Lineups cannot consistently produce when only half of them are working, and the Mets are facing that situation during their worst stretch of the 2025 season.
The bottom of New York’s lineup is proving to be a black hole, especially during this slump, which featured nine losses in its last ten games, entering Tuesday night’s meeting with the Atlanta Braves at Citi Field.
“The reality is, with the bottom of the lineup, we’re having a hard time creating opportunities,” manager Carlos Mendoza said. “We’re relying pretty much on the top four or five guys, and then if those guys in the bottom are not able to get on base, that’s why we’re having a hard time scoring runs right now.”
The Mets have been held to two or fewer runs in six of their last eight games, unable to capitalize on many of the threats created by the top five, generally consisting of Francisco Lindor, Brandon Nimmo, Juan Soto, Pete Alonso, and Jeff McNeil.
Jared Young, who has been serving as the primary DH as of late, is 2-for-his-last-20. Starting center fielder Tyrone Taylor is batting .167 in his last nine games. Third baseman Brett Baty is batting .149, and catcher Luis Torrens is batting .100 in their last 14 games.
The Mets are currently scraping the bottom of the barrel for anyone to produce, too. They have already sent down struggling catcher Francisco Alvarez and infielder Luisangel Acuna.
“We’re relying so much on our top guys,” Mendoza added. “We have a lot of guys in the bottom of the lineup who are going through it right now. When that happens, once you get past the fourth or fifth batter, we’re having a hard time creating opportunities and creating chances. It’s hard to score like that. We’ve been talking about when we were playing well, how deep our lineup was. Now, we have a few guys that are struggling.”
The bottom-of-the-lineup woes have been a theme throughout this season. The Mets’ No. 7 through 9 hitters this season have a combined .637 OPS, though their struggles had been covered up by solid pitching that has steadily run out of gas while the injuries pile up.
“It just happens. The season is going to be up and down,” Soto said. “Things happen. I think these guys are trying their best to come through and I mean, as a team, we’re all trying to come through in big situations… but it ain’t happening.”
