in a major way in 2027. The magic of the 2024 playoff run is gone, the aura of “Uncle Steve” has faded, the old core is broken up, and the Mets haven’t made the playoffs in three of the last four seasons. Mets fans need to see a winning team next year, or it could cost Stearns a second contract with the team. At that point, all that would be left is Cohen.

Mathias Altman-Kurosaki

Jorge Polanco is the biggest disappointment of the season. Playing first base was always going to be a challenge, but he was also brought in to solidify the middle of the lineup, and he was a no-show for most of the year. He was the main source of all the Pete Alonso discourse throughout the season.

Freddy Peralta is the second-biggest disappointment. Like Polanco, Peralta came to New York after the best season of his career. He was expected to be the ace, and frequently came up short. Luckily, the Mets were able to get a solid return when he was dealt to the Rays.

Lastly, I expected a lot more from Francisco Alvarez. He took a big step forward in the second half of 2025, but it felt like he took three steps back this season. All of the Mets’ young players showed great progress except Alvarez. Perhaps he rushed back from his torn meniscus in May, and that hampered him. Still, it’s hard not to question if he’ll have a role in the team’s future.

Johnluke Chaparro

The three disappointments that stand out to me are Carlos Mendoza, Freddy Peralta and Kodai Senga.

What Andy Green did with the ballclub and the clubhouse once he came in really shone a light on how lacking Carlos Mendoza was in many areas. That’s not to say that Mendy isn’t a smart baseball man by any means, but it seems that he was disconnected from a lot of things going on off the field, as well as on the field. A lot of his faults from last season bore their ugly head this season. He didn’t have much of a feel for the game at times, which cost the Mets dearly. The players didn’t seem to resonate with him, and it was evident in how they played on the field and in how they spoke, in contrast to Andy Green. I really liked Mendoza and thought after 2024 he was going to be someone the Mets were going to keep around for a while. I was wrong, and I hope that Andy Green can become the guy Carlos Mendoza was supposed to be.

I’m not sure what type of player Freddy Peralta is, but it seems as if New York was not the place for him. I am still in shock at how someone who was Top 10 in Cy Young voting the season before could fall off a cliff so hard, when he had every resource available to him. Maybe the Mets needed to adjust some things with him more, or maybe he needed a hard reality check. The talent is clearly there but it kills me that he couldn’t figure it out here. Just disappointing and incredibly underwhelming.

To conclude, I mention Senga because a lot was riding on him, and there were a lot of positive signs in his favor that seemingly told us all that he was ready to break out and be the starter the team needed him to be. Alas, that wasn’t the case and was probably one of the worst starting pitchers I’ve seen take the mound for some time.  It’s hard to watch games when they are down 3-4 runs after two badly-timed hits or home runs, and it seems like Senga ran into that problem often. The silver lining of this all is that he seemingly has become an effective reliever and has given himself another reprieve with the Mets, and I hope he can take that chance and run, because I really like Senga and I still think he has a place here.

Nick Kalantzopoulos

I’ll go with Peralta, Polanco and Bichette.

I never thought Freddy Peralta was the shutdown ace some Mets fans did, but I certainly thought his floor was much higher than a 4.99 ERA.

This might be my most hard-to-believe-I’m-serious Mets opinion: But I genuinely believe that Jorge Polanco is a good hitter when healthy. Unfortunately, it appears as if the Polanco the Mets acquired is a lemon. He dealt with Achilles bursitis within the first week of the regular season. The Mets’ handling of him in terms of the injured list was so puzzling that the truth behind it might be illuminatingly depressing. They initially kept him off the IL and had him play through it. That didn’t work. It was then made public that he was still dealing with the issue during rehab, and they didn’t shut him down and have him get surgery until way too late. In theory, he would be fine for the start of the year, but that’s already in doubt. That tells me the team thinks that surgery would be so detrimental it could cost him next year as well. Unfortunately, before surgery, he was so injured he was unplayable. Either way, I think it’s more likely that Polanco is done as a quality major leaguer than him being healthy enough to succeed for the Mets next year.

As for Bo Bichette, for a fanbase that doesn’t take long to boo players or turn on them completely (some that have had massive success on the team before) the fact that the sentiment towards the man they gave 42 million dollars to this year to provide a 97 ops+ isn’t totally negative is bonkers to me. There were a ton of “well, during (insert here) allotment of time he’s actually been good!” And the OPS during whatever duration that was was never above 900. And whenever you cherry-pick the best of a season, it should be extremely good.

To be fair, he performed well at third, which might have been the fans’ number one Met concern heading into 2026, but he didn’t hit nearly well enough and provided next to nothing on the bases, which isn’t something you’d expect from someone who was a lifetime shortstop before this year.

Matt Mancuso

Failure to garner quality starting pitching depth

It’s common knowledge that teams must use 10-12 starting pitchers throughout a season to win at a sustainable rate. When the bottom of the Mets’ rotation fell out, and boy did it fall out in May, it caused the “uncapped downside scenario” that David Stearns referenced in the postseason press conference. After the 2025 club suffered the same rate, it was disappointing to see Stearns not to learn his lesson and not augment the 2026 club with quality starting pitching depth.

Failure to make quick changes – at the outset of the season, the Mets clearly made a plan: have their ‘Plan A’  guide them to a postseason berth. This “Plan A” consisted of the expected suspects: Jorge Polanco, Freddy Peralta, Luis Robert, Mark Vientos, the list goes on.
The issue: Plan A’s rarely work out. Polanco, Peralta, and Marcus Semien suffered lost seasons while Vientos, Robert, Juan Soto, and Francisco Lindor missed extensive time. The Mets should’ve shifted Jared Young to an everyday role earlier and made reactionary moves to account for the losses of Soto, Robert, and Lindor. Of course, with the benefit of hindsight, it’s easy to opine on what should have been done, but nonetheless, it’s the job of a front office to expect the unexpected.

A paltry offseason – over the winter of 2025, the Mets’ front office went wheeling and dealing. Out went their homegrown core. In came a bevy of risky, high-ceiling players. Almost none of their offseason moves worked out. Was it unluckiness? Bad Process? A Combination of Both? Who’s to say?

Simply put: when the dust settled, the moves didn’t change the needle. If anything, it moved it backwards. Front offices can’t be expected to hit 21 all of the time, but it’s fair to say the Mets’ FO didn’t even sniff double digits with their winter moves.

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In Washington for the final series, the Mets dropped two out of three to the Nationals. Consequently, the Mets finished with a 74-88 record, last place in the NL East. It is New York’s first time finishing in the bottom of the division since 2003. The team’s 74 wins are the franchise’s lowest since 2017.

While there were plenty of positives to emerge from the season, particularly down the stretch, the 2026 season will be remembered as a monumental failure.

We’ll do a full autopsy on Tuesday, but first, let’s recap the Nationals series in the final regular edition of 3 Up, 3 Down of the year…

Carson Benge by Roberto Carlo

3 UP

ROOKIE OF THE YEAR

Carson Benge deserves to be named the National League Rookie of the Year. Whether he wins the award remains to be seen, but he couldn’t have done much else. The outfielder capped off a truly special rookie season with just a masterful series in Washington. The weekend started with history being made, with Benge hitting his 20th home run of the year to become the first Mets rookie in franchise history to join the 20/20 club. If that wasn’t enough, Benge then followed that up with back-to-back three-hit games. He finished with 14 such games in the year. Overall, Benge looks like an absolute stud, and his future with the Mets appears very bright.

MILESTONE MAN

I feel like Francisco Lindor deserves a mention here. The 2026 season was overall tough for Lindor, but he finished in style. The shortstop signed off the year by hitting his 300th career home run in the final game of the season. As a result, Lindor is now the only primary shortstop in MLB history to record 300 home runs and 200 stolen bases. Lindor’s 300 homers are also the seventh-most in MLB history among Puerto Rican-born players. All told, it was a nice way for Lindor to end what was arguably the toughest year of his career. Don’t be surprised if he bounces back emphatically in 2027.

YOUNG HOPE

The final series of the year provided plenty of encouragement thanks to Ronny Mauricio and Jonah Tong. For Tong, the young starter was excellent on the mound on Saturday, striking out nine while allowing just one run on three hits over five stellar innings. He showed plenty of upside in his final start, calming some of the fears that hovered over him following an uneven year in the minors. Overall, Tong finishes 2026 with a 3.82 ERA, and he’s set himself up to compete for a spot in the rotation in spring training. Mauricio, meanwhile, had himself a monster series. The infielder hit two home runs with three RBIs on Saturday, before blasting another homer with two RBIs on Sunday. While his future remains uncertain, Mauricio flashed his upside, and maybe he could be an option at second base.

Jun 13, 2026; New York City, New York, USA; New York Mets starting pitcher Sean Manaea (59) walks back to the dugout after the top of the first inning against the Atlanta Braves at Citi Field. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-Imagn Images

3 DOWN

PUT OUT OF THEIR MISERY

The 2026 season is finally over. A long and hugely disappointing 162-game schedule is now complete. Following a loss in the series opener on Friday, the Mets were officially consigned to last place in the NL East for the first time since 2003. While the result is no surprise, the franchise should still be embarrassed by how this season unfolded. And while there is hope for the future, the team will need to wear the stink of 2026 for a while.

FINISHING WEAK

The Sean Manaea outlook remains murky for the Mets. The veteran finished a complicated season on a low note. Taking the ball in the series finale, Manaea blew a 4-1 lead and gave up five earned runs on seven hits over six tough innings. Consequently, the lefty finished with a 4.78 ERA on the year after allowing 32 earned runs over his final eight starts. With a need to fortify the rotation, what the Mets decide to do with Manaea remains to be seen.

DOOMED FROM THE START

The Mets knew they had a chance to avoid finishing in last place in the division. However, that small chance was quickly wiped out in the series opener. Going with an opener, the Mets were effectively doomed from the start. Jefry Yan allowed two runs as the opener before Jonathan Pintaro allowed three earned runs on three wild pitches. Ultimately, the bullpen let the Mets down on Friday, sealing their fate as bottom dwellers.

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MLB’s jersey sales for 2026 were announced on Friday, and Mets superstar Juan Soto ranked No. 10 on the list. He was the only Met to crack the top 20. Shohei Ohtani, Aaron Judge, Pete Crow-Armstrong, Ronald Acuña Jr. and Fernando Tatis Jr. made up the top five.

Juan Soto by Roberto Carlo

Latest Mets News

The Mets (73-87) fell 7-6 to the Nationals (76-84) in the first game of the final series of the season. Despite the loss, Carson Benge became the first Mets rookie ever to record a 20-homer, 20-steal season.

David Stearns is expected to speak to the media at 2 p.m. ET on Monday in his end-of-year press conference.

Baseball Prospectus ranked the Mets’ front office as the 10th best in Major League Baseball.

Latest on MMO

Kai Chang analyzes the last outing of the year for Zac Thornton.

Robert Colonna argues that the Mets were right to trade Brandon Nimmo despite the struggles of Marcus Semien.

On This Date in Mets History

1986: The Mets defeated the Pirates 3-1 to move to 101-53 on the season. Keith Hernandez drove in two runs, while Sid Fernandez pitched eight strong innings to get the win.

2015: The Mets clinched the NL East, giving the team their first postseason berth since 2006. New York defeated the Reds in a 10-2 blowout, with Matt Harvey earning the win.

Born on This Date: Brooks Pounders (1990), Doug Sisk (1957).

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The Mets’ offense got going in a hurry, with Juan Soto hitting an infield single, Bo Bichette following with a walk, and Mark Vientos driving in Soto with a hustle double to give the team an early lead. Carson Benge loaded the bases with a one-out walk, with the Mets poised to put up a crooked number. However, that would not come to pass, as Francisco Alvarez grounded into an inning-ending double play, with the Mets leading 1-0 in the middle of the first inning.

Jefry Yan took the mound, looking to open the game in strong fashion while setting up a bullpen game for New York. The lefty would fail to keep the lead, allowing one of the longest singles you will ever see to CJ Abrams, allowing two runs to make it 2-1 Nationals at the end of the first.

Jonathan Pintaro replaced Yan with two on, two out in the bottom of the second inning, but did not have to do much. Alvarez threw out a runner trying to steal second to end the inning, with the score remaining 2-1.

The Mets’ stars began the third inning in productive fashion, with Francisco Lindor and Soto both singling, making it first and third with no one out. Bichette cashed in, doubling down the right field line and tying the game with runners on second and third. Vientos gave the Mets the lead with a sacrifice fly while also advancing Bichette to third with one out. Benge followed with his second walk, putting runners at first and third. However, the inning stalled there, with Alvarez and Marcus Semien striking out to end the inning with the Mets leading 3-2.

The bottom of the third inning did not go well for Pintaro, with Gary Cohen calling it a “circus.” Three wild pitches resulted in two runs and a forfeiting of the lead before an out was recorded, with the Nationals plating two runs. Cionel Pérez replaced Pintaro, and threw yet another wild pitch, and surrendered a walk. The inning went from bad to worse, as Pérez surrendered two more runs, making it 6-3 Nationals after three innings.

Justin Hagenman replaced Pérez in the bottom of the fourth inning, allowing no runs and finally righting the ship.

Bichette blasted his 18th home run of the season with one out in the top of the fifth, cutting the Nationals’ lead to two. Benge would join the home run party, becoming the first Mets rookie to have a 20 home run, 20 steal season. Nothing more came of the inning, with the Nationals leading 6-5.

After two innings of scoring peace, the Nationals finally tagged Hagenman for a run in the bottom of the seventh to extend their lead to two.

Carson Benge by Berto Carlo

The Mets battled back in the top of the eighth, starting the inning with back-to-back hits by Benge and Brett Baty. Alvarez drove in Benge with a sacrifice fly, cutting the Nationals’ lead back down to 7-6. The scoring stopped there, but A.J. Ewing got ejected after barking at the third base umpire for calling him out on a check-swing.

Nate Lavender came in to replace Hagenman, and Cristian Pache filled in for the ejected Ewing in the bottom of the eighth inning. Lavender pitched a one-two-three inning, adding to what has been a spectacular season, and leaving the door open for a Mets comeback in the ninth inning.

The Mets failed to come back in the top of the ninth inning despite a Soto walk, however, dropping the first game of the final series of the year to the Nationals.

Player of the Game: Carson Benge

Benge became the first Mets rookie, and 18th rookie in MLB history, to hit 20 home runs and steal 20 bases on Friday night. The milestone comes at the tail end of what has been a Rookie of the Year-caliber season for the 23-year-old. The performance was a testament to Benge’s success, with him going 2-for-2 with two walks and a home run.

On Deck

The Mets will resume action on Saturday at 12:35 p.m. EST in the second contest of the three-game set against the Nationals. Jonah Tong will make the start, looking to close out his season strong. The game will stream live on SNY, with radio coverage on WCBS 880 and the Audacy app.

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The Mets head to D.C. for the final series of the 2026 season. It’s been a disappointing season for the Mets, who started the year with World Series aspirations. Things fell apart fairly quickly, but since the trade deadline, the Mets have been playing better ball and creating hope for next season. A few players have some major milestones they can still reach over the next few days as well.

The big mystery is the weather. There’s a nor’easter that will mostly be impacting everywhere from New Jersey to Boston, but D.C. is not completely out of the woods. Hopefully the Mets will be able to play these last three games.

Juan Soto by Roberto Carlo

Mets Lineup

1. Francisco Lindor – SS
2. Juan Soto – LF
3. Bo Bichette – 3B
4. Mark Vientos – DH
5. Carson Benge – RF
6. Francisco Alvarez – C
7. Marcus Semien – 2B
8. A.J. Ewing – CF
9. Christopher Morel – 1B

Starting Pitcher: Jefry Yan (opener)

Yan will open for the Mets, but Hagenman is likely to follow in a bulk role after being recalled from Triple-A Syracuse.

Hagenman has pitched in two games this season totaling four innings, allowing two runs on three hits while striking out two. Last season, he pitched in nine games totaling 23 2/3 innings with a 4.56 ERA, 3.77 FIP, 1.099 WHIP and a 90 ERA+. Overall in the minors this season, he has pitched 19 1/3 innings with a 3.26 ERA. He’s been stretching it out a bit in his last two starts, going four innings in each start allowing only two runs on four hits over eight innings. This will be his first time facing the Nationals and anyone on the Nationals’ roster in a major league game.

Opposing Lineup

1. James Wood – DH
2. Andrés Chaparro – 1B
3. Brady House – 3B
4. Dylan Crews – RF
5. CJ Abrams – SS
6. Jacob Young – CF
7. Daylen Lile – LF
8. Keibert Ruiz – C
9. Jorbit Vivas – 2B

Alvarez has pitched in 24 games making 16 starts for the Nationals, throwing 108 innings with a 3.17 ERA, 3.13 FIP, 1.259 WHIP and a 136 ERA+. In his last two starts, he has not allowed any runs over 13 innings while striking out 16 batters. In two starts against the Mets this season, he allowed four runs over nine innings.

The Mets have the following career stats against Alvarez:

• Francisco Alvarez 1-3, 2B, BB, K
• Brett Baty 0-1, BB
• Carson Benge 0-3
• Bo Bichette 1-4, K
• A.J. Ewing 0-4, 2 K
• Francisco Lindor 2-4, HR, BB
• Nick Morabito 0-1, K
• Christopher Morel 1-2, K
• Marcus Semien 0-4
• Juan Soto 2-4, HR, K
• Luis Torrens 1-3
• Mark Vientos 0-4, K

Game Notes

• Upon recalling Hagenman, the Mets optioned Jack Weisenburger to the FCL Mets while Xzavion Curry was out-righted to the FCL Mets.
• The Mets need to win one game this weekend to take home the season series against Washington. They haven’t lost the season series to the Nationals since 2020.

Three Things To Watch For

1. Juan Soto in Washington. It’s been a few seasons now since the Nationals traded Soto to the Padres. That trade brought over key parts of the Nationals lineup in Abrams and Wood to Washington and set Soto off on a journey that eventually led to the Mets signing him. Especially after the reception that Mets fans gave Pete Alonso, I’m just curious to hear the reaction to Soto even if it has been four seasons.
2. Home runs not doubles. The Mets hit two doubles Thursday in Texas. I’ve been looking at box scores most of the season and thought they’ve been hitting a lot of doubles this season and I was so wrong. Just so wrong. The Mets have 205 doubles in 2026, which is good for 29th in the league, five ahead of the Mariners and 80 behind the league-leading Kansas City Royals. This is interesting because the Mets are ninth in the league in home runs, despite getting off to a miserable start hitting them this season.
3. Milestones. It’s the final three games of the season! Lindor has been sitting at 299 home runs since September 12. Benge is only one home run away from a 20-20 season. Soto is three home runs and a monster series away from a 30-homer season.

Let’s go Mets!

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Let’s take a look at some notes ahead of the three pitching matchups this weekend.

Steven Bisig-Imagn Images

PITCHING MATCHUPS

• Friday: TBD vs. Andrew Alvarez (2-6, 3.17 ERA): Christian Scott was scheduled to make his 24th and final start of the year Friday before he was placed on the injured list with knee inflammation. Justin Hagenman is the likeliest option to take his place. His last outing for Triple-A Syracuse was exactly a week ago, where he threw four innings and 61 pitches. Alvarez has been used as a starter and reliever this season, with his best performances coming in the second half. In 11 appearances (10 starts) over that period, he has pitched to a 2.44 ERA over 59 innings. Alvarez has three quality starts since August 30, all of which have included at least six scoreless innings. He could potentially be a big piece for the Nationals’ rotation in 2027.
• Saturday: Jonah Tong (2-2, 4.21 ERA) vs. Jake Irvin (2-9, 5.40 ERA): Speaking of starters who may be big contributors next season, Tong could help himself out with a strong performance this weekend. After debuting late last season, 2026 has been an up-and-down year for him. Tong has made three big league starts in September, pitching to a 4.60 ERA in 15 2/3 innings. It’s an important start for him to build confidence. Irvin has had another difficult season for the Nationals. He has allowed four earned runs or more in seven of his 20 starts. While his strikeout numbers are up, so are his walks. Irvin is 0-1 with a 5.40 ERA in two starts against the Mets this season.
• Sunday: Sean Manaea (6-7, 4.67 ERA) vs. DJ Herz (0-1, 9.00 ERA): From July 24 through August 21, Manaea had a stretch of six starts with at least six innings pitched and a 3.38 ERA. He didn’t reach that feat again until Tuesday against the Rangers, when he allowed three runs (two earned) in six innings. During spring training and the opening weeks of this season, there was plenty of discourse surrounding Manaea’s decreasing velocity. His four-seam fastball is back at 93-94 MPH, certainly a positive sign for the veteran. Herz made his season debut Monday against the Detroit Tigers, allowing four runs over four innings. It was his first big league appearance since September of 2024. Herz is 0-2 with a 8.31 ERA in three career starts against the Mets.

WHAT’S THE STORY?

12 months ago, the Mets were in contention to make the playoffs. Unfortunately, they lost two of three against the Miami Marlins over the final weekend of the regular season, resulting in the Cincinnati Reds getting the final Wild Card spot in the National League. Disappointment from all involved was an understatement, and that feeling has only increased this season given the expectations going into the year.

The focus should and will be on the future of this team, which has quite a few cornerstone pieces. Francisco Lindor and Juan Soto are the obvious two, but the emergence of Carson Benge and A.J. Ewing, among others, gives fans some optimism. David Stearns and his staff have a lot to accomplish this offseason, but if they can make the right decisions to complement what they already have at the big league level, 2027 could provide a lot more joy and happiness for the fanbase.

PREDICTION

This has been a good week for the Mets. The club has removed the interim tag and made Andy Green the permanent manager with a three-year contract. On the field, the team took two of three against the Rangers in hopes of playing spoiler against another team trying to get into the postseason. Ending the year on the high note would be nice, and I expect the Mets to do so, taking two of three against the Nationals.

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