After a trade deadline sell-off and a rousing road sweep, the 2026 Mets still have plenty to play for

CLEVELAND — For the second year in a row, the visitors’ clubhouse at Progressive Field on the day after the trade deadline was filled with a bunch of new faces and the strange vibes of a season gone sideways.

In 2025, it was the Minnesota Twins who arrived in Cleveland after a week of transactional chaos and one of the most stunning deadline sell-offs in recent memory. This year, the Mets came to town fresh off a similar sequence of moves , albeit an entirely expected one . Whereas Minnesota was on the fringes of the wild-card race when the front office executed an extreme roster makeover, New York has been in the basement of the NL East for months. As such, as the trade deadline approached, it was no secret that a hefty amount of turnover was coming.

That it was expected didn’t make it any easier.

“Yesterday was definitely a hard day for the entire organization,” interim manager Andy Green said Tuesday before the series opener vs. Cleveland. "[I'm] directionally aligned with everything we're doing — we played ourselves into this position. It was still hard.

“I've met up with a lot of guys today, check pulse on where they're at,” he continued. “Losing teammates is tough, even if you're getting new teammates. So just want to empathize to a degree, and then you want to set focus for what the next two months should be.”

This is the same team that underwent a total transformation last offseason, with a second-half collapse in 2025 prompting a drastic reshaping of the roster by president of baseball operations David Stearns. After the winter whirlwind of significant departures and big-ticket additions, the Mets entered the 2026 season with a sky-high payroll and a wildly talented roster. FanGraphs forecast 90 wins and an 80% chance to qualify for the postseason — both the second-best marks in the National League behind the Dodgers.

All the new names meant spring training was spent getting to know one another, but even so, the 2026 Mets showed up on Opening Day with high hopes for the season ahead. Yet that loaded, new-look lineup constructed around franchise pillars Juan Soto and Francisco Lindor and now featuring Bo Bichette, Jorge Polanco, Marcus Semien and Luis Robert Jr. lasted all of one week before injuries began to derail the season.

Soto went down on April 4 with a right calf strain, sending the offense into a tailspin that contributed to a 12-game losing streak. After Soto returned, Lindor went down with a left calf strain, sidelining him for two months. Polanco, whose durability (or lack thereof) had been the primary concern with his signing, lasted 14 games before he was shelved by wrist and ankle injuries. Robert missed all of May and June while battling a back injury. Even Semien, an ironman for much of his career, played through a hip flexor strain for weeks before being placed on the injured list in late June and missing nearly a month.

Other significant offseason additions struggled to find their footing in a new environment. Closer Devin Williams had four consecutive clunkers in April as the Mets started to spiral, and a disastrous appearance May 24 in Miami raised his ERA to 6.35 through 20 appearances. Marquee rotation addition Freddy Peralta allowed at least three runs in eight of his first 14 starts and then endured a true blowup on June 20 in Philadelphia, surrendering 10 runs across 2 ⅔ innings. Then there was Bichette, whose meek offensive output did little to boost the lineup while other stars were injured. An 0-for-3 on June 2 dropped his season line to .213/.271/.299 with just 5 home runs in 266 plate appearances, equating to a 62 wRC+ that ranked 155th out of 161 qualified hitters.

By the time Semien went on the IL in late June, the Mets ranked 29th in MLB in OPS and 30th in fWAR by position players . The next day, the Mets fired manager Carlos Mendoza halfway through his third season at the helm, a tenure that began with a rip-roaring ride to the 2024 NLCS. The move raised eyebrows around the industry given Mendoza’s strong reputation and the avalanche of issues that seemed to have little to do with his efforts . At the same time, underperforming teams tend to default to managerial changes, so it wasn’t a huge shock to see Mendoza dismissed with the Mets sitting at 34-47 at the season’s midpoint.

And so, as disappointing as it was, a trade deadline sell-off was in order. With the Mets’ playoff odds nearly flatlining by midsummer, Stearns dismantled the pitching staff in exchange for a cornucopia of prospects. At the end of June, New York sent left-hander David Peterson, who had assumed the title of longest-tenured Met , to the Cubs. As the deadline drew nearer, six more pitchers — starters Peralta and Clay Holmes, plus relievers A.J. Minter, Huascar Brazobán, Brooks Raley and Luke Weaver — were dispersed to playoff hopefuls around the league. Outfielder Tyrone Taylor was the lone hitter dealt, sent to the Cubs alongside Holmes.

That gets us back to the day after the deadline at Progressive Field.

Before the series began, the disparate deadline circumstances portrayed two clubs heading in opposite directions — one rejuvenated and one disassembled.

While the Mets were regrouping, the Guardians were engaging in the polar-opposite post-deadline ritual of welcoming additions brought in to help push for a playoff spot. First baseman Nathaniel Lowe, acquired from Cincinnati, was reconnecting with catcher Austin Hedges, a former teammate on the 2023 World Series champion Texas Rangers. Reliever Craig Yoho, acquired from Milwaukee, chatted with new bullpen mate and fellow Indiana Hoosier Tim Herrin. All-Star left-hander Foster Griffin, acquired from Washington, hustled outside to throw a bullpen ahead of his Cleveland debut scheduled for Thursday.

“I'm excited to be part of a chase and something that is bigger than ourselves and going out trying to win a ball game every night,” said outfielder Jo Adell, ...

Indexed and credited by AIPROPX. Originating outlet: Yahoo Sports. Open at source →