MIAMI — The Mets are running out of games to clean up their mess, and even if they finish with a pair of crisp games on Saturday and Sunday, they may have already done irreparable damage to their playoff hopes down the stretch.
All along the way, as the Mets’ 8.5-game advantage in the National League Wild Card peeled away, there was always tomorrow. But now, that safety net has been ripped out from under them with a measly pair of games to play.
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As the Mets looked to hold on to a one-game edge in the NL Wild Card race, they played another incomplete game in their series opener against the Marlins.
They struck early against Sandy Alcantara but could not squeeze him enough to get him out of the game quickly. As Alcantara gained his footing, the Mets’ pitching staff lost theirs in a potentially destructive fifth inning, ripe with mental mistakes and unkempt defensive plays.
It all amounted to a 6-2 loss to the Marlins at loanDepot Park as a prolonged collapse inched closer to its final destination. The Mets are now tied with the Reds, who took down the Brewers on the road Friday, for the final NL Playoff spot. The latter holds the tiebreaker with two games left to play.
“We put ourselves in this position. Here we are,” Carlos Mendoza said. “We got to come back tomorrow and the next day now. We gotta win the next two and see what happens, but we did it ourselves.”
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The Mets’ miscues have fallen across the diamond like dominoes, and they’re having trouble finding answers to rectify their situation. In the last three series alone, the Mets have committed eight errors.
No one has been spared with the pressure ratcheting up.
“It’s on me, it’s on all of us,” Mendoza said. “We continue to make the same mistakes and it’s costing us games.”
The Mets had control of the game in the first inning on Friday night. They soared ahead with a leadoff home run by Francisco Lindor and an RBI double by Pete Alonso.
New York Mets manager Carlos Mendoza (64) enters the field for a pitching change against the Miami Marlins during the fifth inning on Sept. 26, 2025, at loanDepot Park.
Through four innings, they had forced Sandy Alcantara to throw 69 pitches. But they let him off the ropes, recording 10 straight outs on the ground as Alcantara only needed 27 pitches to complete the fifth, sixth and seventh innings.
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“We just have to stay hungry and do whatever we can and lock in,” Alonso said. “We did a great job early but we got to figure out a way to get Sandy out of the game.”
That fueled the Marlins while squelching out the Mets’ momentum.
The Marlins jumped Brandon Sproat for three straight hits in the fifth inning, tying the score on a Heriberto Hernandez two-run double and then going ahead 3-2 when Alonso bungled a sharp ground ball and could only make an out at first.
The Mets could have stored away some promise if they cut it off there, but after Sproat was removed following a single, Gregory Soto lost track of Agustin Ramirez at first base and he stole two bases without any restraint.
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“You got that runner in front of you and for them to take off like that and for us not being able to just either step off or just now giving them a free base there is kind of an inning-changer,” Mendoza said
The bottom fell out from there for the Mets, who allowed three more runs on an RBI single and a two-run home run.
Miami Marlins second baseman Xavier Edwards (9) reacts from first base after hitting an RBI single against the New York Mets during the fifth inning on Sept. 26, 2025, at loanDepot Park
Now, with two games remaining, the Mets have left their playoff hopes up to chance. It’s a stark reality that has not set in quite yet.
“Well, good thing it’s not over yet. We’ll figure that out later on,” Alonso said. “But hopefully we can win tomorrow and we don’t have to face that reality. For now, we just got to do what we can to win tomorrow.”
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: NY Mets’ safety net is gone and cleaning up their act might not be enough