After dropping their sixth consecutive game, the collapse of the 2025 Mets’ season is nearly at an unfathomable pace. After the latest 6-4 loss at the hands of Philadelphia, the Mets endured a painful four-game series sweep against their National League East rivals. “No one wants to get swept. It’s not fun, especially against the Phillies,” said outfielder Jeff McNeil. For the record, McNeil is the same guy whose center-field miscues fueled one of the Phillies’ rallies on Thursday.

The Mets have a thing for finding surprising ways to let games slip away. This time, five out of their first six hitters reached base safely against Jesús Luzardo. And so, four runs were scored right away. However, they couldn’t record another baserunner for the remainder of the game.

The next 25 batters came up and all went down in order. Taking the series sweep blame on his shoulders, manager Carlos Mendoza said, “I’m responsible. I’m the manager. It’s my job to get these guys going. And I will.” It’s mainly the Mets’ offense that has struggled monstrously throughout this losing streak.

Further, when pressed on his level of concern, Mendoza acknowledged the urgency of the moment, but that doesn’t worry him. “I’m not going to say that I’m worried, but we don’t have too much time. Teams are right behind us. The way you look at it is we’re still in control of the situation.” The Mets’ wild card cushion stood at five games as recently as Labor Day Weekend. Now, it has shrunk to 1 1/2.

Against the Giants, though, they’re 2 1/2 games safer because the Mets own the tiebreaker. Just in case all three clubs end up getting tied, the Reds will be taking the spot as on their three-way head-to-head record. Up next, the Mets will return to Queens for a three-game set against the Texas Rangers starting Friday. The big question, though, is: Can the Mets dig themselves out of this hole?

From a slump like this, is it possible for the Mets to buckle back up?

Despite their latest slide in the National League standings, the New York Mets have chosen to stay optimistic. At least Carlos Mendoza has made that choice clear. That optimism stems from the history of unexpected teams growing hot in October. The idea is to just somehow make it to the playoffs.

Ever since the Wild Card era commenced, three teams holding a winning percentage of .450 or lower to their name from August to October have still managed to make it to the playoffs. That was important to note because two of those teams also surprisingly made it to the World Series. And guess what? One of them even won it. It was back in 2006, and the club was the St. Louis Cardinals.

Well, they secured just 83 victories in the regular season, and the Mets are on pace to win 84. The Mets have gone 14–24 since the beginning of August. To reach .400, they’ll need to win at least 8 of their remaining 15 games. In a nutshell, the Mets need to start playing a lot better soon.

They need to perform strongly against the Rangers. Speaking of which, Jacob deGrom’s return to Citi Field is confirmed for Friday. That means the Mets and the fanbase could meet their former player. Friday’s reunion could have almost looked like a celebration if the Mets were playing slightly better than now.