New York Mets fall into wild-card tie with Cincinnati Reds

NEW YORK — For nearly six months, almost the duration of an entire Major League Baseball regular season, the New York Mets occupied a spot in the National League playoff picture. That changed Sunday after a brutal loss that concluded an ugly weekend and prolonged a baffling three-plus-month swoon with a week remaining on their schedule.

The Mets’ 3-2 loss to the last-place Washington Nationals at Citi Field — a sloppy, toothless showing cemented with two jaw-dropping catches by Nationals center fielder Jacob Young — combined with the Cincinnati Reds’ 1-0 win over the Chicago Cubs dropped them from postseason position for the first time since April 5 when their season was eight games old.

“It’s the way it’s gone,” Mets left fielder Brandon Nimmo said. “I can believe it because I’ve watched it. We’ve been watching it happen right in front of us.”

While both teams have an 80-76 record with six games remaining, the Reds hold the tiebreaker after winning the season series between the clubs. The Mets, who have lost 11 of their past 15 games, finish the regular season with a road trip against the Chicago Cubs and Miami Marlins starting Tuesday. Cincinnati hosts the Pittsburgh Pirates for three games before concluding its schedule on the road against the Milwaukee Brewers.

The Arizona Diamondbacks are also looming just one game behind the Reds and Mets in the standings for the third NL wild-card spot. Arizona owns the tiebreaker over both clubs.

“We just got to win,” Mets first baseman Pete Alonso said. “It’s simple. Winning solves everything at this point. We just got to do it. That’s it. We got to solve our issues between the lines. That’s the simple fact.”

The Mets, at 45-24, boasted the best record in the majors through June 12. They looked like a club that would sail into October after clawing their way into the playoffs and defying expectations with a trip to the 2024 National League Championship Series through 69 games.

But this year’s team has produced inverse results from the 2024 version that stumbled early before a magical summer pushed them deep into October. These Mets, with the second-most expensive roster in the majors, have gone 35-52 since June 13. That is tied for the fourth-worst record over that stretch with the Chicago White Sox. Only the Nationals, Minnesota Twins and Colorado Rockies have been worse over the 87-game span.

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They enter their final two series with a 50.1% chance of reaching the postseason, according to FanGraphs. They were given a 96.2% chance on June 12.

“I can’t put my finger quite on it other than we just haven’t been able to put it together as a team for an extended period of time,” Nimmo said.

The Mets, coming off an encouraging series victory over the playoff-bound San Diego Padres, took the series opener Friday behind an offensive outburst. But they fell on Saturday in 11 innings on an inside-the-park home run before early mistakes, coupled with Young’s defense, buried them on Sunday.

In the first inning, Juan Soto, who went 1-for-2 with two walks, was picked off at first base. In the second, Francisco Lindor committed a throwing error that allowed the game’s first run to score.

“If we want to be where we want to be, those things can’t happen,” Lindor said. “Full accountability on that. I have to be better.”

And in the third inning, Cedric Mullins failed to take second base on a line drive that he hit down the left-field line, a decision that potentially cost the Mets a run.

Mullins said he thought the ball was caught by Daylen Lile as he crashed into the wall. Meanwhile, first base coach Antoan Richardson thought it was ruled foul. But the ball was ruled fair and bounced out of Lile’s glove.

Luis Torrens, who was on second base, was unsure if Lile made the catch so he retreated to tag up and scored on the play as Lile writhed in pain. Mullins, despite teammates yelling and signaling to him to run to second base, remained at first base. He was doubled off moments later when Lindor cracked a line drive to first base. Soto then lined what would’ve been an RBI double.

“You just got to go,” Mendoza said.

On the mound, the Mets deployed Sean Manaea and Clay Holmes as a piggyback for the second time in the past week after both veterans struggled to effectively pitch deep into games in the second half. The duo combined to give up just three runs — all in the second inning off Manaea — over six innings, with the biggest damage coming from the light-hitting Nasim Nunez swatting a two-run home run.

In the end, the Mets’ $38 million tandem was outpitched by the Nationals’ $1.4 million piggyback of Jake Irvin and Mitchell Parker, who entered Sunday with the highest ERAs in the majors among qualified pitchers this season.

They were buoyed by two highlight-reel catches from Young in center field. The first, a circus grab in which he kicked the ball to himself, robbed Brett Baty of extra bases in the fifth inning. The second took away a potential tying home run for Francisco Alvarez in the ninth.

“Those were crazy plays,” Mullins said. “In the stretch we’re in, every win matters. To see plays like that made, definitely deflates [you] a little bit. [We’ve taken] some tough losses on the chin. We have a week left. We’re going to do some damage so that’s what we’re focused on.”