What the Mets did to anger the baseball gods is an interesting question. So is what they did to MLB’s schedule makers.
There they were playing in the middle of the night on the other side of the country, starting their fourth West Coast trip of what’s still a young season, and given all that I’m surprised it went as well as it did.
The Mets got solid pitching from Sean Manaea and a pack of relievers, more superb defense from Brett Baty and A.J. Ewing, and solo homers from Jared Young and Marcus Semien. Unfortunately they got nothing else — those two solo shots were their only hits of the evening. Meanwhile, the Mariners countered with two solo homers of their own (plus two other hits, the showoffs), meaning the game went to the 10th tied.
I was watching blearily as Juan Soto failed to advance the Manfred Man, AKA Bo Bichette, and Gabe Speier ate Mark Vientos and Ewing alive. That brought A.J. Minter to the hill to try and contain the Mariners, and you could feel doom descend even before it arrived. Stolen base, little single to left, and the ballgame was over.
Honestly, I’d have forgiven the Mets a far worse showing. Fourth West Coast trip of the year on the first day of June? The Mets have spent a lot of nights in 2026 digging their own graves, but what did they do to deserve that?
Another blown game courtesy of Carlos Mendoza. Manaea pitches 5 virtually perfect innings and he takes him out of the game, again offering more nonsensical reasoning while using/wasting all our high leverage relievers, and managing like he has already clinched a playoff spot. More nobility from this manager, saving pitchers’ arms for the next manager.
When it appeared that Raley might face Raley, you knew you would have to peel Gary Cohen off the wall of the broadcast booth. And then when Patrick Wisdom entered the game, you knew again that Gary wouldn’t disappoint.
I feel less forgiving. The scheduling is weird, but they’re young — and what else they got to do? Unfortunately this game resembled too many so-called un-jetlagged games this season.