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New York Mets right fielder Carson Benge (3) dives back to first base against the Washington Nationals during the third inning at Nationals Park in Washington, Friday, Sept. 25, 2026. IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect<\/p>\nWASHINGTON \u2014 Carson Benge\u2019s ascent has been one of the compelling reasons to watch the Mets for much of this season\u2019s second half.<\/p>\n
Friday night, the 23-year-old outfielder homered in the fifth inning of the Mets\u2019\u00a07-6 loss to the Nationals. The blast was his 20th and made him the first rookie in franchise history to join the 20-20 club \u2014 homers and stolen bases in a season.<\/p>\n
Benge may not win NL Rookie of the Year honors, with Cincinnati\u2019s Sal Stewart regarded as the clear frontrunner, but that doesn\u2019t diminish a season in which he\u2019s emerged as a significant piece in the team\u2019s future.<\/p>\n
Last week, he established a franchise rookie record for hits, eclipsing the mark Pete Alonso set in 2019. <\/p>\n
Benge has 162 hits.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnything that can be in the history book and done for the first time is something special,\u201d Benge said. \u201cI hold that close to my heart.\u201d<\/p>\n
New York Mets right fielder Carson Benge (3) dives back to first base against the Washington Nationals during the third inning at Nationals Park in Washington, Friday, Sept. 25, 2026. IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect<\/p>\n
Last place is all theirs.<\/p>\n
The Mets needed a sweep this weekend to avoid the final indignity of their season, a last-place finish in the National League East. But that possibility disappeared with Friday\u2019s loss. \u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIf it matters to a Mets fan, it matters to me,\u201d Green said before the game when asked about potentially avoiding last place. \u201cBut deep down, if I think about it, there\u2019s playoffs and there\u2019s not playoffs, and there\u2019s nothing we\u2019re going to do to get to that spot.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAs we watch other teams celebrate inclusion in playoffs, that should leave a bitter taste in all of our mouths to get back there, and that\u2019s all I\u2019m really concerned with.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ronny Mauricio is scheduled to start Saturday in what could be his farewell to the Mets.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Once a highly regarded prospect, the 25-year-old infielder has largely seen his major league opportunities dissipate because of injuries. He will be a non-tender candidate this winter in his first season of arbitration eligibility.<\/p>\n
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In 18 games for the Mets this season he owns a .454 OPS.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s definitely missed a lot of time,\u201d Green said, noting the ACL tear that cost Mauricio the 2024 season. \u201cHe\u2019s come back. The athleticism returned. I don\u2019t see any residual effect of that. So, from my vantage point, people come back from injuries all the time. Does it make life harder? Sure. It makes things tougher.\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"New](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/hit-pitch-eighth-inning-new-141756864.jpg\")
New York Mets\u2019 Ronny Mauricio (0) is hit by a pitch during the eighth inning of a game against the Philadelphia Phillies at Citi Field in Queens, N.Y., Saturday, Sept. 19, 2026. Robert Sabo for NY Post<\/p>\n
\u201cDoes he have every opportunity out in front of him to still turn in a good career? Sure. He does. I think the path forward for him is you know impact the baseball consistently, and if you can minimize the chase.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mauricio spent six weeks on the IL this season with a thumb fracture. Following his rehab he spent most of the season at Triple-A Syracuse.<\/p>\n
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Saturday\u2019s first pitch has been moved to 12:35 p.m. due to the threat of inclement weather.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WASHINGTON \u2014 Carson Benge\u2019s ascent has been one of the compelling reasons to watch the Mets for much…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":357397,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[6595,20,9,11,320,10,319,35514],"class_list":["post-357396","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-carson-benge","tag-mlb","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-mets","tag-new-york-news","tag-sports","tag-washington-nationals"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/357396","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=357396"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/357396\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/357397"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=357396"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=357396"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=357396"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}