In September of 1997, an unknown 22-year-old kid from Venezuela came in to pinch run in a close game for the New York Mets. 30 years later, he’d be fired as manager for the same team and exit the organization staring down a precipice.
The Mets continued making all the wrong headlines on Friday, announcing the mid-season departure of skipper Carlos Mendoza. Fan reaction was relieved with underlying restlessness.
While received as the right move from the front office, Mendoza was a fraction of the Mets’ true problems. The fan’s cash prize for his head would’ve been a small bounty in comparison to that of the president of baseball operations, David Stearns.
A lot happened during Mendoza’s relatively short two-and-a-half-year tenure with New York, largely due to Stearns’ decisions. From wins shy of a World Series to the worst collapse in recent history – and a $765 million contract in between – here’s everything that happened in Mendoza’s chaotic time spent with the Mets.
The Early OMG Mets
The 2024 Mets in Mendoza’s first season had a certain kind of scrappy magic to them. Yet a 0-5 start mirrored much of what was to come in the first half. On June 11, New York found itself nine games under .500 and a colossal 17.5 games back in the National League East.
Then, a startling seven-game win streak set off the Mets on a heart-pounding rest of the season. Battling through injuries, New York continued to right the ship and win more games, with a surprising amount of help from gimmicks. The club gave 34-year-old veteran infielder Jose Iglesias a shot in the lineup to start June, who decided to release a pop song later that month, “OMG”. As the Mets continued to win games, the catchy tune became the team’s soundtrack. It was even performed by Iglesias himself on Citi Field.
The Gut-Check Mets
The entire season came down to a doubleheader with the Atlanta Braves on the final day of the regular season. All the Mets needed to do was win one of the two to clinch a spot in the postseason. In the first game, franchise shortstop Francisco Lindor came up in the ninth inning, down two runs, with a runner on. He hit a stunning, improbable home run to close the game and continue his “linsanity” 2024 persona. Play-by-play announcer Gary Cohen coined the moment perfectly: “From 0-5 to OMG.”
New York extended the theatrics into the postseason, where the season’s highlight occurred. It was an elimination game in the NL Wildcard Series against a sound Milwaukee Brewers team. The Mets trailed 2-0. Pete Alonso came up in the ninth inning, with runners on the corners and one out against a shutdown closer of 2024. Alonso, on the biggest stage of the season thus far, left the park.
New York went on to defeat the division-winning Philadelphia Phillies in the NL Division Series before losing to the eventual World Series champs. Although falling just short, Mendoza and the Mets put together a grand season heading into 2025. With a new $765 million man on the roster, New York started next season 44-24 and looked like true World Series contenders.
The Oh-No Mets
The Mets were on top of the world. 44-24 on June 11, the best record in baseball and an exciting, dispersed offense with grounded pitching. On the exact same day things turned around in 2024, everything began falling apart in 2025.
Whatever clicked with the Mets had entirely unhitched. This amiably thrilling team turned into a grey, quiet disappointment. The team with the best record in the league on that day, with a 95% chance to make the playoffs, ended up missing the cut in one of the most historic collapses in MLB history.
The descent was slow. Although very prone to losing streaks, the club rode them out and remained in the playoff picture. Beginning in September, New York still clung to a 94% chance of making it in. The Mets then lost 10 of 13 to begin the month and found themselves in a win-and-in scenario on the final day of the season. Controlling their destiny and needing to win just one more game against the worst team, the Miami Marlins, the Mets lost 4-0.
Over the broadcast, Cohen once again immortalized it well: “The Mets agonizing, three-and-a-half-month, slow-motion collapse is complete.”
2025 was a monumental failure. This team acquired Juan Soto for a record-breaking $765 million in the offseason and had a roster featuring four all-stars and three players who received MVP votes, all while maintaining the highest active payroll at the time. For the greater good of Mendoza, Stearns and the entirety of Queens, the Mets absolutely cannot miss the postseason in 2026.
The 2026 Nightmare
Mendoza was fired on June 26. The Mets that day were 34-48, with a 4.3% chance to make the playoffs. The entire poor half-season stretch of baseball New York was playing in 2025 got worse in 2026, while being first in total payroll.
Mendoza had to be fired. The Mets had no other choice. It’s the timing that leaves fans with more to question about Stearns’ decision-making.
Two high-market teams fired their managers early in the season. Alex Cora and Rob Thomson got booted out of Boston and Philadelphia, respectively, within the span of three days. The Red Sox and Phillies were both having deficient, unexpected first months of the season, and jumped ship. The move has played out perfectly for Philadelphia, which now sits comfortably in a playoff spot. Another team that had a deficient, unexpected first month of the season? The New York Mets.
While the Northeastern firings were happening, Stearns told MLB.com that he didn’t view the Mets’ problems as a manager problem and that there was no intention of making a change. But, since that point, nothing with the team has changed, and that was the problem.
So What Now?
Andy Green, the vice president of player development, will take over the interim manager role for the rest of 2026.
It’s hard to suggest what needs to change for the Mets heading forward, besides pointing to Stearns. 2026 is already a chalk-up. Unless a different washed-up veteran joins the team and makes another song, the Mets will miss the playoffs for consecutive years. There’s a chance that Stearns gets canned at the end of the season, but it’s unlikely to move on from a president of operations after just a handful of seasons.
Although this slow-burning, Mendoza-era of the Mets is over, the future of the organization remains hazy and uneasy. But with Stearns at the helm, was it ever truly Mendoza’s era? Or could he be the first of many scapegoats for Stearns inter-handling?
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