2026 Mets crash and burned & how 2027 could be so much better

This week in baseball, the Dodgers are sold. Will this be the thing that finally upsets the balance of power in the National League? Tim Anderson retires, and on a sad note, Tommy John passes away today. It's this week in baseball. As we

You know, head into sort of the final home stretch of the season, it's always kind of interesting to take a look around the league and realize we're gonna have a really great pennant race this year. 'Cause some areas you don't kinda get a good one, but we've got two dog fights this year in both leagues. Look, like let's let's make sure that we le lead here a little bit with the fact that, you know, we're gonna talk about baseball this week as we always do and what happened.

But we're gonna talk about the Mets. So if if you wanna watch two guys who are big Met fans talk about the team that's had just a terrible season and watch us squirm and suffer a little bit, just hang on 'cause we're gonna get We'll get there, yeah. But first we'll talk about actually good teams. Although although right. Nine and three in the last twelve. I mean I I think I think if we're gonna talk about a team that's made a furious charge back in the standings, I think we actually have to start with a team up in Toronto in the Blue Jays because

They're a game out of the wild card in the American League. And I don't think anybody would have expected that a couple of weeks ago. Well, I picked them before the season, but I had buried them because we had all buried them. And then they traded Gaussman, so you think, Okay, well, you know, they're kind of basically waving the white flag. Glad he's still has isn't hitting. Yeah, his his season was over like two months ago and he's still playing out the string.

So yeah, I I I am I am surprised. But you were we were talking earlier and and the Orioles who I I I can't believe it, with I think Pete Alonso hitting leadoff recently, which is trying to mimic Kai College Warburg, they're within striking distance. Right. And and really in the American League, right now you've got the Yankees and the and the W Red Sox who are both kind of very comfortably sitting in the first and second wild card there, but then you've got the Blue Jays, the Jays, the Guardians, the Tigers, the Twins and the Rangers.

all within a game and a half of the third wild card spot. The Mariners also are only three games out. Yeah, well and the Mariners and I and I put a note in there going, you know, I know we've talked about this before, but it's it it is blows my mind that Cal Raleigh is having this kind of a season this long. Right, right. That he's just been this terrible for them the whole season. We we I mean obviously we've talked about it before we talked about it last week. We expected him to, you know, take a step back. Nobody expected him to be this bad though. And Julio's had

An okay season. Well, and when they needed him clearly to have more game that Naylor didn't do very much for and I I'm sure that Cal Raleigh will set the major league record this year, another record. That will be the biggest drop off in home run production from one year to the next because he had sixty last year and he's not gonna get thirty this year. So I mean, yeah, he's looking he's gonna have a maybe fifteen this year. I mean, that's forty five homers less than the year before. That no one will break that record. And and and

you know it's it's killing him but it's killing the team is what it is because that's a division as we've talked about before that you look, you know, you take it. No, you take it. Right, right. We we thought that was a division that you know was ripe for the Mariners to take and somehow it's an anybody is an anybody goes and the Astros are in now. Every team in that division has a negative run.

Every team. I think every team has been like in first place too in this division. I think you're right. I think you're right. And that includes the athletics and the Angels, I think. Have have gone there. But the athletics have a r an amazing a hundred and seventy negative a hundred and seventy four run differential. Right. And you to remember, they started off pretty good this season. Exactly. Which means they just gone into a complete nose dive. And what we all thought was gonna happen with that pitching staff in that ballpark has happened with that pitching staff in that ballpark. Well they have one more year if they play the year.

In in Sacramento before they I is it twenty eight or twenty nine that they opened Vegas. I I hope it's twenty eight. Might be twenty nine. I I don't know. It's like you know, why somehow the works like watch that have like a like a they they like a strike next year slows down the construction of the stadium somehow. You play for the A's and all all you're thinking is I'm a professional baseball player. Even if it doesn't feel like it. Because nobody else, you know, cares at all. So yeah, you mentioned Tommy John passing away and I

I just wanted to add 'cause we talked about this last week a little bit when I asked you about Tommy John and you said you knew he had a left arm and he was a pitcher. Yep. so, you know, his two hundred and eighty eight wins, however, which I mentioned to you, which you were mildly impressed with mil mildly are the most wins for any pitcher who is not in the hall of fame, not named Roger Clemens. That's pr

Yeah, like exact and and Clemens is a guy where you're like, Well, he's a Hall of Fame pitcher but right, right. So so nobody else has more wins or as many wins as Tommy John and and isn't in the Hall of Fame. So you know, we used to say three hundred and I'm and I'm I said it last week, I'll say it again and I Joe Poznanski wrote about it today, going, I'm it's just

bugs me that eventually this dude's gonna get in the hall of fame's almost a sh he's gonna get in now. And everybody had to die to do it, you know. It didn't work for Pete Rose by the way, at not yet. Yeah, but everybody nobody liked Pete Rose. That is true. Pete Rose didn't even like Pete Rose. So let's see the you you you talked about w we we I'm going to I went to the game on s on Saturday when the Mets played the the the the Nationals and I'm going again to see the Padres with who we talked about. And the Padres are, you know, they are gonna be a tough

Teams you what? I had I had picked them to be the second place team. I I I just looked at that team, you looked at the pitching, you looked at the hitting, and I thought AJ Prellor is the type of guy, and he didn't actually do this to make a bunch of moves at the deadline to reinforce, and I thought they're gonna keep it going because they don't really have a retooling plan. And so I'm not surprised that they improved, but their offense has been just anemic at points this year. It has, but I I think believe it or not, the problem with the Padres has been that the pitching, which we've always counted on being so great, hasn't

Well

it's it th they've actually been pretty good. The problem is their competition that division is pitching is the Dodgers. Well, and one of their best pitchers, you know, when he was there, Blake Smell finally came back for the Dodgers, and of course that came out like a house of fire. This is what the they're like Blake Smell's like, this is great. I just skipped the first half of the season where I usually stink. So that was the second half. So what you're gonna tell me is the Dodgers are

sound Mizarowski in a couple years. Would that surprise you? No, not at all. If you're a pitcher and you're great, you know, what it will it take to sign you a win. Well I I think I think you know Mizarowski might have locked up the NL Cy Young this year just because the season he's having is just so uniquely special. When you look at the stats that he's having, it's kind of like who else is it gonna go to? Other guys have had good years, but nobody's having a year like that. But but there have been other pitchers that have had amazing years, incl including Christopher Sanchez who was the

sort of clubhouse leader for a while and and he's still pitched really well. It's just that Mizurawski has done stuff that no one has ever done before. Right, right. Mizerowski is entering like, this is a special sort of season territory. And and and while that's going on, the guy that you would have put in the running for the Cy Young, Paul Skins, you know, if he were just any mortal pitcher, he would be having a pretty good season. But because he's Paul Skins and you can see the drop off and where he was to what he is. And I was gonna say do you think this at all terrifies the Brewers?

with Mizarowski. 'Cause listen to these numbers for Paul Skins. Paul Skins was the guy that threw more 99 mile an hour plus fastballs over this period of time early in his career. Really right up until Mizarrowski appeared. 2024, Paul Skins average fastball, 98.8. 2025, 98.1. 2026, 96.9. August 11th of this year, 95.7. And they took him out of the game after 65 pitches.

Is that something else? We don't know. But denial will be all over the place and and skiing's try run shade on it by saying, Well, you know, I I'm trying to s save my arm and not throw as hard, you know, and leave some bullets in the gun or whatever the heck you would say and he's actually trying to give your argument right now. Yeah, but I I I don't I I I don't know that it is and and and we've talked about this privately, you know, that that all these guys that have thrown a hundred mile an hour pitches for a decent amount. Let's what's where's Hunter Green right now?

Where you know de Grom. Where's you know, so all these guys who are throwing that fast at at over a hundred and over, their future we know what their future is. Right, right. If you were a starting pitcher, and that seems to really be where the line kind of kicks. I kind of agree with that. Like we saw it with de Grom. DeGrom was fine up until all of a sudden the fastball was just one or two every single time, and then Tommy Don. But I think if you're a guy, and that's why I think you see some guys like Verlander and Scherzer who kind of just lived in that ninety seven ninety.

ninety eight mile an hour range and they were just like okay I'm not gonna need the that it's that that extra five miles an hour destroys your body it seems about the Yankees Cam Schlitter who's had a terrific season. He's he's should be a Cy Young contender a a

Wesonny Gray and a couple of others, but he he is not throwing a hundred miles an hour very much. He's just like you say same thing with McLean. Under there, right? Right. Same thing with McLean. And that kind of gives you like, okay, I'm a little less concerned about them because they're they're that's the dividing line. Well, yeah, my guess is that because probably to get the ball over there and to do that as a starting pitcher, you have to push your body past what it can realistically hold up against. You can do it as a reliever because you're not pitching enough innings, you're not throwing enough pitches that way. Right.

So

your your prediction is Mizorowski as they say is his future. We probably there's gonna be a spring, you know, and Where where right, where we're gonna lose Mizorowski for a season or two. And anybody, you know, and I I I had this And I'm sure the Brewers are preparing for that reality. You know, I I had this conversation with Kelly Franco who who we went to the Met game with she and Mr. Three Inning fan yesterday, your mom Michelle and I, and we talked about the fact that those guys, you know, are are are just trying to, you know, get through the season.

throwing as hard as they can for as long as they can. But the eventuality is you you sign them for like Max Free was signed for eight years. You know you're only gonna get for six.

'Cause it's gonna be hard for two. Right, right. Anybody you're throwing to one of these long gun cracks like you know, well, you that's what you factor that in. Right, you factor that in. You're thinking about the the same way the Mets are thinking, and that's why when you're the Mets and you're signing a guy to a three year deal, the injury is almost like you can't have a one year injury out of three. The pun the injuries are much more punishing when you sign guys to those sorts of deals. Yes, yes, that's very true. So you mentioned the Dodgers being sold and and and and obviously the word is that Mark Walter, the owner who bought them only a year

and change ago, h has some serious financial issues and legal issues such that he needed the the two and a half million dollars or billion dollars I should say that he got from owning the Dodgers for like eighteen months or something like that.

So A, that's amazing and so he's gotta be one of the smartest investors out out there and it may not be enough. So so I have a question. The Dodgers sold for like the this huge amount of money. Twelve billion dollars. Do you think that they should still keep the special provision that allows them to keep more of their T V revenue than any other baseball franchise? So so what you're saying is that the Dodgers owned by Guggenheim partners should go to major league baseball, you know we that's that deal is too sweet. That deal that you gave us all those years ago.

And that and that is the problem is that it is a etched in contract law thing where this was the deal major league baseball made with the Dodgers when they were selling the team all those years ago because nobody realistically expected things to play out in this fashion. But now

It gives that was there's such a giveaway by Frank McCourt when they sold the Dodgers. Nobody thought about that. And now it's turned into a you have to acknowledge it, a competitive advantage for the Dodgers. Well and and that that goes to other franchises like the Braves who built that battery around the ballpark down at Truis Park in Atlanta. And so what's generating gobs of revenue is this thing that the players get no share of that revenue when it comes to the ancillary revenue from stuff around the stadium that are basically built because everybody wants to go

Where the Braves play, even though it got nothing to do with the Braves. Exactly. Right. So teams are finding ways like, how do we make money that we don't need to give to these guys? So that's gonna probably end up being part of the collective bargaining agreement. I would think that the the players are gonna go, well, hold on. You want us to, you know, do a salary cap thing and all that kind of stuff. We want some of that money too. I I do think that'll happen. And I am curious to see if with an uncertain offseason, is that gonna team make teams a little reluctant to make personnel changes because of your uncertain future? Because you might

Look at the team like in the San Francisco Giants who are now looking at their second year with Buster Posey at the helm running baseball operations. And n not been great so far for Mr. Posey, unfortunate. You know, there was a long article in the Athletic Buster Posey this week. And and basically what I got out of all it was humina, hummina, hummina, hummina, humina.

I don't know what to say. I what everything I've done has not gone well and he won't say it that way. Right, right. 'Cause then it's you look at him it's like signing Tori Lavulo, well it hasn't worked. Lavulo is the diamondback. Sorry, Trey

No now you got me off of the the the Vanderbilt Vanderbilt coach, yes. and and yes, he has not, you know, done very well. He looks a little lost out there. and and I I think he went out on a limb to hire this guy and bring him in and it clearly Tony Vitello. Tony Vitello and he hasn't, you know, you know, been very good. And it'll be interesting to see if they decide just to cut bait after one season because something radical like that when you're bringing a guy who's not had major league experience, you'd like to think maybe it takes more than a year, but man, they can't play like

Right, right. And and and the other issue is that for for Posey, all of his big free agent signings and who signing William Adamas does not look like a good sign. I mean that was a signing when when we we made peop he made it, people were like, Ooh, that's a that's a lot of money. I think Posey's learned also that when you do stuff like that you gotta get in front and talk to the media all the time and and he didn't you know, didn't shy away from that as a player, but the level that he has to go to as as you know, the pobo is different. U

No, a couple of other things. You mentioned I I think we talked about Hunter Green when we talked about hundred mile an hour pitchers. Now he's on the shelf and gonna have UCL and he won't be back probably until sometime in twenty twenty eight. So Do you blow it up this season? Do you blow it up this off season if you're the Reds then? Well the way you blow it up if you're the R well and play for two years from now, I mean you've got this Chase Burns, you thought you had a one two in your in your rotation that was gonna be like, Hey, those two guys are as good as any one two in in baseball. Now you got a one.

Yeah. So and and and the rest is like it's just like that we've been talking about the team that's ready to take the next step for what feels like a decade now. And and here's what I have to admit somewhat you know you know sheepishly is that I was so bullish on Terry Francona. I I I think at this point it hasn't gotten that much better with Terry Francona being there. They're the same team.

Maybe give somebody else a try. You know, that Terry and I love Terry Francona and I think it is but and maybe he feels that way. Like maybe like I don't really want to do on this anymore. I'd rather go, you know, sit at home. And saying in the NL Central, obviously yesterday on Saturday, Cardinals rookie Joshua Baez, no relation to Javi. No, no. Had a had a great, you know, great major league debut, comes up for his first at bat, first pitch home run. Four hundred and forty nine foot home run. Bomb.

out of the stadium. But you what? Then he decides to get up for a second at bat and what do you know? He hits another one. And so I mean two home runs in your opening day, your opening performance. What about three? Right. He gets up third time, hits his third home run. This one to opposite field in a no doubt or a becoming the first player in major league history to home her three times in his first game. And then he gets up a fourth time and he flies out. But he hit three home runs. Right. And of course on Sunday, today's game he went over five. So basically

So you know I I took a look at the defensive ratings in Sabre, they post them periodically during the season and noticed that there are lots of Red Sox near the top. Wyler Abreu, could Rafaela and Durbin are two three four. Cody Bellinger is number one. Umkees. And so isn't it interesting, you know, that.

that those that the Boston kinda came back and and they had really good defense as that was obviously always there. I mean the the the thing I noticed that jumps out to me about the list you've got here is that there's only American league guys on this list. Yeah maybe it is the American League list actually because it's hard to believe that there are no National League guys because we know Pete Crow Armstrong as the best defensive player in baseball this year. Right. It is interesting looking at this but you're seeing It is the AL you're right it is the AL list looking at this, but what I'm not seeing is I'm seeing almost no AL West representation in here.

You're seeing like a couple guys but they're n and I used to think of them as such a you know, with a division with so many good players in it. It's interesting to see really not see them represented on a list like this. So that that takes us to our our story of the week and we're gonna talk about the team that we follow and and and and love. and their defense has, you know, and run prevention being such a important part of what David Stearns the Pobo of the Mets talked about before the season and did not get. Well they're top ten.

their top ten overall in in in in defense. It would be hard to Well with the caveat that I think they were twenty had twenty five defensive runs saved this year, twenty two and a half of were by the catchers catchers. Right, right. So and and they've got some some rookies that are playing good defense that are helping them. And I hate to say it but Juan Soto's been out a lot this year and having him not play probably helped your defense a little bit too. Yeah just a little bit a a and so now we here we are we're we're a as the Met fans, you know, we're sitting here after the game you know today and they're fifty six and sixty

sixty nine. There's sixteen games under f or sixteen, thirteen games under five hundred.

And while there are Met fans that are out there going, Well, they're only ten and a half games out the wild card twenty nine and eight down the stretch gets you to eighty four wins. We're back in this, baby. They're not back in this. But what we're seeing here is if you ever wanted to not you know, if you ever thought like, A April baseball isn't that important, the twelve game losing stretch that the Mets had in April has d that is what is doomed their season. 'Cause if they even went five hundred after that during that stretch, they would be right in the sick thick of things right now. And and you know

Those games count and when we saw that teams that lose twelve games in a row have never made the postseason. So so it was easy for me to say, Okay, well that's over and no matter how well the Mets play when there's zero pressure and they've won nine out of twelve right now. but I know, while it's nice to see as a fan, I think the the the people can be

Hopeful but on Right right. R what I'm ex what this is is setting me up is like, okay, I have a reason to be excited next year because I have a reason to think that this year was an aberration.

Well and and so that's the

premise of the right, 'cause there is a period of time this year where you're like, god, this might not be an aberration.

think the Mets are better positioned to be a a good possible playoff team next year. And I I'm saying that with all all all honesty than than it looks like right now. I I would agree with that. That for the Mets next year I imagine the expectations is gonna be playoffs or bust. That if somehow this duke group does not make the playoffs, you have to you know, really radically reconsider a couple of things at that point.

I I I think if you're the Mets, what what you've been most excited about this year is it looks like you finally found some answers at positions on your team that you've been trying to find for a long time. You look at your no, you look at your outfield now. Soto's been on the IL for a while, but he's coming back. He'll be back at a point, you know, a couple weeks probably from now. And you're gonna have your outfield be Juan Soto on left, AJ Ewing in center, Carson Benge in right field. And that could be your outfield for the next eight, nine seasons. Right, right. But that

Right, right. That's your outfield for the next maybe three, four seasons. I agree, I agree.

No, he's your right fielder.

Nimm will be giving you those same things this year. Mm-hmm. Exactly. And he's hitting for average, he's slugging, he you know and you're like, he's a rookie. That's what you have to remember is when you look at the stats that he's putting up, you and you forget that like he's gonna be a guy that'll probably get rookie of the year votes, especially with all the the defensive plays that he's now made. He's gonna get rookie of the year votes. And you know, and you know.

Mm-hmm.

Right, right. I mean w with with with Stearns as the GM, I think you can say like he has made a lot of wrog moves. Signing Freddie Peralta didn't work. This was not a good signing. Signing Devin Williams has been an okay signing and you and that's being nice. And you're really only kind of bailed out on that one because Edwin has been so bad for Los Angeles that it kinda looks like Right, right. But it kinda looks like one of those decisions where you were cursed either way if you were making it. I think the big issues that you would say with Stearns is is that

W what how he handled the first base thing outside of the fact that I do still believe it was the right decision to sign Pete Alonso. Right, right. To not sign Pete Alonso because signing Pete Alonso was never about this year. Pete's actually having a really good season in Baltimore. They're they're just outside the wild card. Right. Right, but it wasn't about this season for the Mets. It wasn't about paying Pete Alonso for this year. It's about P Pete Alonso, maybe not even next year, but the year after that. Those third years after that.

Has just been terrible. Like they backed into Jared Young at first base only because he was on the Right, and that that that is a pure luck.

Right. You're looking at the Mets and you're going, Okay, we we made a bunch of moves at the deadlines to bring in guys like Jefferson Rojas, I believe his name is. You've got Mitch Mitch Voigt, Sammy Sar Sarter. Like you've got all these young middle infield prospects. You're looking at, okay, Juan Soto had a terrible start to this year. He's only played sixty eight games this year. Right.

Right, you didn't realize it's like he's played that few of games, which is why it and because his season is such in weirdly distinct phases, whereas he was terrible for the beginning part of the year, then he got hurt and didn't play for a while.

Then he came back and there was no no no. Then there was the period of time where him and Soto were playing together. When he first came back, him and Lindo no Lindor and Soto were playing together and Lindor was bad during that point. And then around like a little bit before Soto got hurt and since Soto's been hurt, Lindor's been hitting really, really well. But if you the the problem is the first part of the season was that sticks at everybody's mind because that's when the Mets lost their season and once again Soto was just god off I mean Lindor was just god awful in the month of April.

That's got

And you know, they had a good start of the season from Nolan McClain.

So intentionally they've remade the rotation. Right, they've remade the rotation, and now as the Mets you're saying, Okay, you know what we're excited about next year is we're gonna have a rotation that's anchored by Nolan McLean, Christian Scott, and it looks like Zach Thornton. And you're gonna say, you know what, n you know, Sean Maniah is a lefty that we haven't in They don't have a number one yet. But right and number one is playing the Dodgers right now. Gonna go sign Terry. Then you have a lineup but except then you have a starting rotation with three left handed pitchers.

Hmm.

Steve Cohen has got his ass kicked. Dodgers down the street.

I just think how it's funny that one of the criticisms we have for the Mets is Steve Cohen throws around his money and your solution is to throw around more money. He's got it. He's got the money. So you know, if if it takes to get to our

Right, but then the Dodgers are also limited too, so they're gonna have big problems if they're whatever

Right. If Semian's my backup infielder next year, and ideally you've got guys like Mitch Voigt in in the right. So he's he's an up and coming back. And then and then you're saying because I think one of the things and we were we were talking about this off air is that with free agency, you can't go into a free agency period being like, I need a guy at this position. You can have you need your free agent signings to be luxuries, not necessities. Because the method tried to do that to your point with people.

And they tried to right and they just tried to they just tried to have a right, you need to you need to already have like like if you don't need 'cause it's like there's gonna be some off seasons where there's just not gonna be a guy. Like if you're like, okay, like that kinda happened to the Mets where they're like, Okay, well we don't really want Pete Alonso, let's go get another first baseman. there wasn't another first baseman on the market out there to go and get. So what were you gonna do? I'd say that's true.

Who is it right, so there isn't anybody because teams don't like good second basemans walk like that. Right, right. And so and so again with Simeon in his contract, you have to remember getting Simeon in his contract was so that you don't have Nimmo in his contract.

Right, right. But the advantage will be you're not paying Simeon after next year where you'd be paying Nemo for a bunch more years and you would be wanna move you would be wanting to move on probably from Brandon Nemo at some point in that time, whereas we're ready to move on from Simeon and we might just do it next year. Yeah, so you the the Mets look, you know, that the twelve game losing streak, like we said, was what sank their season, because without it they'd actually as bad as

I think you would really notice them having won six more games than they have at this point, but had they done that in in within that street, they would be fighting for it and you'd think, Well, they're a flawed team, but they have it. Right, and the Mets have you know, when you look at these young pitchers that they have, I don't think people people have heard about, you know, Nolan McLean. I don't think people realize how good Christian Scott has been this year, especially when it comes to being a premier strikeout pitcher. The guy's thrown has eighty four innings this year and he struck out a hundred and five batters in those eighty four innings.

seemed different about him was he came up as a you know when Skeens was coming out like Scott was pretty good that spring and you thought, well maybe he can, you know push skins And he basically I think he got hurt. Right. He had an okay fastball and a little sweeper and that was it. But now

Effective

Right. And who knows, maybe the Mets have really found something here with Kodai Senga as their closer. He's now gotten three saves and three opportunities. Looked pretty good doing it. Meanwhile, I mean somebody had to close

I you what? I'm sorry, I was wrong. He is a he has a five year contract. He is under contract with through next year. So the Mets do have him from next year and then they have a team option for twenty eight. w so the option's not next year, two years from now two years from now, and it's a team option, not a player option. So the Mets actually will probably be much more in buttons at fifteen million, isn't it? Well he signed a five for seventy five. Right, right. So they might want to renegotiate that team, right, but

I think they're they're thinking right now, you know, what his stuff and the way he pitches might profile better as a as a reliever. So I'm not sure that he does. Yet.

Yes. So

Said that would happen? Yeah.

If only they had done this all along.