Mets are no longer in control of their own path to the playoffs

When Sunday began the New York Mets occupied a playoff position in the National League, something they had done since April 5, literally almost the entire season. When Sunday ended, they no longer held one of those spots.

Thanks to their 3-2 loss to the Washington Nationals, along with the Cincinnati Reds' 1-0 over the Chicago Cubs, the two teams are now tied for the final wild-card spot in the National League. But with the Reds owning the tiebreaker in that playoff race, that means the Reds have jumped ahead of the Mets.

After occupying a playoff spot almost all season, the Mets now no longer control their own path to the playoffs. They not only need to start winning more games. They need help.

An unbelievable second-half meltdown for the Mets

It is not just that the Mets have been in a playoff position for most of the season, it is that they have been comfortably in a playoff position for most of the season.

Go back to July 27 when the Mets had just won their seventh game in a row to improve to 62-44. They were 18 games over .500, had the third-best record in the National League and were on top of the NL East standings. They were six games clear of the non-playoff teams and were fighting for a division crown. 

They were also extremely active at the trade deadline, getting outfielder Cedric Mullins from the Baltimore Orioles and relief pitchers Ryan Helsley (St. Louis Cardinals) and Tylor Rogers (San Francisco Giants).

Pretty much everything has gone wrong since then.

All of their big trade deadline acquisitions have badly flopped and played significant roles in the second-half meltdown, while the team's overall record has been just 18-32 in the 50 games over that stretch. 

It is a complete 180 from the second half of the 2024 season when the Mets were one of the hottest teams in baseball to snag an unexpected playoff spot. 

The Mets invested huge money into this roster, including the $750M contract for Juan Soto. Soto has played at a legitimate MVP level this season and has a chance to be a rare 40-40 (40 home runs, 40 stolen bases) player in MLB history. But everything else has gone horribly wrong. If they do actually continue this and miss the playoffs it might be the sort of second-half performance that costs people their jobs.