Mets drop heartbreaker to Nationals; out of a playoff spot for 1st time since April 5

Abbey Mastracco, New York Daily News on Sep 21, 2025

Published in Baseball

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NEW YORK — The Mets were extra unlucky Sunday afternoon at Citi Field, seeing Washington Nationals center fielder Jacob Young rob both Brett Baty and Francisco Alvarez of home runs. But they did themselves few favors in a 3-2 loss.

The Nats, the last-place team in the NL East, took the series, 2-1, and the Cincinnati Reds (80-76) edged the Chicago Cubs 1-0 for a win to knock the Mets (80-76) out of a playoff spot. It marks the first time since April 5 the Mets have been on the outside of the playoff picture looking in.

With six games to go, they’re behind the Reds for the third NL wild-card spot by virtue of Cincinnati owning the head-to-head tiebreaker. The Arizona Diamondbacks also own the tiebreaker over the Mets. The Snakes are only 1 1/2 games out of the wild-card standings.

“It’s been happening right in front of our eyes, so yeah, I can definitely believe it,” said outfielder Brandon Nimmo. “We’re down to the last week of the season and our playoff hopes are in front of us. We’ve got to play winning baseball and put it all together. It’s come and gone during the season, so we just need to pick ourselves back up.”

There was sloppy defense and some questionable baserunning, but the two plays made by Young in center field were gut punches of sorts.

In the bottom of the fifth with the Mets trailing 3-1, Baty drove a 2-0 fastball from right-hander Cole Irvin to the center-field wall, where Young jumped for the catch and made it before colliding with the wall. The then ball popped out of his glove, yet Young somehow managed to kick it back up to himself without letting it touch the ground, catching it again for the out.

The circus catch rendered a sellout crowd speechless.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen that, where the ball comes off the glove and he’s able to somehow kick it and he makes the play,” said manager Carlos Mendoza. “Then that one the last inning, pretty unbelievable too.”

In the bottom of the ninth, Francisco Alvarez took left-hander Mitchell Parker deep to center field. Once again, Young jumped for the catch, nabbing it over the wall this time. It was reviewed, but ultimately the call was confirmed.

Baty’s dive would have been a home run in 22 parks; for Alvarez, it would have been a homer in 17 parks.

“It’s one of those that you want it for Baty and you want it for Alvy, but at the end of the day, that’s not where we lost the game,” said shortstop Francisco Lindor. “My defense wasn’t good, and I gave them a run.”

The piggyback start with left-hander Sean Manaea and righty Clay Holmes was effective, though not quite as effective as the last time out. The Nats (64-92) took a 3-0 lead in the second inning, capitalizing on a wild throw by Lindor.

With one out and one on, Jorge Alfaro fouled back six straight pitches to fall behind in the count, 0-2. The catcher then lined a sweeper from Manaea to left field. Playing it off the wall, Brandon Nimmo hit the cutoff man, Lindor, but his throw to second to get the lead runner, Daylen Lile, went well past Jeff McNeil. Lile scored, and the Mets gave Washington an extra out to work with.

Nasim Nuñez, a Bronx native, made it count when he took Manaea deep for a two-run homer two batters later.

The Mets made four defensive errors in three games this weekend.

“The defense could have been way better, for sure,” said first baseman Pete Alonso. “We were able to fight our way back in games, and that’s a good sign, but obviously you’d like to be able overcome a [deficit]. We could’ve played better, for sure.”

The Mets scored once in the third inning on a play that took Lile out of the game with a knee contusion. The outfielder crashed into the wall trying to catch a ball from Cedric Mullins down the left field line. Neither Mullins, nor first base coach Antoan Richardson knew the play was still alive. Luis Torrens scored from second while Mullins stayed at first base, with the dugout yelling from behind him to take second.

By the time he heard them, the play was dead. Interim manager Miguel Cairo was out of the Washington bullpen with the trainer calling for time to check on his injured player.

Mullins had to settle for a single, and then was then doubled off first when Lindor hit a line drive right to first baseman Josh Bell.

Lindor hit his 28th homer of the season to lead off the sixth, pulling the Mets to within one. They put two on with only one out, prompting the Nationals to relieve Irvin with Parker. He struck out McNeil and Mark Vientos. Home plate umpire John Tumpane ejected Vientos for slamming his bat on home plate.

Irvin (9-13) held the Mets to two earned runs on six hits over 5 1/3 innings, walking two and striking out five.

Manaea (2-4) pitched into the fourth as the opener, while Holmes gave the Mets 3 2/3 scoreless innings to give them a chance to come back.

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