ESPN's stance on 'biggest failure' of Mets season speaks volumes

New York Mets will agree about this abysmal aspect of the team's 2025 season.

May 15, 2024; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; New York Mets logo on the sleeve of J.D. Martinez during a game against the Philadelphia Phillies at Citizens Bank Park. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-Imagn Images | Bill Streicher-Imagn Images

It's no secret that the New York Mets' starting rotation has been a big part of their second-half collapse.

While this starting staff has had to deal with a staggering number of injuries to this point in the year (including injuries to Frankie Montas, Sean Manaea, Kodai Senga, Tylor Megill, Paul Blackburn, and Griffin Canning), which has made having a stable rotation impossible to this point in the season, even the most of the healthy pitchers (aside from the team's three rookies) aren't performing up to par at this point.

Read more: Mets' surging 'hidden gem' could fuel postseason push

There were some clear question marks about how New York's starting pitchers would fare during the 2025 season, especially after David Stearns and the front office didn't make any moves to acquire an ace-caliber arm last offseason. And that decision has seemingly come back to bite the Mets at this point in the year.

Aug 8, 2025; Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA; New York Mets manager Carlos Mendoza takes the ball from starting pitcher Kodai Senga (34) during a pitching change in the fifth inning against the Milwaukee Brewers at American Family Field. Mandatory Credit: Benny Sieu-Imagn Images | Benny Sieu-Imagn Images

ESPN Shares Strong Stance on New York Mets' "Biggest Failure" in 2025

ESPN writer Bradford Doolittle published an article on September 16 that assessed the biggest successes and failures for all 30 MLB teams. And when it came to the Mets, their biggest failure was "The collapsing rotation".

"The Mets' pitching free fall has been one of the most stunning stories of the season. Through the end of July, the Mets had baseball's fifth-best rotation ERA (3.44). The starters ranked 27th in quality starts and 25th in innings, so they weren't going deep, but they were effective while out there. Since then, New York's starters have a 5.40 ERA (24th), further taxing a bullpen that has arguably been just as bad or worse," Doolittle wrote.

"The avatar is Kodai Senga, who went from Cy Young candidate to minor leaguer in about six weeks. Maybe the rookie trio of Nolan McLean, Jonah Tong and Brandon Sproat will save the day, but this is not how the Mets drew it up," he continued.

How'd your MLB team do this season? 🤔

Bradford Doolittle hands out the biggest successes and failures for all 30 teams ⤵️ https://t.co/f7azQrtune

— ESPN (@espn) September 16, 2025

The majority of Doolittle's answers for both successes and failures for each team were specific players. When it came to the Philadelphia Phillies, for example, their biggest success was NL MVP candidate Kyle Schwarber, while their biggest failure was starting pitcher Aaron Nola.

But his choosing the Mets' entire starting rotation speaks volumes because it truly hasn't just been one individual, but rather the group, that has let the team down.

The good news is that the team's three rookie starters would carry this team into the postseason. And even if not, Stearns will likely have learned his lesson from last offseason and should apply it this winter.