Mets' defense has been a major problem all season, but there isn't enough time to figure out why
Washington Nationals' Jorge Alfaro runs past Mets first baseman Pete Alonso on a throwing error by pitcher Brandon Sproat during the third inning on Sept. 19 at Citi Field. Credit: AP/Frank Franklin II
CHICAGO – So often this season, the Mets openly wondered why.
They puzzled at how a lineup so talented could produce a feast-or-famine offense that has nearly starved them right out of the playoffs. They asked why the admittedly patchwork pitching staff couldn’t reclaim its prior effectiveness. Often, they questioned why even their better defenders were committing costly miscues.
The answer was usually that there was no answer (though, this late into the season, some very strong themes have emerged). But Thursday, as they prepared to take on the Cubs in Game 159 with the third and final wild-card spot on the line, it was clear that the time for questions was over.
“It’s a little too late for me to try and diagnose it,” Pete Alonso said Thursday, specifically about the poor defense that’s repeatedly burned them. “At this point, there’s no real necessity to understand why. You just need to be better…Sometimes, you don’t need to ask why. You just need to be like, alright, this is happening right now. We need to make an adjustment and move forward because everyone knows what they need to do.”
It's radical acceptance, yes – “You can’t change the results of the past,” Alonso noted – but it’s also an acknowledgement that the Mets have put themselves in this hole and, with the Reds winning before first pitch at Wrigley Field Thursday, that they can’t rely on anyone else to dig them out.
It starts with the simple mantra they keep repeating in postgame post-mortems. “We’ve just got to play better,” Francisco Lindor said earlier this week, for what feels like the hundredth time this season.
Lindor is, of course, right – the Mets do have to play better. But that becomes a far thornier challenge when it seems like this team’s woes are stacked like dominoes.
The defense’s -14 outs above average are 22nd in baseball, as are their -12 runs saved, and they rely on a ton of contact pitchers – David Peterson, Clay Holmes and Tyler Rogers, just to name a few. It’s an unholy union, especially when they’ve got a few obvious defensive holes in Mark Vientos, Juan Soto, Brandon Nimmo and Alonso - who are metrically below-average fielders - and a down defensive year from Lindor, whose -4 defensive runs saved are a career low.
“We’ve been through a stretch where we haven’t been able to play good defense and it’s hurting our pitching staff,” manager Carlos Mendoza said after their come-from-behind win Tuesday - one that featured a poor outing by Peterson, two official errors and additional defensive miscues. “Whether it’s not making routine plays or not covering enough ground, we’ve got some guys that are going to pitch to contact…and we haven’t been able to play clean defense.”
Granted, by his own admission, Peterson hasn’t pitched well in the second half. But that leads to another issue: When the starters put the Mets in early holes, the at-bats start to look different.
“You’re not going to be as aggressive” when you’re down four or five runs, Mendoza said earlier this month. “You’ve got to take a strike, you’ve got to take pitches, you’ve got to create a rally instead of staying aggressive. Then it’s a completely different game.”
Going into Thursday, the Mets were still the only team in baseball to not have a victory when trailing after the eighth inning. Whereas in 2024, they led the majors in come-from-behind wins, their five-run comeback Tuesday was the biggest deficit they’ve overcome all season. Their 35 comeback wins are tied for 16th in baseball.
And the extra outs they allow to opposing teams is one of the reasons.
“We’ve got to clean it up a lot for sure,” Lindor said. “Everyone is putting in the time. If you saw [fielding practice Wednesday], everyone was out there taking ground balls and doing their thing. It’s just the stuff that happens as part of the game. Us, as professionals, we continue to work and we have to be better. I take full responsibility for my mistakes and I’m sure everyone here takes full responsibility for their mistakes as well. We know how to play the game. We know what to do. We’ve just got to get it done.”
Lindor, though, didn’t believe that poor pitching was putting pressure on the defense.
“No, because in here, we’re all in it together,” he said. “We win together, we lose together, and when we get down early, we get down together and then when we go up early, we’re all in it together.”
Whatever the reason, it’s too late for it to matter.
“I think spending too much time on [the why] is kind of a waste of energy,” Alonso said. “The mistakes are costly, but everyone knows what we need to do…
“We need to be better.”
Notes & quotes: The Mets called up righty Kevin Herget Thursday and designated Richard Lovelady for assignment. Chris Devenski was sent down to Triple-A.
Laura Albanese is a reporter, feature writer and columnist covering local professional sports teams; she began at Newsday in 2007 as an intern.
