For a team that had the Braves wobbling, the Mets somehow managed to blink first. The matchup was gift-wrapped: Atlanta’s rotation battered, their offense sputtering, and the NL East lead dangling within reach. But instead of pouncing, the Mets unraveled, again. A three-game sweep in Atlanta turned into a tailspin, capped off by Monday night’s gut-punch of a loss at home. Citi Field wasn’t stunned. It was silent.

These were the games the Mets were supposed to win, not just for momentum, but for survival. Instead, they find themselves losers in nine of their last ten, tumbling out of first place and re-igniting every offseason doubt that fans tried to shelve. On MLB Now, veteran insider Joel Sherman cut to the heart of it: “They could have really hurt the Braves these last two weeks… instead, they reopened the door.” Sitting beside BK and Dan O’Dowd, Sherman wasn’t just diagnosing a bad stretch; he was warning of a season slipping away in real time.

Manager Carlos Mendoza didn’t deny it either. In fact, he peeled back the curtain.

“Yeah, I think it’s a combination of a lot of things, especially when you’re chasing a lot and it feels like during this stretch we’re getting down early in games… we’re obviously not creating enough traffic,” Mendoza admitted postgame.

It’s a raw, rare moment of transparency and one that exposes a deeper problem than a simple cold streak. The Mets aren’t just losing games. They’re losing rhythm. Pitchers are pressing. Hitters are chasing. The bottom of the lineup has become a black hole, and even the stars look more like they’re surviving, not thriving.

Last June, the Mets pulled off a miracle month, rising from the ashes with one of the strongest stretches in team history. But this year’s stumble feels different, heavier, slower, and less resilient. The Braves didn’t just avoid a knockout punch. The Mets never threw one. And now, with momentum gone and confidence slipping, New York faces a hard truth: You don’t get many chances to bury a rival. And when you miss, like this, it tends to bury you instead.

Mets’ bottom of the lineup, bottom of the barrel

The Mets’ offensive blueprint is starting to crack, and it’s happening right where they can least afford it: the bottom of the order. While names like Francisco Lindor, Pete Alonso, Brandon Nimmo, and J.D. Martinez are doing the heavy lifting, the rest of the lineup is flatlining. These top-tier bats can only carry the offense so far. When the 6-through-9 hitters offer little more than weak grounders and stranded runners, momentum dies quickly, often before it even begins.

Carlos Mendoza said while addressing the imbalance. “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,” he said. He’s not wrong. The drop-off after Starling Marte or Jeff McNeil, depending on the night’s card, has been steep. The production gap is staggering: multiple games where the bottom four combine for a hit or less, with strikeouts piling up like clockwork. There’s no pressure on opposing pitchers to work. No traffic, no chaos. Just quick outs and clean innings.

These defeats hurt more because it’s not just about individual players underperforming; it’s also affecting the team dynamic and putting excessive pressure on Lindor and Alonso to perform consistently every time they step up to the plate. Pitchers feel like they’re throwing uphill because one mistake could decide the game. The margin for error becomes razor-thin, and the Mets, right now, are getting sliced by it.

Until someone in the bottom third steps up, whether it’s Brett Baty, Mark Vientos, or whoever’s cycling through DH duties, this offense will remain predictable, and worse, beatable.