Mets Slowly Lose All Support At Home After Juan Soto Raises Eyebrows With Surprising Francisco Lindor Snub

The Phillies got swept by the Mets on Wednesday, dropping their 10th straight game at Citi Field. And in just three rough days, their division lead shrank from seven games to four. But the Mets didn’t exactly ride that high for long. Yes, after one of their best series of the year, they immediately slipped back into bad habits, playing one of their sloppiest games of the season.

Reportedly, on Thursday against the Marlins, everything unraveled. The Mets committed dropped balls, lazy tags, misplays, and three errors (their most since April 19, 2024), which handed Miami five unearned runs. And the result was a frustrating 7-4 loss in front of nearly 38,000 irritated fans at Citi Field. Instead of building momentum from the sweep, the Mets (72-62) stumbled again.

They allowed the Phillies to stretch their NL East lead back to five games. Enough for an MLB insider, Andrew Claudio, to conclude that the Mets just stepped back in their playoff race.

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It just felt like a step back after three gigantic steps forward, and it’s now put even more urgency on the opportunity you gave yourself. If you’re the Mets of getting back into this division race, you’ve already undone one-third of it by giving the Phillies another game back in the standings after last night’s loss. Hopefully, this was just a blip on what is hopefully an exciting weekend for the team,” Claudio shared his thoughts after the Mets’ loss to the Marlins in a podcast with New York Post Sports.

Well, not long ago, the Mets had a playoff lock in the NL. And a real threat to the Phillies in what was shaping up to be a two-team race for the NL East. Fast forward a few weeks, and things aren’t nearly as secure. With the regular season winding down, New York suddenly finds itself three games back of the second wild-card spot and 5 games behind Philly in the division.

Now, if the Mets end up settling for the No. 3 wild card, their path back to the NLCS is going to be a grind. Right now, oddsmakers still expect them to figure it out. But if their grip keeps slipping, there could be some sneaky value in looking at teams like the Reds. Especially after how the Mets blew up against the Marlins, and the Reds are sitting just 4 games behind.

And the Mets are blowing up things amid their star-studded clubhouse.

A curious case of captaincy in the Mets

“If it does, it would be fantastic. It would be an honor. It would be a privilege,” Francisco Lindor said before this season about his probable captaincy stint in the Mets.

Heading into the 2025 season, a lot of Mets fans were hoping to see Lindor officially named team captain. A title the franchise hasn’t had since David Wright retired in 2018. But Juan Soto recently shared a different perspective with Mike Puma of the New York Post. And it might surprise some people.

“He’s literally the leader of this team. I feel like he’s actually the captain of this team,” Soto said about veteran outfielder Starling Marte.

So, instead of Lindor, Soto pointed to Starling Marte as the Mets’ true captain. Notably, Marte has been a respected presence since arriving in New York four years ago. And at 36, he’s embraced whatever role the team has asked of him in 2025. He’s also been productive, entering the Marlins series with a .280/.361/.441 slash line, eight home runs, and an .802 OPS.

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I think this was just respect for a veteran, a fellow countryman that he respects a ton,” Claudio said on Soto’s sentiment over Marte.

So, some might see Soto’s stance as undercutting Lindor, but that’s not the case. As Claudio noted, it’s less about slighting Lindor and more about recognizing Marte’s steady leadership and willingness to do whatever the team needs. However, with fans so vocal about Lindor’s captaincy, Soto’s declaration that Marte is the Mets’ real captain is bound to spark debate.