Mets fumble final shot at October: 'It's a failure'

MIAMI -- In the end, aft an unfathomable three-and-a-half period descent that suggested they were much bottommost feeder than World Series contender, the New York Mets' duty connected Sunday was simple: Beat the Miami Marlins and October shot would follow.

The Mets, successful fitting manner for a frustrating year, fumbled the opportunity, falling 4-0 astatine LoanDepot Park to crush their playoff hopes connected the past time of the regular season.

With the Cincinnati Reds losing to the Milwaukee Brewers connected Sunday, a triumph would've sent the Mets backpedaling into the postseason but into the postseason nevertheless arsenic the National League's 3rd and last chaotic paper club. They understood the duty required to debar a historical collapse.

It inactive didn't matter.

The Mets finished tied with the Reds successful the standings astatine 83-79, but the Reds were awarded a summons to the tourney for the archetypal clip since 2020 due to the fact that they owned the head-to-head tiebreaker. The Reds volition commencement a three-game chaotic paper bid against the Dodgers successful Los Angeles connected Tuesday. The Mets went location connected Sunday scratching their heads.

"It's hard to describe," Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said. "I conscionable got done addressing the squad and there's nary connection to picture what we're going through. It's pain. It's frustration. You sanction it. We came successful with a batch of expectations and present we are going home. Not lone did we autumn short, we didn't adjacent get into October."

Said shortstop Francisco Lindor: "It was thing that was connected us, connected me, connected the players to get it done and we didn't execute. We didn't bash the job."

Reaching October seemed similar a foregone decision each summer. Coming disconnected an unexpected tally to the NLCS past season, a decorativeness fueled by vibes and clutch moments, the Mets reloaded implicit the offseason by giving Juan Soto the richest declaration successful North American sports history, re-signing Pete Alonso, and adding complimentary pieces.

On June 12, done 69 games, they owned the champion grounds successful baseball. Their pitching unit had the champion ERA successful shot contempt not having a bona fide ace and with Sean Manaea connected the injured list. Soto, their $765 cardinal investment, was disconnected to a comparatively dilatory commencement that generated outer sound that the Mets dismissed. The reasoning was the Mets were not adjacent astatine their champion yet. But that was the peak.

The Mets went 38-55 the remainder of the way, a grounds lone amended than 4 different clubs implicit that span. Ultimately, the results were reversed from 2024 erstwhile the squad overcame a dreadful commencement to seal a postseason spot connected the regular season's last day.

"It's beyond frustration," said Alonso, who confirmed helium volition opt retired of his declaration and go a escaped cause again this offseason. "It's straight-up disappointing. And there's nary different mode to sugarcoat it. Just the mode it is. Super talented squad and the world is we fell short. I mean, we didn't adjacent get to October."

A rash of pitching injuries, opening with Kodai Senga straining his hamstring connected June 12, combined with a rotation that couldn't transportation heavy into games enough, an overworked bullpen and baffling violative inconsistency cooked up the disaster.

"We had unsmooth moments with our rotation," Soto said. "They got hurt. They were going up and down. They were unbelievable astatine the opening and past they started getting wounded and that's erstwhile everything started going down."

The rotation'...