The Mets’ complete collapse + DON’T count the Reds out against the Dodgers 👀 | Baseball Tonight

The Mets’ complete collapse + DON’T count the Reds out against the Dodgers 👀 | Baseball Tonight

And it’s not just the final month of the season. Since June 13th, the Mets are 38 and 55, fifth worst in Major League Baseball in that span. And the other four teams on that list are the four worst teams in Major League Baseball. It’s almost impossible to fathom, Eduardo. This Met team that went out and got Juan Sto in the offseason, re-uped with Pete Alonzo, made so many moves at the deadline to address the bullpen, will not so much as be a part of the postseason. No, they won’t. And this is it. It’s really interesting because they had to piece it together with pitching yesterday, pitching today, pitching down the stretch. That was going to be the biggest question for the New York Mets. They went to Chicago, they didn’t perform as great. They go over to Miami, they lose two out of three there. You know, you could blame it easily on the big names offensively, but pitching was the common denominator. Kotaa, I think, was one of the most disappointing um pitchers for them. Yes, he was hurt at times, but then when he went down, it’s like mechanically he couldn’t figure it out. It wasn’t that he’s not healthy now. And they needed that arm down the stretch. They needed his presence. That’s one of the big reasons why they signed and for some odd reason they could not get to him. So, I have a Mets friend at home. He’s just a fan, but he’s a good fan. He understands the game. He texted me today and said, “If you ask a hundred diehard Met fans, they will tell you if the Mets are eliminated today, here’s how it’s going to happen. They the Reds are going to lose, but then the Mets are going to lose to the Marlins and get themselves knocked out, which is exactly what happened. I’m sorry. The Marlins play a really good brand of baseball. They’re not, you know, experienced enough to be a really good team, but the Mets cannot go into Miami and lose two out of three and get shut out on the final day of the season if they have planned on making the playoffs. So, as the Mets try to figure out what happened over the final three months of the season, the Reds, despite losing today in Milwaukee, are headed to the playoffs. And it’s going to be a story we hear a lot about, but Terry Francona on a team that struggled to score runs all season long figured out a way to get this Cincinnati Reds organization that he took over in not great shape to the postseason to take on the Dodgers in the opening round of the wild card. Right. This is why Tito Francona is going to the Hall of Fame as a manager. He knows where the button is on each player that he has and exactly when to push that button. This spring I went to see him wondering is he healthy enough to do this again. And I left thinking he really wanted to come back. But I was struck that Ellie de la Cruz went to him four times in the first two weeks of spring training and just went in and sat in Tito’s office and just wanted to talk about baseball. the best player on the team comes in and says, “Teach me. We got to get better.” And not only did they get better from 77 wins, granted they only got to 83, but they got better. And Tito had a lot to do with that. When the Reds named Tito Francona, the manager, immediately he got a hold of the players. He set a standard. He set an accountability to each one of those. Then I go to spring training to Goodyear to go see the Reds, and I find my good friend Tim Kirchin there wearing his shorts. I love spring training. I get to see his legs. I I think they’re fantastic. Um hairy, but fantastic. The the one thing I will say though is he has an ability to get his players to play their best brand of baseball. And what we are going to have now is an opportunity is to go see now the Dodgers and Reds and see Ellie de la Cruz on the big stage. Not a lot of people around the country have been able to see the talent that we have been able to see at Shortstop. Has he exceeded expectations this year? Absolutely not. Has he met expectations? No, he hasn’t. He didn’t get better from last year, but now he gets a taste of October. And I think this is going to be what exactly what Tito Franka wanted out of a superstar type of talent like Ella Cruz. We’re about to see it. This is on paper David and Goliath. It’s the loaded Los Angeles Dodgers and it’s the Cincinnati Reds who Ellie Dela Cruz. But what people may not realize is they’re going to pitch Hunter Green in game one and they’re going to pitch Andrew Abbott in game two and they’re going to pitch Brady Singer if there’s a game three. And Tim, they match up favorably pitching wise with the Dodgers. The point of the playoffs in 2025 is if you make it this year more than any other year that I’ve seen, you have a chance. You can’t look and say, “Oh, this team cannot win this series or this team cannot win the pennant.” This is the first year I look and say, “All right, some of these teams aren’t as strong as others.” But in this crazy year, which has made absolutely no sense, you can’t count anyone out. And that includes the Cincinnati Reds, even though the Dodgers roster is demonstrabably better. There’s no way around that. Do not count the Reds out. Do not look real. I know that he had a growing issue in his last start. Came out of there precautionary reasons. He’s got a big left arm. Uh, Latell’s got a a great arm as well. I don’t know if Singer’s going to be the guy in game three or not, but I will say this, the Cincinnati Reds, if you’re a Dodger fan, do not roll over. This is back to the 70s time of Reds Dodgers jockeying in that old National League West. But what we’re about to see right now is yes, Goliath against David, but right, give it some time. And Pagan may not be your classic closer, but go look at those numbers this year. strikeout hits for innings. It’s really, really impressive. And he just pitched four days in a row. The second pitcher this year to pitch in four consecutive days because they needed him to to help win Saturday’s game, which gave them a chance to win today. This is Tito rolling the dice and saying we’re going to we’re going to win this thing on Saturday, which is essentially what they did. It’s an incredible story for a Reds team that is headed to the postseason for the first time since 2020. I think we’ve all sort of thought all season long. The Dodgers once October comes around, right? They’ve had their injuries. They have stretches where they haven’t played very well, but they are the most talented team in this whole tournament here. What are concerns that you have about LA? The bullpen, and I think they’re going to address it, and Tim and I had this conversation, is with their starting staff. They’re going to roll guys over. Remember last year when they won, it was Buer that closed it out for LA. So, the one thing that Dave Roberts can do is he understands his arms really well. He understands how to place the position players in win-win situations. Now, let’s not forget they got the best player in baseball in October. Yes, his name is Kik Hernandez. The reality is this team knows how to play. The only difference is I think it’s been a disappointing season for the Dodgers. If they’re playing in the wild card, this isn’t where they were supposed to be. And because of it, it’s an added pressure to a team that has really underperformed the entire year, but is still good enough to be here, right? They have the best roster in baseball. They don’t have the best team so far because they haven’t played as well as they should have. The bullpen is the big problem, but like Eduardo said, they’re going to take the the guys who are not going to be in the threeman rotation in the wildard series, and they have about five of them, Emtt Sheen included, who they are going to help fix the bullpen with their starters left over. And that’s the big hope for the Dodgers. Plus, Will Smith, we’re not sure if he’s going to play in the wildard series. He’s got a an oblique and that guy can play through anything. He is an animal when it comes to playing hurt, but they really need him back for that lineup to be complete. [Music]

On Baseball Tonight, Eduardo Pérez and Tim Kurkjian discuss the New York Mets being eliminated from playoff contention before previewing the Cincinnati Reds’ Game 1 of the NL Wild Card Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
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