On June 12, the New York Mets held the best record in Major League Baseball (MLB) at 45-24, had the best Earned Run Average (ERA) and led the National League East by five and a half games. This past Sunday, Sept. 28, they were shut out by the Miami Marlins 4-0 to finish one of the most dreadful collapses in baseball, with a record of 83-79.
Since June 12, the Mets have owned the fifth-worst record in baseball, going 38-55, with only the Chicago White Sox, Washington Nationals, Minnesota Twins and Colorado Rockies having worse records over the stretch. Those four teams finished with the four worst records in baseball.
The Mets’ pitching staff struggling down the stretch was one of the reasons. The staff, which formerly held the best ERA in the league, slid to 27th, going from a 2.80 ERA to 4.95.
The Mets’ inability to create a ninth-inning comeback contributed to their ultimate demise. In 2024, the Mets led the MLB with nine ninth-inning comebacks and the most come-from-behind wins in baseball with 45. In games where they trailed after eight innings, the Mets went 0-70 this season, the only team in the MLB to not have a comeback victory in the ninth even once.
The real downfall in Queens seemed to start with a medley of injuries which decimated their pitching. Starting pitcher Kodai Senga joined the injured list (IL) with a grade one hamstring strain June 13. At the time of the injury, he had the lowest ERA in the league at 1.47 in 13 starts. After returning, he posted a 5.90 ERA in nine starts and never pitched through the sixth inning, a mark he hit six times before the injury.
June 14, the day after Senga’s injury, starting pitcher Tylor Megill, who had a 3.95 ERA across 14 starts, went on the IL with an elbow sprain, the same injury which led to him inevitably getting Tommy John surgery to replace a torn ulnar collateral ligament in his elbow Sept. 22 after reaggravating his elbow in a rehab start. The injury will knock him out for the entire 2026 season.
Griffin Canning was the third and final Mets starter to have their season derailed by an injury when he tore his achilles June 26, stepping off the mound to field a grounder. Canning was in the midst of a career year with the lowest ERA of his six-year career at 3.77.
There were plenty more Mets who went down with major injuries. Relief pitchers Danny Young and Dediel Nunez underwent Tommy John surgery, with Reed Garrett expected to get it in the offseason. AJ Minter also tore his lat off the bone and Max Kranick had flexor tendon surgery.
Outfielder Jose Siri fractured his tibia, designated hitter Jesse Winker played in only 26 games with oblique and back injuries and starting pitcher Frankie Montas only pitched in nine games after a lat strain and underwent Tommy John surgery.
All these injuries contributed to the Mets setting an MLB record by using 46 different pitchers this season. To put that in perspective, the MLB roster is 26 players and allowed to hold 13 pitchers at a time. Their pitching staff was that much of a constant carousel.
Injuries aside, this team’s downfall was historic. Among every team in baseball history to ever be 20 games over .500, the Mets finished with the third-worst record, according to Elias Sports Bureau, ahead of only the 1905 Cleveland Napoleons, who were 53-31 before finishing 76-78-1 and the 1977 Chicago Cubs, who were 62-42 before finishing 81-81.
As a lifelong Mets fan, this type of collapse has become a regular feeling among the fanbase.
2007 was the biggest blown lead in the history of Queens. With 17 games to go, the Mets were 83-62 and held a seven-game lead on the Philadelphia Phillies. The team ended the year 5-12 while the Phillies went 13-4.
On the final day of the year, the teams were tied at 88-73 when the Mets sent future Hall of Fame starter Tom Glavine on the mound. He recorded one out and gave up seven runs in the first inning as the Mets lost 8-1 and missed the playoffs.
2008 was reminiscent of the year before. The Mets held a three-and-a-half-game lead over the Phillies for the division, but a 7-10 finish down the stretch blew the lead.
The Mets still held a playoff spot on the final day of the season yet again and needed a win to force a tiebreaker game against the Milwaukee Brewers. In the final game at their former home, Shea Stadium, the Mets lost their playoff hopes once again to who else but the Marlins at 4-2.
In 2022, the Mets held a three-game lead on the Atlanta Braves for the division with the easiest remaining schedule in the MLB. The team went 5-6 before being swept in Atlanta to hand the division to the Braves and skid out in three games in the wildcard round to the Padres.
The last twenty years have been heartbreak after heartbreak for Met fans, and 2025 marked no different. Like teams before, a season that once looked like it had World Series potential ended horrifically, with the Mets ending up on the wrong side of baseball history once again.
