Why are the New York Mets floundering?
Among all 30 MLB clubs for the 2026 season, per USA Today’s rankings of team payrolls listed in March, the Mets are the top spenders (yes, including the Los Angeles Dodgers) at $357,626,125. Beginning on Tuesday, the Washington Nationals will be in the Queens borough of NYC for a three-game series at Citi Field with the Mets. Washington has the 27th payroll this season at $87,955,033, and they don’t have one player on their 40-man roster earning $10 million. Their top earner is at $7 million.
Nevertheless, the Mets are sharing last place in the National League East with the equally underperforming Philadelphia Phillies, each with a record of 9–19.
The Nationals are in third place, at 13–16, trailing the East-leading Atlanta Braves by three games.
Fingers are being pointed at easy targets for New York’s rough start. Losing 17 games in April, currently on a three-game losing streak, after experiencing an even longer losing slide (12 games) earlier this month, second-year manager Carlos Mendoza is the easiest target. As such, he is on the hot seat with the fan base and the media. In the third year of his guaranteed contract, given the team’s disappointments so far, Mendoza falls into the lame duck category.
After missing the postseason in 2025, The Mets’ president of baseball operations, David Stearns, overhauled Mendoza’s coaching staff. When spring training began in February, the club had new hitting and pitching coaches—eight new faces under Mendoza’s guidance in all.
Players aren’t responding to the new on-field leadership, however. Just this past weekend, not only were the Mets swept at home in three games by the lowly, last-place Colorado Rockies of the National League West, they scored but one run in 18 innings of Sunday’s doubleheader.
After Sunday’s second loss on the day, Stearns remained upbeat in speaking with Si.com on the slump the Mets are experiencing.
“Part of being a good team over a 6–7 month stretch is finding your identity through adversity,” Sterns said. “We’re facing adversity right now certainly at an earlier stage than any of us expected or wanted, but this has an opportunity to be part of our story—help us find our identity, come through this and understand we have the ability to do that. Based on the guys we have and the quality of work and the quality of people, I believe we will be able to do that.”
Polanco is being asked to play first base. With more than 1,000 MLB games to his credit, only once prior to joining the Mets did Polanco man first base on the MLB level. Devin Williams, a solid reliever in the past for Milwaukee and the New York Yankees, has a frightening 9.00 ERA thus far in his first season in the Flushing neighborhood of Queens, New York.
If the departures and the new players to the Mets squad are struggling, two of the club’s leaders haven’t been healthy or producing as hoped when breaking camp in Florida. Juan Soto, the highest paid player in 2026, at times has appeared disinterested in his work. He was on the injured list earlier this month because of a right calf strain. Soto missed 15 games, and in 14 games on the field, the second-year Met has slugged but one home run. Shortstop Francisco Lindor is wearing a walking boot to support his left calf strain. He is expected back on the field at some point next month.
Given the Mets’ challenges, club owner Steve Cohen, who purchased the Mets in November 2020 for $2.4 billion, is on the clock for his prediction of the club winning a World Series championship within five years of his taking over. In 2022, New York lost to the San Diego Padres in National League Wild Card play. The club missed out on the postseason in 2023, and in 2024, it would be the Dodgers who bounced the Mets from the National League Championship Series in six games.
Mendoza told Bleacher Report on Sunday at Citi Field of his continued commitment to righting the ship in Queens.
“The only thing I’m worried about is getting the guys going,” Mendoza said. “I get it, it sucks. And I know the question will continue to come up, but my job is to find a way to get those guys out of a funk. That’s the bottom line.”
Stearns, Mendoza, the players; everyone has a stake in putting their contributions to the slow start behind them. Each has earned a finger of guilt pointed at them. If the Mets’ ship continues to sink, the next time, it will not just be the coaches looking for new employers. From the dugout to the front office, heads will roll, and then Cohen will acquire new pieces for his favorite company among several. The owner isn’t going anywhere, but everyone else should consider themselves on notice.