Mets reach futile mark after one-run loss

The Mets remain the only team in baseball to not achieve this mark in 2025.

Aug 20, 2025; Washington, District of Columbia, USA; New York Mets manager Carlos Mendoza (64) stands in the dugout before a game against the Washington Nationals at Nationals Park. Mandatory Credit: Rafael Suanes-Imagn Images | Rafael Suanes-Imagn Images

The New York Mets continued this incredible but unwanted streak on Monday after their 1-0 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies.

After dropping their third straight game and effectively ending their slim hopes of winning the NL East, New York is now a major league-worst 0-60 this season when trailing after eight innings. Yes, you read that correctly.

The Mets are now 0-60 when trailing after 8 innings this season.

— Mets Batflip (@metsbatflip1) September 9, 2025

The Mets do not have a single ninth inning comeback in 2025, which is quite remarkable for a team with championship aspirations. They certainly had their chances on Monday against their NL East foes, when the Amazins' had the tying and go-ahead runs in scoring position in the ninth inning against Phillies closer Jhoan Duran and seemed poised to end that futile streak. But after Duran struck out both Jeff McNeil and Francisco Alvarez to end the game, New York's first win when trailing after eight innings this year will have to wait.

2025 has been a stark contrast to last year, when the Mets were able to rally and win games in the late innings, both in the regular season and during their postseason run. From Francisco Lindor's clutch two-run homer against the Atlanta Braves on the final day of the regular season last year that clinched the Mets a playoff spot and Pete Alonso's dramatic three-run homer in Game 3 of the NL Wild Card series against the Milwaukee Brewers, this year's ballclub have yet to have moments like those with less than 20 games to go in the regular season.

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After winning two out of three against the Detroit Tigers to begin their 10-game road trip, the Mets have since dropped three out of their last four. The final Wild Card spot in the National League is not quite a guarantee, with four teams (the Cincinnati Reds, San Francisco Giants, Arizona Diamondbacks and St. Louis Cardinals) breathing down New York's neck.

"We've been pretty inconsistent," manager Carlos Mendoza said after Monday's game. "We put ourselves in this position. The goal is to win the division. We're eight back now. But we got to keep going."

Carlos Mendoza on where the Mets are right now:

"We've been pretty inconsistent. We put ourselves in this position. The goal is to win the division. We're 8 back now. But we got to keep going" pic.twitter.com/Z9mpUCchfQ

— SNY (@SNYtv) September 9, 2025

With the Mets hoping to make another deep playoff run after coming within two games of the World Series last year, it is important for them to find ways to complete game-winning rallies in the later innings, especially against a playoff team like the Phillies.

The Mets will look to even up this series at a game apiece on Tuesday, with the struggling Sean Manaea on the mound for them against fellow Phillies lefty Ranger Suarez.