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Mets were only team in MLB to not accomplish this feat in regular season

Originally posted on New York Mets on SI
By Kenneth Teape | Last updated Sep 29, 2025 12:00 PM ET

The New York Mets finished off their epic collapse during the 2025 MLB season, suffering a 4-0 defeat at the hands of the Miami Marlins in the regular season finale. To make matters worse for Mets fans, the one team they needed to lose, the Cincinnati Reds, were defeated 4-2 by the Milwaukee Brewers.

New York has no one to blame but itself for how things transpired this year. They had the best record in baseball at 45-24 in June, but slowly spiraled over the final three and a half months of the season that resulted in them missing the playoffs altogether.

There were a lot of contributing factors to the team falling apart down the stretch. A sometimes inconsistent offense couldn’t produce on the rare occasions that the pitching staff was on point and dealing.

The starting rotation was a mess. Relying on three rookies down the final month of the season was a bold but necessary strategy because of how poorly the team’s veterans were performing. Sean Manaea was unable to replicate his success from 2024, and Kodai Senga wasn’t the same after injury.

Mets were only team in MLB to not record comeback in ninth inning

However, the biggest obstacle that the Mets faced was their inability to come from behind late in games. There were numerous occasions where the bullpen blew leads in the ninth inning or later, resulting in heartbreaking losses.

It is something that happens to every team in baseball. No one is perfect, and a late-game meltdown here and there will occur. That is, unless a team is facing off against the Mets.

Over the course of the 2025 season, the Mets went an unfathomable 0-70 when trailing after eight innings, failing to record any ninth inning comebacks. They were the only franchise in MLB to not record a victory in that situation.

Column for https://t.co/HXLkX5MIrH: Was that 0-70 when trailing after 8 innings a fluky stat or revealing of a lack of intangibles compared to the '24 Mets? It's something Stearns should consider with changes needed after this epic failure of a season. https://t.co/CuB6swHOdV
— John Harper (@NYNJHarper) September 29, 2025

Given how the regular season ended, flipping just one of those losses into a win would have gotten them into the postseason. They finished in a tie with the Reds but were on the wrong end of the tiebreaker, resulting in the National League Central squad getting the final Wild Card spot.

A meltdown of that proportion should lead to some major changes on the roster this winter. Starting pitching depth is likely the No. 1 priority, but the team also needs to upgrade defensively at multiple spots.

Too often, self-inflicted errors would cost the Mets on the field. They had poor fundamentals and made as many mental errors as physical ones defensively. Early on, they overcame those shortcomings, but eventually their weaknesses caught up to them.

It is going to be a long offseason in Queens after bringing in Juan Soto on a historic free agent contract last year and missing the postseason in his first campaign with the squad. Not even a historic offensive output from the star right fielder was able to save the Mets, which makes their failed 2025 campaign even more painful.

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

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