PHILADELPHIA -- The demolition of the 2025 Mets’ season is occurring at an almost unfathomable pace. The Mets lost their sixth consecutive game on Thursday, 6-4 to the Phillies, blowing a four-run lead to endure a four-game series sweep against their National League East rivals. Their cushion in the Wild Card race, which stood at five games as recently as Labor Day Weekend, is down to 1 1/2.
"No one wants to get swept,” said outfielder Jeff McNeil, whose center-field misplay fueled one of Philadelphia’s rallies at Citizens Bank Park. “It’s not fun, especially against the Phillies.”
Give the Mets credit: They continue to find new and inventive ways to lose. On this night, five of their first six batters of the game reached base safely against Jesús Luzardo, with four of them scoring.
The Mets did not record another baserunner the rest of the night. Twenty-five up, 25 down.
“I felt like I got one pitch to hit all game,” McNeil said.
Along the way, the Phillies roared back on Otto Kemp’s two-run homer off David Peterson in the fourth inning, Bryce Harper’s RBI double in the fifth on a ball that McNeil misplayed in center field, and a go-ahead, three-run rally against Reed Garrett and Brooks Raley in the sixth.
The Mets’ lead over both the Reds and Giants for the final NL Wild Card spot is now 1 1/2 games, though it’s effectively 2 1/2 against San Francisco because the Mets own that tiebreaker. If all three teams finish the season tied, the Reds would earn the berth based on their three-way head-to-head record.
"I’m responsible,” manager Carlos Mendoza said. “I’m the manager. It’s my job to get these guys going. And I will.”
Is it possible to rebound from this sort of downturn?
Throughout their recent slide down the National League standings, the bedrock of the Mets’ optimism has been the history of unexpected teams growing hot in October. Just get in the tournament, the sentiment goes, and anything can happen.
Major League Baseball’s results, particularly in the Wild Card era, back that up. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, three teams with a winning percentage of .450 or worse from August through the end of the regular season have gone on to make the postseason. Of those three, two made the World Series and one of them -- the 2006 Cardinals -- even won it.
That club earned just 83 victories in the regular season. The Mets are on pace to win 84.
Of course, the fact that only three teams have made the postseason after playing that poorly down the stretch is a concerning bit of precedent for the Mets. No team has ever posted a winning percentage worse than .400 from August through the end of the regular season and qualified for the playoffs. The Mets, at 14-24 since the start of August, will need to go 8-7 or better over their final 15 games to crack the .400 mark.
If they don’t start playing much better soon, in other words, they’ll never have a chance to make the sort of history they seek.
"I’m not going to say that I’m worried, but we don’t have too much time,” Mendoza said. “Teams are right behind us, and it’s becoming now, what, 15 games [left]? The way you look at it is we’re still in control of the situation. We’re still in control of achieving the ultimate goal. But we’ve got to go out and do it.”
It doesn’t get easier
Under different circumstances, the Mets and their fans might have been able to enjoy Jacob deGrom’s return to Citi Field, which will occur Friday night. Had the Mets been cruising to a playoff berth without much pressure at this point in September, Friday’s reunion could have almost seemed like a celebration.
Instead, it feels a lot closer to a must-win for the Mets, who may not be opposing the peak 2018-21 version of deGrom, but a version that’s still quite effective. Over 27 starts, deGrom has a 2.78 ERA.
What’s more, deGrom’s former teammates describe him as one of the most competitive people on the planet.
"Listen, when Jake steps on the mound, it’s a different person,” outfielder Brandon Nimmo said. “When you’re competing against Jake, it’s different. He might give me a nod and whatnot, but that will probably be about it. And then he’s going to want to stick your face in it.”
The Mets cannot afford to let their former teammate do that on Friday. But deGrom will be plenty motivated, both for personal reasons -- it will be his first start against the Mets since leaving through free agency after the 2022 season -- and practical ones. deGrom’s Rangers are in the thick of their own playoff race, sitting just 1 1/2 games back of an American League Wild Card spot and two back of first place in the AL West.
"We’ve got to play better, simple as that,” Peterson said. “We’ve seen what this group can do. We’ve got 15 left, and we’ve got to take care of business.”