Mets, Tigers continue late-season slides, putting postseason chances in significant jeopardy

The New York Mets are now in jeopardy of missing the 2025 MLB postseason after their 3-2 loss to the Washington Nationals on Sunday.

With that defeat and the Cincinnati Reds’ 1-0 win over the Chicago Cubs, the two teams are now tied for the third and final wild-card playoff berth in the National League at 80-76. If the Mets and Reds finish the regular season with the same record, Cincinnati would win the tiebreaker with its 4-2 mark versus New York.

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The Mets finish the season with a six-game road trip, facing the Cubs and Miami Marlins. Meanwhile, the Reds split their final six games with a home series versus the Pittsburgh Pirates and then visit the Milwaukee Brewers to close out the regular season.

Facing a nearly must-win situation, the Mets fell behind 3-0 in the second inning with Jorge Alfaro driving in Daylen Lile on a one-out single. Sean Manaea then got Brady House to ground out and looked like he might escape the inning with only run allowed. However, he grooved a 91-mph fastball down the middle of the strike zone, which Nasim Nuñez hit for a 2-run home run. That was Nuñez’s third homer of the season.

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The Mets managed a scoring threat in the third with Luis Torrens and Cedric Mullins leading off the frame with consecutive singles, resulting in one run scored. But Francisco Lindor then hit into a double play. That especially hurt when Juan Soto followed up with a double. He was stranded when Brandon Nimmo lined out to left field.

Lindor cut the Mets’ deficit to 3-2 with a solo home run to lead off the sixth inning. Soto then walked to put the tying run on base, but he was out at second on a grounder from Nimmo. Pete Alonso singled to give the Mets two runners on. However, reliever Mitchell Parker came in to get Jeff McNeil to pop out and struck out Mark Vientos.

The Mets appeared to score the tying run in the ninth when Francisco Alvarez hit a deep drive to left-center field. Yet Jacob Young made a leaping catch above the fence to rob Alvarez of a home run.

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It was the Nationals center fielder’s second highlight grab of the game. In the fifth, he got a glove on Brett Baty’s fly ball to straight-away center field. Young initially didn’t catch the ball, but it caromed off his foot without touching the ground and he secured the out.

The Mets, who led the NL East by 1.5 games on July 27, have lost 11 of their past 15 games to endanger their postseason chances.

“We have to keep going,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said. “… A lot can happen.”

Tigers hang onto 1 game lead atop AL Central

Another team that faces missing the postseason after a late-season free fall is the Detroit Tigers. Detroit faced squandering what was once a 15.5-game first-place lead on July 8.

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With a loss Sunday combined with a win by the Cleveland Guardians (84-72), the Tigers (85-71) could have been tied atop the division with six games remaining. Not only was losing the division a very real possibility, but Detroit could get squeezed out of the postseason altogether by missing out on one of the AL’s three wild-card playoff spots, finishing behind the New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox and Houston Astros.

Yet for one more day at least, the Tigers are still in first place. They lost to the Atlanta Braves, 6-2, on Sunday, getting swept at home to a 73-83 Atlanta team. Detroit starter Casey Mize allowed three runs in 5/23 innings, while the Tigers lineup couldn’t score against Spencer Strider in five innings. The Braves put the game out of reach with three runs in the ninth off reliever Tanner Rainey, who didn’t record an out.

Detroit was spared losing its division lead with the Guardians’ 6-2 defeat to the Minnesota Twins. That ended the Guardians’ 10-game winning streak and was only their fifth loss in September (16-5), potentially showing the Tigers some temporary mercy.

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Cleveland allowed three runs through seven innings, but Royce Lewis hit a 3-run, pinch-hit homer off Hunter Gaddis in the eighth to put the game out of reach. Sunday’s game was only the second in September in which the Guardians’ pitching staff had allowed more than three runs.

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