Kodai Senga faces a brutal comeback reality with his injuries as the New York Mets were mocked in their latest humbling against the Chicago Cubs, courtesy of Pete Crow-Armstrong
Kodai Senga is running out of time to help the New York Mets (Image: Photo by Vincent Carchietta/Getty Images)
Carlos Mendoza admitted that time is running out for Kodai Senga as the New York Mets look to make noise in the final week of the regular season, as rookie Jonah Tong spoke on the pressure orbiting the team.
Senga looked every bit the ace the Mets needed in the first half of the 2025 MLB season, posting a 1.47 ERA through 13 starts before he landed on the IL with a hamstring injury. Since then, the 32-year-old has struggled to find his consistency, recently being demoted to Triple-A in hopes of finding what made his season successful.
As the Mets battle for a postseason spot, Mendoza admitted that he is unsure if the 32-year-old Japanese ace would be able to help New York’s predicament. This comes after months of Senga looking to right the ship after the aforementioned hamstring injury in June 2025.
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“Yeah, I’m not sure about that,” Mendoza began to reporters when asked about prospects of seeing Senga in the coming days. “You know, we still got to wait and see. He’s going to stay in Florida after the live BP yesterday, and then we’ll see what we got.”
When asked how the star looked during batting practice, Mendoza gave a less than enthused reply with what he’s seen with Senga. “Just OK, you know, and again, it’s live BP, you know, but he didn’t feel like the velo was there, and that’s what we saw,” he added.
“So he’s going to continue to throw. He’s staying down there. He’s going to continue to keep throwing there, and then we’ll see where we are.” The 45-year-old added that while Senga feels “fine” physically, there is just something that is “not clicking” with him, especially when the ball is coming out.
Kodai Senga has endured an injury-plagued 2025 MLB season with the New York Mets(Image: Photo by G Fiume/Getty Images)
In the same vein, the Mets were embarrassed by the Chicago Cubs on Wednesday night. Down 7-2 in the fifth inning, a wild pitch allowed Cubs star Pete Crow-Armstrong to score from second base.
As the ball squirted to the backstop, the star sprinted to home plate, with no Mets able to tag out the speedster. To add more fuel to the fire, the 23-year-old unleashed Steph Curry’s “night night” celebration, effectively stating that the game was over.
Chicago defeated New York 10-3 as the Cubs enjoyed a more solidified position in the playoffs.
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Meanwhile, the Mets are continuing to monitor Senga’s progress and if he can join the team soon, despite how he looked in the second half of the season.
Of note, the 32-year-old posted a 6.56 ERA over eight starts being being demoted to Triple-A.
Considering how drastically Senga’s season has flipped, Mendoza shared how the Mets have noted how the ace’s velocity has dipped more than expected.
“I think it was like 93 yesterday on the live BP. Again, he was hot, and he felt the weather there, too, you know, so that was part of the reports that we got from the pitching coaches; that the weather kind of got to him there a little bit, and he got tired, and maybe you credit some of that there, too,” Mendoza concluded.