NEW YORK — It’s not over, fans.
We’re talking about New York’s 12-game losing streak, not the 2026 season. But you probably understand the need for the clarification, especially since at a frigid Citi Field had a very lost-all-hope feel to it.
After failing to finish off the in their series opener, the Mets still haven’t won a game since April 8. How did that happen? How can it be fixed? Can it be fixed?
“We’re all very aware of it, you know,” said of the skid, which has left his team with the worst record (7-16) in the major leagues. “But at the end of the day … we have to come out and bring it.”
Let’s consider this stretch of a dozen defeats through some key numbers that have gone bad early for the Mets, and whether the team can turn it around.
Tuesday’s collapse was the sixth game the Mets have lost during the streak that they led at some point. Closer has become the avatar for this trend and, indeed, he had a rough go of it against the Twins. He faced five batters, retired none, walked three and gave up the final two runs.
Williams entered the contest with the game tied, thus ending up with a loss but no blown save. The blown lead actually belonged to starter , who was brilliant for much of his outing — but was probably left in a bit too long because the Mets don’t have enough in the bullpen right now.
“We had a couple of our guys down,” Mendoza said of his relief staff. “We knew we were going to push [McLean]. We felt good with where he was at.”
Before the slide began, Williams — who signed as a free agent this winter — was off to a great start with the Mets. Through April 7, he owned a perfect ERA over five outings. Over his past three appearances, Williams has given up seven runs over 1⅓ innings.
How bad did things get for Williams and the Mets in his latest ninth-inning outing? Well, after Williams allowed two runs and was pulled with the bases loaded and no outs, right-hander came on and heroically struck out , and .
After the first strikeout, Mets fans began chanting “MVP! MVP!” at Warren — a journeyman reliever. When Warren got the third whiff, you’d have thought New York had just won the World Series.
That .311 figure would represent a solid clutch batting average, but it’s actually three different measurements added together. So rather than a happy number, it’s one that makes Mr. Met very, very sad. Those three averages, per TruMedia:
Runners in scoring position: .161
Two outs, runners in scoring position: .094
Late-inning, high-leverage situations: .056
Egad! These numbers did not get much worse in Tuesday’s loss, if you’re looking for a silver lining. Alas, that’s mostly because the Mets didn’t collect a hit after the fourth inning — or get anybody on base after the fifth.
“I thought we had some really good at-bats the first four innings,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said. “After that, they just kind of shut us down. We couldn’t get anything more.”
This, too, has been par for the course during the tailspin. In their past 12 games, the Mets have scored eight total runs from the sixth inning onward. On Tuesday, the Twins scored five runs over those four innings.
, who has been much criticized for his offensive output of late, is actually 4-for-9 with runners in scoring position during the streak. Everyone else is 6-for-53, a .113 average.
Fortunately for the Mets, Soto from the left quad strain that has sidelined him since April 3. He has been missed.
During the Mets’ losing streak, they have scored 1.83 runs per game. Every other team in the majors has averaged at least three during that span. The Mets have scored two runs or fewer in nine of the 12 losses.
That kind of flailing can’t be attributed to one missing player, even a generational hitter like Soto, but the with him/without him numbers are startling:
Through April 3: 4.38 runs per game (15th in MLB)
Since: 2.67 runs per game (last in MLB)
Those numbers include the three games the Mets won right after Soto was injured. Now he’s coming back, but the refrain after Tuesday’s loss was that the Mets don’t want Soto to feel like he has to do it all on his own.
“I hope everybody doesn’t put all the pressure on him, because it’ll be a little bit unfair,” Lindor said. “But I know he is going to help us tons; he’s one of the top three hitters in the league.”
Lindor is right: It can’t all be on Soto. But his return is at least a sign that better things might lie ahead for the Mets’ offense. Goodness knows, there aren’t many other such signs right now.
The Mets are 7-16 heading into Wednesday and, yes, that is the worst record in baseball, but it also means they have 139 games left to play.
Because the samples remain small, it’s reasonable to think that, beneath the surface of the current struggles, the Mets remain what we thought they were before the season began. In my projection system, the last preseason simulation put them at 90.7 wins, a .560 winning percentage. For the sake of argument, let’s say that’s who the Mets really are. What does that mean?
The straightforward arithmetic tells us that if the Mets win at a .560 clip the rest of the way, they end up with 85 to 86 wins. Under the current format, that’s enough for a playoff spot … at least in some years.
This is some bad history for the Mets to ponder, particularly with .
“Hey, there’s a lot in front of us here, but we got to go out and do it,” Mendoza said. “Obviously the history will tell you otherwise. But you still believe in the players. You still believe in the guys in that room.”
It simply doesn’t seem possible that a team with so much projection-based promise before the season could be ruled out of the championship race by the third week of April, but now the Mets have the daunting task of battling back from a skid no playoff team in the history of the sport has overcome.
It’s getting to be a lot.
“Every day is a new day, right?” Williams said. “We have a chance to win a game every day. Right now, everyone knows the situation. It’s just kind of stacking on top of each other.”
Before it gets too late, the reeling Mets need to start stacking up wins instead of losses.
