It wasn’t long ago when the skipper Carlos Mendoza said, “in control of the situation,” when asked about the Mets’ situation after the Phillies sweep. However, that line feels like a pipedream, especially since their latest 8-3 loss against the Rangers. Now the chances of making the playoffs have dropped to 48.9% as per Baseball Reference. And the players aren’t sugarcoating this anymore.

Brandon Nimmo, the Mets’ veteran outfielder, is among those laying it bare. He signed an eight-year, $162 million deal with the NYM on December 10, 2022. This season, he has been one of the more reliable hitters. He got on base against the Rangers and made an impact on offense, but it wasn’t enough since the pitching and bullpen couldn’t hold the line.

Nimmo didn’t sugarcoat it after the loss: “I mean, obviously, very concerned. We want to be in the playoffs, and we’re not playing playoff baseball right now. But got to come into tomorrow expecting things to change, and keep giving it your best effort. So no one’s going to feel sorry for you. No one’s going to back down, and you got people chasing you. So we just got to come in tomorrow and be ready to try and go 1-0 tomorrow. We’ll be right back.” His tone was both a warning and a call to action.

The Mets have fallen a long way. They’ve lost seven games in a row now, including three seven-game losing streaks since mid-June. Jonah Tong, a rookie starter, had a terrible game against the Rangers. He gave up six runs in the first inning, walked three batters, gave up several hits, and was out of the game with only two outs.

Carlos Mendoza, who’s feeling the pressure, made sure to send a message, especially to Tong: “Keep your head up, keep going.”  He went on, “There’s no other way around it. Flush that one out and just keep moving forward.” Now, it will be an interesting watch how that message will impact Tong’s next outing as the playoff looms closer.

The San Francisco Giants are just 0.5 games behind the Mets for the last NL Wild Card slot, and the Cincinnati Reds are around 1.5 games behind. They need to act quickly, or the season that promised so much is in danger of teetering out. Despite all of this, one of the voices who donned the Mets both as a player and the skipper has provided a ray of hope.

Valentine ’99 reminder: Mets’ rally cry in the face of slump

Bobby Valentine, who used to coach the Mets in 1999, gave a strong reminder of what this team can do, especially when things are tough. Before the series started against the Rangers on Friday, he quipped while talking with the New York Post, “Yeah, I was going to text Carlos a month ago and tell him to predict ‘40 and 15 or I’ll quit.'” He said that problems generally arise when “distractions have entered the room.”

Valentine continued, “But when that distraction is there, somehow you gotta eliminate it. And the biggest distraction you have in this town is winning, and somehow you’ve got to get them back to playing. … And that distraction of winning has got to be combated in this town. It’s got to be dealt with more strongly, right? It’s a tough business, it’s a tough place to play, unless you just go and play. Then it’s just the same game if you just go and play.” These words hit like a needed corrective—play first, worry later. And he wasn’t the only one.

Edgardo Alfonzo, a former infielder, said something similar: “You have to play, yeah, you have to fight.” He didn’t mind talking about 1999 and 2000, when the Mets were going through some really hard times, but still found a way to fight through. “It sort of s—- when everything’s going bad and you try to do your best and nothing’s coming out of it. But at the same time you have to be positive. You have to believe.”

Valentine and Alfonzo’s voices provide the 2025 Mets, who are struggling with inconsistency and pressure, more than just nostalgia—they give them a plan. Their message was to concentrate, block out the noise, trust each other, and play the game. That might be just what this club needs to get out of its slump and get back on track for the playoffs.