The New York Mets (22-31) welcome the Cincinnati Reds (27-25) to Citi Field for a three game series. It is hard to muster anything close to excitement for this team after an incredibly flat series against an uninspiring Marlins team. The Mets won the Subway Series, split a series with the Nationals, and were set up to have a third straight positive series against the only team trailing them in the division. Instead, they scored two runs over three games and looked like a little league team at the plate.
I don’t truly think that there is no way they can salvage their season, but it is looking more and more clear that this is a season that would be better suited with developing young players than chasing a playoff appearance. That is a shame, because it means wasting a season of peak Juan Soto and Francisco Lindor (when he returns), and that is something that the team really can’t afford to waste. This isn’t asking them to tank, but it is calling for a different outlook on the club.
And that probably means being sellers sooner than later. With another few weeks that aren’t a marked improvement, Freddy Peralta and a couple of the bullpen arms look to be the most likely to bring in anything of note back in a trade. A.J. Ewing and Carson Benge should be starting just about every game for the club, and it may be a good idea to bring up Ryan Clifford and see what he’s got at first base. If not, give a returning Jared Young a chance to be something other than a utility guy. Let Jonah Tong, Zach Thornton, and Jack Wenninger all get multiple starts. Start seeing what you have out of some of the minor league relief arms.
There is every chance that those players will produce as much or more than what they Mets have been getting thus far, and you get a better sense of what the future looks like. And look, we all know that injuries are playing an inordinate role in where this team is. Losing Lindor, Clay Holmes, Francisco Alvarez, Kodai Senga, Luis Robert Jr, Jorge Polanco, Ronny Mauricio, Young, and Mike Tauchman all put this team at a disadvantage, even if players like Senga weren’t exactly helping the cause pre-injury.
Now, it seems like Senga, A.J. Minter, and Young are all fairly close to a return. There’s some optimism that Lindor can be back in late June, and Alvarez is likely closer to the All-Star Break. All of those returns could be good for the club, but aside from Lindor, none move the needle enough to see them as potential saviors for this season. With Polanco and Robert as true question marks, both in terms of their return and also what they might be able to offer the club, you have to think of both of them as true wildcards. If they return and give the club anything, that’s a perk, but it can’t be expected.
The Reds are 7-14 in May thus far, but have seemingly turned around the worst stretch of their season, where they lost eight in a row, including getting walked off three days in a row by the Cubs, earlier this month. Their division, the National League Central, still features five teams with winning records, even if the Pirates and Reds and just barely hanging on to that distinction.
Elly De La Cruz and Sal Stewart are both having monster years at the plate thus far, with Cruz slugging 25 extra base hits already, along with nine stolen bases, and Stewart stealing ten bases with 21 extra base hits of his own. Chase Burns is in the Cy Young conversation, but the rest of their pitching staff has been dealing with injuries. With multiple Wild Card spots likely coming out of the Central, it is too early to write them off, but they look like they’re a cut below the three teams in front of them.
Monday, May 25: Nolan McLean vs Nick Lodolo, 4:10pm EDT on SNY
McLean (2026): 58.0 IP, 63 K, 27 BB, 8 HR, 3.52 ERA, 4.14 FIP, 90 ERA-
McLean’s last start was easily his worst in the bigs so far, giving up six earned runs, including two home runs, eight hits, and two walks. But even in that start, he was felled by some poor luck/defense behind him. While McLean hasn’t exactly lived up to his brief debut last season in terms of hype, he’s been solid this season, and is still among the brightest spots on the Mets in 2026 which, admittedly, is a low bar.
Lodolo (2026): 15.0 IP, 11 K, 9 BB, 4 HR, 7.20 ERA, 7.48 FIP, 170 ERA-
Lodolo has started three games for the Reds thus far in 2026, with is most recent start being the best of the punch, where he threw five and two-thirds innings of three-run ball against the Phillies last week. But four home runs in 15 innings and almost as many walks as strikeouts isn’t going to inspire a ton of confidence.
Tuesday, May 26: TBD (Likely David Peterson) vs Chase Burns, 7:10pm EDT on SNY
Peterson (2026): 48.1 IP, 49 K, 20 BB, 2 HR, 5.03 ERA, 3.02 FIP, 129 ERA-
Peterson started on Friday for the first time in over a month. He had been working as the bulk man behind an opener to attempt to put his season back on track and, in limited appearances, it seems to have worked. In his first start since April 13, Peterson tossed five innings of one-run, four hit ball. Peterson may never get back to his first half of 2025 status, but he would be a welcome piece of the Mets’ rotation if he could approximate his performance since that April 13 start: an ERA a full point lower, a 105 ERA-, and an almost two to one strikeout to walk ratio. It won’t win him a Cy Young, but it’ll do enough.
Burns (2026): 59.0 IP, 64 K, 18 BB, 7 HR, 1.83 ERA, 3.37 FIP, 43 ERA-
Chase Burns is having himself a year. Aside from one bad start against the Angels on April 10, where he gave up five earned runs, Burns hasn’t allowed more than two runs in a single start, and has four starts in which he allowed no runs at all. He’s top 20 in strikeouts thus far this season, and has been excellent at limiting runs in just about every aspect of his game.
Wednesday, May 27: TBD (Likely Tobias Myers and Jonah Tong in some sort of opener/bulk role) vs Andrew Abbott, 4:10pm EDT on SNY
Myers (2026): 30.1 IP, 23 K, 7 BB, 5 HR, 3.56 ERA, 4.40 FIP, 91 ERA-
The Mets haven’t quite figured out how to use Myers yet this season. It’s been fairly clear for some times that Myers would be an improvement over some of the starting pitching, but with Christian Scott’s return to the rotation and Peterson straightening himself out, Myers might be again relegated to the long man/starter/jack of all trades that he’s been thus far this season. And while that is a valuable and useful role, it seems like it is somewhat wasting what Myers can be doing for this club.
Tong (2026): 3.0 IP, 2 K, 1 BB, 0 HR, 0.00 ERA, 2.75 FIP, 0 ERA-
After a truly phenomenal minor league season and a mixed bag of a call up, Tong has been working on his secondary pitches in the minors, and so his minor league line isn’t a real good indication of what he’s capable of. Similarly, putting too much stake in a three-inning performance against the Marlins is probably silly as well. That said, Tong looked very good in said three-innings, and is always going to be one of the more exciting names to see pitching the Mets in 2026.
Abbott (2026): 56.2 IP, 38 K, 26 BB, 7 HR, 3.97 ERA, 4.72 FIP, 94 ERA-
Abbot has been lights out in May thus far, allowing just two earned runs in 22 innings pitched. If there’s a clear knock on his game at this point in his career, it is that he’s walking too many batters. But the results, at least as of late, have been good despite that fact.
