Mar 14, 2025; Port St. Lucie, Florida, USA; Mr. Met mascot greets the crowd before the game against the St. Louis Cardinals at Clover Park. Reinhold Matay-Imagn Images

Mets starter has plenty to prove down the stretch with struggles of late

Originally posted on New York Mets on SI
By Nick Ziegler | Last updated Sep 5, 2025 9:00 AM ET

The New York Mets are coming off a very nice series win against the Detroit Tigers, and the team will be heading to play the Cincinnati Reds in a pivotal matchup for the National League's final Wild Card spot.

Arguably the biggest stretch of the season is coming up for the Mets, with three games coming up on the road against the Reds and then four games against the Philadelphia Phillies.

It has been encouraging to see the Mets starting to find their groove of late, with multiple parts of the team starting to turn around. In the starting rotation, the team has been sparked by a couple of young starters coming up to the majors and making a positive impact. Furthermore, the lineup has really turned things around, led by a red-hot Juan Soto.

While things have improved, there are still some concerns about some key players on the team. With New York now in September, the team will be hoping that one of their pitchers can turn things around for the playoff push.

Anthony DiComo, the Mets' beat reporter on MLB.com, recently wrote about pitcher Kodai Senga being the player with the most to prove down the stretch.

"With rookies Nolan McLean and Jonah Tong making their mark on the pitching staff, the Mets don’t have tons of room in a potential playoff rotation. That could directly affect Senga, who must prove more trustworthy if he wishes to be part of the team’s October plans," DiComo wrote. "The Mets don’t necessarily need Senga to pitch deep into games, but they do need him to cut down on walks and provide better results overall. He hasn’t done that consistently since the first half of the season."

Will Senga Bounce Back?

It has been a tale of two seasons for the right-hander in 2025. To start the campaign, Senga pitched excellently for the Mets in both April and May. However, after missing a lot of time in June and July, he hasn’t been the same since.

In August, Senga totaled a 6.18 ERA, and his performance has been very concerning. There has been some discussion about a potential move to the minors for a bit of a reset, so it will be interesting to see what the decision is for New York.

As Mets mull next move with Kodai Senga, all options are on the table, including potentially asking him to consent to a minor-league stint https://t.co/qGbQOX6P0i
— Will Sammon (@WillSammon) September 3, 2025

With another youngster coming to join the rotation in Brandon Sproat, the Mets might be preparing for the stretch run led by their young arms. That formula has worked for New York in the past, and they might be looking to replicate that.

Ideally, the Mets can reset Senga a bit and get him back to the form that he was in during the first half of the year. He was a pitcher who had a 1.89 ERA in the first month of the campaign and could be a complete game-changer if he could get back to that level.

This article first appeared on New York Mets on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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