New York Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns wasted no time in committing to manager Carlos Mendoza for the 2026 season, just one day after the team’s historic collapse that saw them miss the postseason.
“I believe Carlos has all the same traits and assets that I believed in when we hired him two years ago,” Stearns said. “And I think over the course of his tenure here, he has demonstrated that.”
One year after steering the Mets to a surprising run to the NLCS, Mendoza’s club — constructed by Stearns in the offseason to include Juan Soto, but a suspect pitching staff — flopped under sky-high expectations.
They won 45 of their first 69 games, but then played the rest of the year with a full-season pace of 96 wins, going 38-55 as one of the worst teams in Major League Baseball. Despite that, they still controlled their destiny on the final day of the season, needing a win to get into the playoffs after the Cincinnati Reds lost to the Milwaukee Brewers.
Instead, New York put forth a 4-0 dud to complete what could very well be the worst collapse for a franchise that has had two other massive nosedives in the last 20 years (2007, 2008).
“We had a tough year this year, there’s no question,” Stearns said. “We are all disappointed. We are all frustrated, Mendy as much or more than anyone else. But I still believe he’s a very good manager, and I think he’s going to demonstrate that.”
Mendoza has one guaranteed year left on his contract and currently holds the fifth-highest winning percentage amongst all managers in Mets history, with a 172-152 record.
Stearns did not give the rest of Mendoza’s coaching staff such a vote of confidence, which intensifies the focus on hitting coaches Eric Chavez and Jeremy Barnes and perhaps even pitching coach Jeremy Hefner. The Mets will evaluate their futures over the next week.
