If you were curious as to what a 2025 New York Mets lineup that doesn’t feature Juan Soto [1] would have looked like, you got a glimpse Wednesday night at Citi Field. Carlos Mendoza rested his right fielder, the fellow who’s batted second every game since Opening Day, the guy who — whether he’s raking or not — changes the complexion of the top of the Met order by his mere presence. Just a night off, the manager said, followed by a teamwide off day, followed by the road portion of the Subway Series, where Juan will be greeted loudly if not universally warmly. One full game sat approximately every quarter-of-a-season seems reasonable. Only Felix Millan in 1975 and Pete Alonso in 2024 never missed a Mets game. Heck, even the immortal Chris Majkowski [2], who produced 5,010 consecutive broadcasts from August 1993 to just the other day, is briefly sidelined [3] from the Audacy Mets radio booth.
Sitting Soto didn’t seem helpful to the immediate goal of sweeping the Pirates, but in a long season, everybody merits a breather and, more importantly, everybody who usually sits needs to play now and then. Plus, if we can be a bit haughty about it, you shouldn’t have to deploy your entire “A” team to beat the Buccos. Pittsburgh entered Wednesday’s action at 14-29, on their second manager of the year. We were 28-15, sporting the best record in all of baseball, tied with the Tigers and a half-game better than the Dodgers. Most relevantly, we were three up on the second-place Phillies in our division. If you were ever tempted to gently lift a pinky toe from the gas pedal, this was a prime opportunity.
Jose Azocar [4] played in Soto’s stead. Jose Azocar almost never plays, unless it’s to run for a less speedy Met. I don’t think this upfront substitution was entirely the reason the Mets didn’t win one game on one rainy night in May, but I wouldn’t do this again if I could help it. Nothing against Azocar. Good teams need pinch-runners, and pinch-runners oughta test the rest of their skill sets against live competition so they stay fresh for when called on to be complete players. Someday, you might need Azocar to do something besides stretch his legs.
Maybe do it in left or center field next time, though.
Wednesday, without Juan, the Mets lost, 4-0 [5]. It wasn’t as simple as going Sotoless, nor should the defeat be directly attributed to Azocar. Jose trapped rather than caught a ball in right; got picked off after drawing a walk; and flied out with the bases loaded to end the only genuine Met threat of the night, but he’s not the one who made the ball slicker than preferred for Clay Holmes [6], and he’s not the one who may have squeezed Holmes on balls and strikes, and he’s not the only one who didn’t drive in any Mets.
It was an uncommonly blah 2025 Mets game. Sitting out any further dwelling on it seems the wise move.