Where Mets stand after supercharged Subway Series

NEW YORK -- The Mets’ 8-2 loss in the Subway Series finale, Pete Alonso said, was completely on him.

With the Yankees rallying in the eighth inning of a tie game Sunday, Alonso scooped up a Jorbit Vivas ground ball and fired home in an attempt to cut down Jasson Domínguez at home plate. But Alonso’s throw wasn’t close, allowing the go-ahead run to score in what became a six-run rally.

“I messed it up,” Alonso said. “I just made an awful throw. That whole inning, this game, it’s on me. After that throw, the momentum got out of hand.”

Realistically on this night, the Mets had other culpable players. And realistically, two losses in three games at Yankee Stadium won’t matter much in the grand scheme of a long season. But over the course of this weekend, some other, more important themes did emerge.

In the gauntlet
The Mets understood that a Subway Series in the Bronx was never going to be an easy assignment. The first-place Yankees are one of the few American League teams capable of matching them in terms of roster talent. Throw in a supercharged crowd eager to monopolize the attention of Juan Soto and his teammates, and the recipe for a difficult weekend was there.

The schedule, though, does not become any cushier this week. To the contrary, the Mets are in the midst of their toughest stretch all season, with three games coming up against the second-place Red Sox at Fenway Park, followed by a trio of primetime showdowns against the Dodgers at Citi Field.

“We’ve got to get ready for another good team before we start thinking about what’s next,” manager Carlos Mendoza said. “That’s our mentality here.”

Although the Red Sox are technically a sub-.500 club at the moment, they’ve scored more runs than they’ve allowed and will throw Cy Young candidate Garrett Crochet at the Mets in Wednesday’s finale. While the Dodgers are also not without their problems, they remain World Series favorites until proven otherwise.

The Mets don’t need to win either series to reach their ultimate goal, but doing so would give them some promising momentum heading into the second third of the season.

Soto’s breakout will have to wait
At the outset of this series, many predicted the electrified atmosphere would be just what Soto needed to produce his first signature game as a Met. And while Soto did help the team, most notably with some shrewd baserunning on Saturday, he finished 1-for-10 with four walks in the three games.

That’s the bad news. The good news is that Soto continues to hit the ball hard, with underlying numbers that suggest a breakout is inevitable. Entering Sunday’s play, Soto had improved his expected slugging percentage from .430 in March/April to .997 in May. His season-long on-base percentage is a respectable .379, and every metric continues to scream that he’ll only get better from here.

“Hey man, you’re the best in the game,” was what Aaron Judge told Soto when the two former teammates met Sunday for a brief chat. “Things like this are going to happen. Just keep playing your game.”

Yes, Soto still actually has to do it. Yes, this weekend at Yankee Stadium would have been a nice time for him to start. But there’s nothing to suggest a Soto breakout is merely wishful thinking.

The Mets continue to be in every game
So far, the Mets have played 47 games. They’ve won 29 of them. In 17 of the other 18, they’ve at least managed to bring the tying run to the on-deck circle in the seventh inning or later. (The only exception occurred last Wednesday, in a dreary 4-0 getaway day loss to the Pirates at Citi Field.)

Over a 162-game season, it’s difficult to be competitive every night. Even the best teams endure some clunkers now and then. Take the defending World Series champion Dodgers, for example: not only were they just swept by the middling Angels, but they lost a 16-0 game to the Cubs earlier this year. These things happen; no one doubts Los Angeles’ ability to be there at the end.

At some point over the next four and a half months, the Mets will lose by more runs than they did Sunday, which was statistically their worst defeat of the season. Still, their ability to avoid that fate so far points not just to the strength of their team, but also the depth of their roster.

Every night, the Mets put a competitive starting pitcher on the mound. When Mendoza rests key players, he has competent backups to fill in. When the Mets go down early and use their lower-leverage relievers, those arms -- whether it’s Max Kranick, José Buttó or Huascar Brazobán -- consistently keep the team in games.

For the Mets, it not only keeps every night exciting, but it’s a surefire recipe for long-term success.