Mets might have to face harsh reality with extended slump

With an extended period of poor play, are the New York Mets just not that good?

Jul 30, 2025; San Diego, California, USA; New York Mets manager Carlos Mendoza (64) watches play during the seventh inning against the San Diego Padres at Petco Park. | David Frerker-Imagn Images

The New York Mets knew that they were going to be facing an uphill battle against the red-hot Milwaukee Brewers over the weekend, and it turned out to be a disaster of a series.

After being swept by the Brewers over the weekend, the Mets have now lost seven straight games and are in a bit of a free fall. Being swept in back-to-back series is never ideal, but how it happened to New York on Sunday was a crushing blow.

Despite having a comfortable 5-0 lead in the fourth inning, the Brewers stormed back and tied the game at six in the eighth inning. Milwaukee went on to hit a walk-off home run in the ninth to hand the Mets one of their worst losses of the year.

"It's hard to describe. Tough, frustrating, but we've got to turn the page. That wasn't a good showing, they pretty much outplayed us."

Carlos Mendoza after the Mets were swept by the Brewers in Milwaukee to lose their 7th straight game: pic.twitter.com/tDsOF41r7o

— SNY (@SNYtv) August 10, 2025

Read More: Mets face the most difficult part of schedule in the midst of slump

While the recent stretch has been especially poor for New York, their ineffective play is starting to have a much larger sample size. This was noted by ESPN's David Schoenfield, who recently wrote about the extended struggles for the Mets stretching back for quite some time now after their hot start to the season.

“The Mets were 21-10 at the end of April with a +54 run differential. Since then, they've gone 42-45 with a -24 run differential,” Schoenfield observed. “Soto, Alonso, Francisco Lindor and Brandon Nimmo have scuffled of late, and Soto has been terrible all season with runners in scoring position (.190/.331/.360).

Seeing the Mets having a -24 run differential in a span that is over half a campaign's worth of games is alarming. The recent seven-game losing streak hasn’t helped with those numbers, but having an 87-game sample size of a negative run differential isn't just a trend; it could be an indication of the true quality of the team.

Are the Mets in Trouble?

Aug 5, 2025; New York City, New York, USA; New York Mets right fielder Juan Soto (22) reacts to striking out against the Cleveland Guardians during the eighth inning at Citi Field. | Gregory Fisher-Imagn Images

Despite significantly improving their bullpen at the trade deadline, this is a team that has some serious flaws both in their starting rotation and their lineup. The rotation has struggled after their hot start to the season, and they have especially had issues going deeper into games.

Read More: Mets need bullpen to step up with rotation providing historically poor length

On offense, the batting order has scored fewer runs per game so far this year than they did in 2024. This is a lineup that has received a much better campaign from Pete Alonso compared to last season, and they also added Juan Soto.

However, the star slugger has been terrible with runners in scoring position this year, which has contributed to the struggles of the offense. As mentioned by Schoenfield, Soto is only hitting .190 with a .691 OPS in RISP situations; he's far from the only culprit in this regard, as the whole team has struggled with RISP, but he's certainly not helping.

With a large sample size of not playing well this campaign after the strong start, the Mets might have to face the reality that they might just not be the team many thought in 2025. While there is still plenty of time to turn it around, that has to happen as soon as possible.