David Lennon: For Mets, September not a lost month
Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns speaks to the media before a game against the San Francisco Giants at Citi Field on Friday. Credit: Jim McIsaac
September is a weird spot for the Mets. Too late to climb back into contention, too early to make any foundational upgrades for next year.
So what’s left for these last few weeks in purgatory?
Showing that maybe the franchise isn’t quite as lost as we thought.
Friday night was a good point of reference. The Mets were coming off an impressive series win over the Rays — otherwise known as the top team in the American League — at Tropicana Field. Tampa Bay is 22 games over .500 at home this season at 47-25, tied with the Brewers for MLB’s second-best home record behind Atlanta (48-24).
On Friday the Mets were back at Citi Field against the Giants, a rudderless franchise with concerns about second-year general manager Buster Posey and rookie manager Tony Vitello, who has displayed why he was a risky choice coming from the University of Tennessee.
Obviously, the Mets have plenty of issues to iron out. Their own president of baseball operations, David Stearns, is under siege, and the assumption is that interim manager Andy Green will return to his front-office role at season’s end (though I’m not entirely convinced by that company line).
But you have to admit there’s a foundation in Flushing, and the Mets showed Friday that they’re nowhere near the pitiful Giants’ depths in a 10-6 victory that really wasn’t that close, dropping San Francisco to 58-84.
Nolan McLean (11-8) allowed two runs in six innings, striking out seven, and the Mets (64-77) staked him to an early 7-0 lead in improving to 17-11 since Aug. 4, the NL’s third-best winning percentage during that span.
Francisco Alvarez homered twice, Mark Vientos smacked a three-run shot and Francisco Lindor also went deep for his third home run in the past five games. Bo Bichette added his first homer at Citi Field since June 24, a stretch of 111 at-bats, and is hitting .306 with a .901 OPS since Aug. 1.
Afterward, Green announced that Jonah Tong will start Monday’s series opener in Miami, another audition for a 2027 rotation that is going to need some renovation in the offseason.
What’s been happening in the past month, against a schedule packed with contending teams, shouldn’t be dismissed as a post-deadline mirage. More like what the Mets were supposed to be when owner Steve Cohen laid out $380 million for the 2026 roster before it unraveled under the stress of maladjusted imports and numerous injuries.
The Mets had Lindor and Juan Soto batting 1-2 in the lineup on Friday night for only the 15th time all season because of lengthy stays on the injured list. Carson Benge has emerged as a serious Rookie of the Year candidate. Bichette has gotten over his early Flushing-itis.
Soto has been back only since last weekend, and he started in leftfield on Friday for the first time since July 20. But Lindor has surged (at the plate, anyway) since the All-Star break, hitting 11 homers with an .819 OPS in those 44 games. The Mets, who were 40-57 at the break, are 24-20 since then.
With Lindor’s future in Flushing becoming more of a conversation this season — despite having $170 million left on his contract through 2031 — Stearns was asked Friday afternoon if he anticipated the five-time All-Star being his everyday shortstop next season.
“No question,” he said.
Even with Soto’s lengthy absence, the Mets entered Friday with the third-best slugging percentage (.426) in the majors since Aug. 3 and the sixth-best OPS (.742). They were middle-of-the-pack at 4.44 runs per game in that stretch, but Friday was their eighth game in double-digits since July 5, second-most in MLB.
Also, Green & Co. had to plow through nine playoff contenders in that span, including four division leaders in the White Sox, Brewers, Rays and Astros, kicked off by a post-deadline road sweep of the Guardians and taking two of three at Tampa Bay this week.
What does it mean? In the standings, pretty much zip. But the level of play under Green is an encouraging sign — if his status changes in the coming months — along with the ability to derail teams that are fighting every night for their playoff lives.
“That’s also where we should be,” Stearns said before Friday’s game. “That’s what we expect of ourselves, so yes, I’m glad that we are playing pretty competitive baseball — in some cases, very good baseball — against some of the league’s top teams. That is also the expectation.”
Stearns can expect more of the same next season with a rotation that again will feature McLean, who seems to have shaken off his early mechanical issues to be the ace-caliber starter everyone thought he would be. Entering Friday, McLean’s 1.76 ERA since June 30, a stretch of 11 starts, was tops in the National League and second-best in the majors to the Blue Jays’ Dylan Cease (1.36).
“I think we’ll keep holding the bar high for him,” Green said, “because we think he can get there.”
One of the more stunning late-season developments has been the performance of Stearns’ pieced-together bullpen in the wake of trading away his high-functioning relief corps at the deadline. Led by the unlikely trio of Nate Lavender, Daniel Duarte and Jefry Yan — not to mention new closer Kodai Senga, who was 5-for-5 in save chances — the Mets’ bullpen had the fifth-best ERA (3.25) in the majors since Aug. 3.
“They’ve been relentless,” Green said. “When we think about that group, they’re all here because they belong. They’re all here because they want to be here in the future.”
As for the Mets, they never imagined being in this place come September. At least they’re playing like a team intent on making sure it doesn’t happen again.
David Lennon is an award-winning columnist, a voter for baseball's Hall of Fame and has covered six no-hitters, including two perfect games.
