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David Stearns, Mets still eying playoff opportunity: ‘Not at the end of the line yet’

Back in June, if you had told David Stearns that the Mets would barely be hanging on to a Wild Card playoff spot in June, the club’s president of baseball operations would have been skeptical, to say the least.

“I think when you’re sitting where we were in mid-June, we would not have expected to be in this spot,” Stearns said Tuesday at Citi Field ahead of a crucial series against the San Diego Padres. “There’s no question about that, and we’ll have time to evaluate and diagnose and do all of that stuff. For right now, my focus is from here forward.”

Stearns didn’t really want to talk about what has already transpired in 2025. Like many in the Mets clubhouse, he too seems flummoxed by the 41-51 record since June 1, and the hot-and-cold nature of the team this season.

The executive overseeing the most expensive roster in baseball has done nearly all he can do this season, replacing the injured pitchers and rebuilding the bullpen at the trade deadline. The only thing left for him to do is watch the next 12 games to see if the Mets can stave off the Arizona Diamondbacks (1.5 games back in the NL Wild Card standings), the San Francisco Giants (2.0 games back) and the Cincinnati Reds (2.0 games back).

“We’re not at the end of the line yet,” he said.

This is true, but the Mets have yet to show any sort of sustained period of play that would inspire confidence that they’re capable of making it to the end of the line in October. A veteran team hasn’t been able to halt long losing streaks, and haven’t gone on enough winning streaks over the second half.

Everyone from manager Carlos Mendoza, to team leaders Francisco Lindor and Brandon Nimmo, to the coaching staff have said the same thing about the streaky nature of the team: If they knew how to fix it, they would.

“I think we have to determine whether that has been an outlier relative to seasons of the past,” Stearns said. “I don’t have the answer to that right now.”

You could start with the pitching staff.

Injuries decimated the pitching staff this season, with the Mets losing five pitchers from the Opening Day roster to season-ending injuries, plus right-hander Frankie Montas, who was already injured when the season started. A handful of them went down like dominoes in June, then every pitcher other than left-hander David Peterson and closer Edwin Diaz was suddenly rendered ineffective.

Starters Sean Manaea and Clay Holmes are doing a tandem start Tuesday. It might be the only way to avoid overtaxing the bullpen on the days they pitch. Stearns noted that this season has reinforced the importance of developing starting pitching, but they can resume that emphasis over the winter.

In the meantime, they have to figure out if Tong can shake off a brutal start against the Texas Rangers, if Manaea’s fastball can still play up in the zone, and they have to find some soft spots for former Cardinals closer Ryan Helsley.

“It’s a fair assessment that our trade deadline — at least some of our trade deadline acquisitions — have not performed at the level that we expected or the level that they have performed at throughout their careers,” Stearns said. “Part of that is, is streakiness and randomness, and this happens every year in baseball, some trade deadline acquisitions; part of that is, we need to look and ensure that we’re doing everything we can to help these guys succeed.”

Center fielder Cedric Mullins is another acquisition who hasn’t produced at the level the Mets had hoped since being traded from the Baltimore Orioles at the deadline. The Mets could have acquired Harrison Bader, who played in Queens last season, but he went to the Philadelphia Phillies instead, and proceeded to kill the Mets last week.

Fans have been fixated on what they perceive to be a relative lack of chemistry, quick to blame the decision to let glue guys like Jose Iglesias and J.D. Martinez over the winter, instead adding right fielder Juan Soto on a record, 15-year, $765 million contract. However, the Mets are clearly tired of playing the comparison game, and they aren’t about to blame Soto, who is once again putting up gaudy numbers after a slow start to the year.

It’s not 2024 anymore.

“I think they’re working really hard, and I think they want to win,” Stearns said. “I think it’s tough to create the consistent type of energy that maybe we displayed organically last year, when you have the type of streakiness that we’ve had this year.”

Still, as Stearns said, the Mets are not at the end of the line just yet. The team has adopted the mindset that anything can happen once the playoffs begin, much of which is formed by last year’s surprising postseason performance. Stearns hasn’t written the Mets off just yet, and the team is still determined to salvage the season.

“That’s a meaningful opportunity,” Stearns said. “Staying in the right mindset is probably a big part of what’s going to determine our success.”