MIAMI — No team knows last-day heartbreak like the New York Mets.
On Sunday, the Mets rendered moot their $340 million payroll, their offseason addition of Juan Soto and the 174 days (out of a possible 186) that they spent in playoff position. Their season ended with 17 other teams on Sunday, beaten out for the final wild card by the Cincinnati Reds.
A Mets team that has disappointed for months managed to twist the knife one more time Sunday. Handed the help they required with the Brewers’ 4-2 win over the Reds, the Mets could not take advantage. They lost 4-0 to the Miami Marlins, finishing as hyped a season as they’ve ever had at 83-79.
This is the fourth time in the past 28 years that the Mets were eliminated from playoff contention on the final day of the regular season. On three of those occasions, they lost the season finale to the Marlins.
Mets fans will spend the winter debating 2025’s slow-motion collapse against the nightmare finish to 2007, which also ended at the hands of the Marlins. That team blew a seven-game lead in 2 1/2 weeks. This one held a lead as large as nine on the National League field and as many as 10 over the Reds specifically, back in June.
As manager Carlos Mendoza has said throughout the past few weeks, the Mets put themselves in this position. After running out to the sport’s best record in the middle of June, New York has played more like a bottom-feeder for months. An aggressive trade deadline to bolster the bullpen and center field did not pay off, with the Mets’ rotation falling apart and their offense remaining inconsistent.
In the final six weeks of the season, New York lost series to the last-place Nationals (twice), Marlins (twice), Rangers and Reds. That series loss in Cincinnati in early September resonates the most, given the tiebreaker.
This story will be updated.
(Photo: Sam Navarro / Imagn Images)
Sep 29, 2025
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