Despite a hopeful start to 2025, fueled by the re-signing of Pete Alonso, the acquisition of Juan Soto, and coming off a strong 2024 as NLDS winners, the New York Mets struggled to secure a Wild Card spot against the Cincinnati Reds.
This outcome is concerning, given that some of the Mets’ star players delivered career-best performances.
Pete Alonso broke Darryl Strawberry’s all-time home run record for the Mets. Francisco Lindor joined Howard Johnson as the only Mets to achieve multiple 30/30 seasons. Juan Soto managed to not only break his career-high in home runs but also became one of only three players in MLB history to have 40 home runs, 30 stolen bases, 100 RBIs and 100 walks.
The only other players to ever accomplish this feat are Hall of Famer Jeff Bagwell and Barry Bonds. Despite strong performances, the team is out of the postseason and Alonso immediately opted-out of his contract after their loss in the final game of the season on September 28th.
Where did it all go wrong?
One undeniable factor in the Mets downfall was their pitching staff. There were a lot of issues throughout the season, including Kodai Senga’s injury in June, leading to being demoted to Triple-A in early September due to underperformance, and Frankie Montas’s lackluster performance as a starter leading to his demotion to the bullpen before, according to an article on his MLB player page by Jared Greenspan and Rick Farlow, suffering a season-ending UCL injury in August that required Tommy John surgery. Sean Manaea also had a difficult year, sidelined until July and consistently struggling, posting a 5.64 ERA.
The Mets picked up three relievers, Ryan Helsley, Tyler Rogers and Gregory Soto, near the trade deadline, seeming like a sign of hope. But these acquisitions proved fruitless as Helsley and Soto performed subpar.
By the end of the season, Helsley recorded a 3-4 record and a 4.50 ERA, while Soto had a 1-5 record and a 4.18 ERA. Tyler Rogers luckily balanced this out by posting a 1.98 ERA, but his efforts couldn’t heal the damage.
Another area of question was the decision to call up young starters. The Mets called up three starting pitchers: Brandon Sproat, Nolan McLean and Jonah Tong. McLean delivered very well, recording only one loss in six starts with a 2.06 ERA. However, the others failed to deliver.
Tong and Sproat both performed poorly, however, these players pitching issues this season aren’t because of the pitchers. This case is a management issue, as they were both called up too early.
Sproat was promoted to the majors a month after his Triple-A call-up in early August and Tong’s major league debut was within just two weeks of his Triple-A promotion. This combination of poor performances, injuries, ineffective trades and poor management decisions led to a disastrous season for the pitching staff.
While pitching was the primary issue for the Mets this season, as any Mets fan will tell you, that doesn’t mean there were zero issues on the hitting side. Francisco Alvarez was out for a significant portion of the season due to an early-season injury, a Triple-A stint and recurring finger injuries in August.
Jose Siri also had an abysmal season, sidelined early on and returning only in September to bat .063 with two hits in 32 at-bats. This performance was so poor that he was designated for assignment within the same month he returned.
Both hitting and pitching were the cause of a disappointing season for fans. We may not have a postseason spot, but at least we had Elmo and Cookie Monster throwing out a first pitch.
