New York Mets designated hitter Mark Vientos reacts after striking out during the sixth inning of a baseball game against the Washington Nationals, Sunday, Sept. 21, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
While various figures on the Mets stood in middle of the clubhouse in front of a team banner with some kind of corporate sponsor, the other side of New York baseball exploded for six runs.
Although it took the Yankees ten innings, the contrasting results continued a trend of the different trajectories of New York baseball in recent weeks in quests to determine their playoff fate after nearly playing each other in the World Series last fall.
The Mets officially fell out of the playoff spot when Brandon Nimmo was about halfway through his postgame group interview following their latest stumble in a 3-2 loss to the Nationals on Sunday afternoon which occurred shortly after the Jets lost to the Buccaneers on a last-second field goal after storming back to take a lead.
“It’s the way it’s going,” Nimmo said about a minute after the Reds struck out Pete Crow-Armstrong with two on to secure a 1-0 victory over the Cubs, who can knock the Mets further out in the race starting Tuesday in Chicago. “Yes, I can believe it because I’ve watched it. I’ve been watching it happen right in front of us. So, I’ve been part of it and it’s not ideal but we can still get into this thing.”
Ideal is how the Yankees are playing by taking the AL East Division race into the final six games while also inching closer to securing the first wild card and the coveted homefield advantage in their first time playing the best-of-three series.
New York Yankees’ Ben Rice, left, celebrates with Aaron Judge, second from left, after hitting a grand slam during the 10th inning of a baseball game against the Baltimore Orioles, Sunday, Sept. 21, 2025, in Baltimore. (AP Photo/Peter Casey)
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved
The Yankees were in a similar position to the Mets in the early going and into the summer but are 27-14 in their past 41 games, the best record in baseball since Aug. 6, That was the same day David Bednar authored a 42-pitch, seven-out save to avert a three-game sweep in Texas, doing so about two hours after the Mets went hitless for 8 1/3 innings against Gavin Williams and the Cleveland Guardians, who may wind up stealing the AL Central from the Detroit Tigers.
The Yankees started their defense of their first AL pennant since 2009 by winning 35 of their first 55, giving themselves a respectable seven-game lead two months in. The Mets started a much hyped season aided by the signing of Juan Soto to a 15-year, $765 million contract in December by winning 45 of their first 69 for a modest 5 1/2 games lead.
The Yankees began slumping in June and July with a pair of six-game skids where the first one featured 30 straight scoreless innings. They held sole possession of lead in the AL East until an 11-9 loss in Toronto on July 2 and an 8-5 setback the following night.
The Mets began slumping a few weeks after the Yankee doldrums started, getting outscored 24-9 in a three-game sweep to the Rays and it started seven straight losses to push them to second place. The skid became 14 losses in 18 games until four straight wins July 2-5 and knocked them out of the first place.
While the Yankees remained middling into August, they never fell further than 6 1/2 games out. The Mets kept slumping into August until a decent two-week stretch from Aug. 16-27 where they won eight of 11, culminating in a three-game sweep of the Phillies, who were hardly bothered by their NL East lead getting sliced to four.
Being unfazed showed in the Phillies’ play and the Mets were unable to keep pace, leading many to wonder if New York’s National League team could ever play a normal and routine type of game.
Routine games are rare for the Mets, who went on their final road last season and nailed down a playoff berth. This weekend they lost on an inside-the-park homer that sailed over Cedric Mullins in center field and among the causes of their 76th loss was an opposing center fielder in Jacob Young making two spectacular catches in center field.
Those plays contributed to the Mets losing a game by two runs or fewer for the 22nd time since their stellar 45-24 start and also eventually led to them falling out of a playoff spot for the first time since April 5.
“We put ourselves in this position, so we got to find a way to get out of it,” Francisco Lindor said after homering and committing a throwing error on the same day. “And that comes down to winning. We just got to win ballgames.”
And as the Mets were left to express a belief in their abilities, lament their subpar performance and being robbed of two hits, the Yankees were on their way to a standout 7-3 road trip that started with two wins in Boston before an encounter with Garrett Crochet and put them on the verge of clinching a playoff berth while the division title is still is a possibility.
“Every win is precious,” manager Aaron Boone told reporters. “Every day, it feels like there’s so much on the line.”
Boone’s words were spoken after his former bench coach Carlos Mendoza lamented the various things the Mets did not do in their final homestand in a season where they set a single-season attendance record since their current ballpark opened in 2009.
“You look at the talent there and we’re one hit away, making one play, making one pitch,” Mendoza said after his team lost for the 23rd time in 38 games against opponents with losing records since June 12. “We’re close. We just haven’t been able to get the last out, to make that last play when we need to do or to execute a pitch. So it could happen.”
It could happen for the Mets but it also may not. Their path is a bit more murkier with the Cubs trying to secure the NL’s top wild-card and the Marlins waiting to cause more trouble after winning three of four in New York three weeks ago.
As Boone often says, it’s all in front of us and this week the phrase may mean different things for the New York baseball scene as it pertains to the postseason.