The New York Mets (15-25) return home to welcome the Detroit Tigers (19-22) for a three-game series, beginning tonight. The nightmare that has been the 2026 season got a brief respite when the Mets took two series in a row from the Angels and Rockies, but the mirage faded when the Diamondbacks took two of three over the weekend, where the Mets’ bats continued their shy, bashful nature.

If there is a positive for the club, it is that their starting pitching has, more or less, straightened itself out. Clay Holmes and Nolan McLean have been excellent, Freddy Peralta has been exactly as advertised, Christian Scott is looking good, and David Peterson, for some reason, operates better after an opener. With the bullpen being more or less cromulent, the pitching side of their game is looking fine.

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But the offense. Woof.

Juan Soto will be fine, but he’s been making poor contact on pitches that the ‘old’ Soto would’ve spit on or taken the other way. Instead, he’s popping up bad pitches left and right. Bo Bichette still looks totally lost at the plate, collecting just seven extra base hits in 175 plate appearances. I don’t believed that he’s washed, but he’s not playing anything like the clutch Bo of old.

If we’re looking for any sort of offensive bright spots, they’re all with qualifiers. Carson Benge is starting to look like a big league player at the plate, but it’s taken awhile. Marcus Semien has flashed moments of looking better than his 2025 stat line would indicated, but those have been fleeting. Mark Vientos has had a few games that flash his 2024 power, but they’ve been followed up with games that flash his 2025 struggles. MJ Melendez has done well in limited playing time, but how long can that last?

The injuries are clearly an issue; this is undoubtedly a better team with Francisco Lindor, Jorge Polanco, and Luis Robert Jr. on the roster rather than Austin Slater, Vidal Brujan, and Andy Ibáñez. But the limited offense can’t just be blamed on who isn’t there; there needs to be some fingers pointed at who is there.

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If nothing else, this season is an opportunity to really stress test their young players. This looks to be the end of the line for both Vientos and Brett Baty as everyday contributors, and the Mets are doing all in their power to see just what sort of a hitter Francisco Alvarez really is over a full season. Benge is getting his shot and, as of tonight, so is A.J. Ewing. McLean and Scott are going to pitch a lot of innings, and they may be joined by Jonah Tong and Jack Wenninger before season’s end. Tobias Myers is going to get to pitch in just about every type of role out there, and Austin Warren will be given every shot to prove himself a useful reliever.

None of this really does much for the win column right now, and none of it really gives any hope for the series with the Tigers, especially when two of the three games are full of “TBD” starters (although Fangraphs lists those Mets starters as Scott and McLean and the Tigers as throwing Framber Valdez and Keider Montero). If the Mets can wake up their bats, they’re still in a position where the season isn’t totally lost just yet; plenty of teams have been ten games under .500 in mid-May and made a playoff push, but I truly can’t remember a team this offensively inept top to bottom most games.

If there’s a glimmer of hope for this series, it is that the Tigers are losers of six of their last ten and are also sporting a losing record, though they’re not nearly as in the hole as the Mets are. They’re similarly injured, but their injuries are more on the starting pitching side, with Tarik Skubal, Casey Mize, and old friend Justin Verlander all on the shelf with a variety of issues. Skubal is the biggest loss, obviously, but the team is struggling to find effective starting performances across the board.

The recently suspended Valdez has been just alright, ditto 2024 trade deadline darling Jack Flaherty. Their biggest surprise has been Montero, in his third season starting for the Tigers, really putting it together thus far. An ERA just over three and a 3.63 K/BB ratio have been a godsend for Detroit, and has stabilized at least one spot in the rotation.

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Offensively, rookie Kevin McGonigle has been the story. An American League Rookie of the Year hopeful, McGonigle is hitting .293/.395/.435 in his first 39 games as a big leaguer. Riley Green and Dillon Dingler have also been good for the Tigers thus far, but injuries haven’t avoided the lineup either. Old friend Javier Báez, Gleyber Torres, and Kerry Carpenter are all missing time right now as well.

In some ways, these two teams are both dealing with similar issues, but while the Tigers’ offense is only 23rd best in baseball, the Mets’ is dead last by fWAR. To put that into some context, the Mets, as a team, are work 0.5 fWAR right now. The Tigers are worth 3.5 fWAR.

Tuesday, May 12: Freddy Peralta vs Jack Flaherty, 7:10pm EDT on SNY

Peralta (2026): 43.1IP, 43 K, 18 BB, 4 HR, 3.12 ERA, 3.72 FIP, 79 ERA-

Many folks were hoping that Peralta would take another step forward in 2026 after a very good 2025 campaign, but thus far, Freddy is being Freddy. That’s not a bad thing, but it is a limited thing. Peralta typically throws 5 innings of competitive ball, and that’s what we’re getting thus far. He’s not looking like an ace; in fact, he’s looking more like the Mets’ third starter behind Holmes and McLean, but that’s fine. It’s just not a 7-8 year extension fine, that’s all.

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Flaherty (2026): 34.0 IP, 42 K, 26 BB, 5 HR, 5.56 ERA, 5.29 FIP, 133 ERA-

Flaherty is having a rough go of it as of late, not seeing the sixth inning since April 15 and only getting out of the fourth once since then. Even the games he’s looked reasonably good, like when he gave up no earned runs against the Red Sox, he walked six batters and only got ten outs in the game. He’s also been tagged with five unearned runs in his last four starts, which suggests some bad luck, but not enough to account for his performance.

Wednesday, May 13: TBD (likely Christian Scott) vs TBD (likely Framber Valdez), 7:10pm EDT on SNY

Scott (2026): 11.0 IP, 15 K, 7 BB, 1 HR, 3.27 ERA, 4.03 FIP, 83 ERA-

The Mets are being very cautious with Scott coming off of Tommy John Surgery, pulling him early in two of his three starts. Aside from his very bad first start, Scott has looked very good. He walked five in his first start, and has only walked two in the subsequent games. He’s struck out 14 in those two starts as well.

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Valdez (2026): 43.1 IP, 35 K, 15 BB, 5 HR, 4.57 ERA, 4.32 FIP, 110 ERA-

A potential Mets’ target this offseason, Valdez is coming off a five-game suspension for throwing at Trevor Story last week in Boston. This is the latest in what could generously be described as colorful incidents involving Valdez, and it is clear that the Mets did not need this added layer of distraction on their team this season. Additionally, Valdez just hasn’t been pitching like a guy whose contract is potentially worth $110 million.

Thursday, May 14: TBD (likely Nolan McLean) vs TBD (likely Keider Montero), 1:10pm EDT on SNY

McLean (2026): 45.1 IP, 57 K, 12 BB, 3 HR, 2.78 ERA, 2.39 FIP, 71 ERA-

Owner of the rare ‘FIP lower than ERA’ stat line, McLean is looking like every bit the prospect that the Mets hoped he would. In his last start, he allowed just one run on three hits, striking out six and walking just one. In four of his eight starts, he’s given up just one earned run, and hasn’t had a truly ‘great’ start yet this year. It’s coming.

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Montero (2026): 39.2 IP, 29 K, 8 BB, 3 HR, 3.18 ERA, 3.24 FIP, 76 ERA-

The cornerstone of their current rotation, Montero isn’t strikingt out a ton of batters, but he’s been limiting runs and getting results. In his last two starts, he’s allowed just one earned run, gone six plus innings, and walked just three batters. This should be a very fun matinee matchup.