QUEENS, NY — After starting the 2025 season as one of the best teams in Major League Baseball, the New York Mets have been one of the worst squads over the last three months, but manager Carlos Mendoza is not to blame, president of baseball operations David Stearns implied on Tuesday.
“I think Mendy’s done a very good job,” Stearns said prior to the Mets’ series opener against the San Diego Padres at Citi Field. “I think he’s been a positive leader, a consistent leader. I think he’s done what he can to get the group going, and I think he’s going to continue to do that.”
This season has been nearly the complete opposite of last year. In his debut campaign, everything Mendoza touched from June on turned to gold as the Mets overturned a heinous start and made a semi-miraculous run to the NLCS.
Since June 12 of this year, when they were 45-24, the Mets have gone 32-49, which is the fourth-worst record amongst all teams in baseball. They entered Tuesday night’s action with a slim 1.5-game lead over the Arizona Diamondbacks and a two-game lead over the San Francisco Giants and Cincinnati Reds.
Naturally, the inconsistencies have led to the questioning of the coaching staff’s jobs, particularly hitting coaches Eric Chavez and Jeremy Barnes alongside pitching coach Jeremy Hefner.
“I think we’ve remained consistent as a group and as a coaching staff,” Stearns said. “I think we’re putting in the work and doing our best to prepare our players, and that’s where our focus is.”
There also just seems to be something off about the team as a whole. They were as close-knit a group as one would see in pro baseball last season when they turned the ship around. That chemistry appears to be lacking from an outside perspective, which could also be an indictment of the manager, but Stearns implored that it boils down to their inconsistent play.
“It’s very difficult to compare one team to another and the clubhouse mix from one year to the next,” he said. “I think we have really good guys in our clubhouse this year. I think they’re working really hard, and I think they want to win, and I think it’s tough to create the consistent type of energy that maybe was displayed organically last year when you have the type of streakiness that we’ve had this year.
“I think we have the ingredients for a very productive team chemistry and team energy. In my opinion, we haven’t allowed it to flourish yet because we haven’t gone on a run, and we haven’t played, certainly over the last few months, consistently high-level baseball.”
