The 2025 season and playoff bracket are coming down to this final week of regular-season baseball. Coming into their Wednesday matchup against the Chicago Cubs, the Mets sat just one game above the Arizona Diamondbacks and one game up on the Cincinnati Reds in the chase for the final National League Wild Card spot.

Meanwhile, the Cubs, who already clinched a playoff spot, were also desperate for a win as they continue to battle to win home-field advantage in the postseason. The Mets sent Jonah Tong (2-2, 5.60 ERA, 22 strikeouts) to the mound against Cubs’ left-handed pitcher Matthew Boyd (13-8, 3.18 ERA, 152 SO).

The Mets fell into a 5-0 deficit in the third inning. It was a deficit they could not overcome as the Mets were out-hit 11-4 and the Cubs went on to defeat them 10-3.

Francisco Alvarez hit his second two-run home run in two days, and Juan Soto homered as well, but the Mets couldn’t get anything going offensively, and the pitching struggled mightily, which made it easy for the Cubs to run up the score.

Tong got into trouble quickly in the bottom of the first. Michael Busch doubled to lead off the game, and Nico Hoerner walked to put two on with no outs to quickly put the lead-off runners on early. Just when it seemed like momentum was swinging toward Chicago and it seemed imminent they would score in the first, with one out, Tyrone Taylor made an immaculate throw from center field to home on a ball hit by Moisés Ballesteros right up the middle that allowed Busch to round third and head home. But Taylor threw a bullet home, where Francisco Alvarez applied the tag on Busch perfectly. Originally, the call was ruled safe by the umpiring crew, and Chicago would have gone up 1-0 over the Mets, but the Mets challenged the call and succeeded, overturning the call and keeping the Cubs from scoring for the second out of the inning.

Tong went from two runners in scoring position to retiring the next three batters he faced to get out of a dicey first inning on the mound as the game proceeded to get through the second inning scoreless.

The run column remained empty through two and a half innings, but the Cubs struck first blood in the bottom of the third as Tong once again ran into trouble, and this time it was trouble that cost him as the Mets got their bullpen warming up early. Tong allowed six batters in a row to reach. He gave up a single to Matt Shaw, walked Michael Busch, a single to Hoerner, followed by a two-RBI double to Ian Happ. Ballesteros then followed with an RBI single to make it 3-0, and Seiya Suzuki hit the third extra-base hit of the inning, an RBI double that scored Happ as the Cubs opened the score up to 4-0. That was all for Tong as Carlos Mendoza went to his bullpen with runners on second and third, no outs, and the Cubs already up 4-0.

Richard Lovelady came into a sticky situation in a crucial game for the Mets, who exhausted most of their bullpen on Tuesday night. Lovelady got a quick out to open his outing on a strikeout of Carson Kelly, but Pete Crow-Armstrong hit a sacrifice fly to right field that scored a run to make it a 5-0 Cubs lead. Lovelady finally got out of the inning on a strikeout of Swanson.

The Cubs added to their lead in the fourth as Matt Shaw led off the bottom half of the inning with a solo home run to center field that made it a 6-0 game through four innings.

After the bats were silent and the Mets were no-hit through the first four innings, they finally got their first hits of the day in the fifth, along with getting on the scoreboard as the bats finally came to life. It started with a lead-off single by Mark Vientos. With one out, Alvarez came up and hit a laser two-run home run to left field that decreased Chicago’s lead to four as they still led it 6-2. That was the second night in a row Alvarez hit a two-run home run to help get the Mets’ offense going, but that was all the Mets were able to get going.

The Cubs answered right back in the bottom half of the fifth inning. After Lovelady walked Ballesteros, Mendoza turned to Clay Holmes to come in and pitch for the Mets.

Holmes got two quick groundouts before Crow-Armstrong reached on an error by Vientos, which scored Ballesteros. A wild pitch by Holmes then allowed Crow-Armstrong to come home and make it an 8-2 game before the inning ended.

With Sean Manaea on the mound in relief of Holmes, the Cubs then tacked on two more runs in the sixth on a home run by Busch after the Mets went down silent in the top half of the inning. The highlight of that inning was that the Reds’ 4-3 loss to the Pirates went final, meaning they did not pick up any ground on the Mets.

The Mets tacked on a third run in the top of the eighth as Juan Soto drilled a solo home run (his 43rd of the season) over the center field wall, but the Cubs still led the Mets 10-3, and that’s where the score remained as the Mets were unable to complete a comeback as they did on Tuesday and the Cubs went on to defeat them 10-3.

The Mets will now wait to see what happens in the Diamondbacks’ game against the Dodgers to see where they stand in the Wild Card after Wednesday night.

PLAYER OF THE GAME

The Player of the Game for Wednesday is Francisco Alvarez for his two-run home run in the fifth inning, his second in as many nights.

ON DECK

The Mets (81-77) conclude their series against the Cubs (89-69) on Thursday at 7:40 PM EST at Wrigley Field. It will be the righty Nolan McLean (4-1, 1.27 ERA, 46 SO) on the mound for the Mets against left-handed pitcher Shota Imanaga (9-7, 3.37 ERA, 114 SO) on the mound for the Cubs.

Heading into the final game of the series, the Mets will remain one game up on the Reds for the final wild card spot. At the conclusion of Wednesday night’s game, the Diamondbacks were down 3-1 to the Dodgers. If that score stands, they will remain one game up on Arizona as well. However, if Arizona comes back to defeat the Dodgers, the Mets will be tied with the Diamondbacks for the final spot; however, Arizona owns the tie-breaker over the Mets, so if the Diamondbacks win on Wednesday, they will take over the third and final wild card spot over the Mets for now. The Reds take on the Pirates in their series finale on Thursday, starting at 12:40 PM, while the Diamondbacks square off with the Dodgers at 3:40 PM.