3 Up, 3 Down: Mets Wrap Up Season Implosion In Miami

That’s it. It’s over. The 2025 New York Mets are officially done for the year.

Heading into Miami with their destiny in their own hands, the Mets fumbled the bag in the biggest way possible. They lost two out of three to the Marlins to miss out on the playoffs.

While this team has been imploding for the last three-plus months, the way events unfolded this weekend will likely leave a lasting stain on this franchise for years to come.

After all, the Mets arrived in Miami on Friday, a game ahead of the Reds with three to play. The third Wild Card spot was there for the taking. Instead, New York laid an absolute egg in the opener to put Cincinnati back in the driver’s seat for the rest of the weekend. With both teams winning on Saturday, and with the Reds holding the tiebreaker, it all came down to the final day of the regular season on Sunday.

And, again, it was there for the taking. With the Reds losing to the Brewers, all the Mets had to do was win to sneak back into the playoffs. However, they were shut out 4-0 by the Marlins to seal the most embarrassing and frustrating collapse in franchise history.

We will have a special season review edition of 3 Up, 3 Down later. But, for now, let’s proceed with our regular scheduled programming…

3 UP

DOING HIS PART

It feels stupid to write about positives the day after the Mets completed their epic collapse by missing out on the playoffs. Alas, it is part of the gig, so the show must go on. Arguably one of the biggest plus points to emerge from the weekend was the clutchness of Pete Alonso. The slugger did everything in his power to try to keep the Mets alive against the Marlins. He drove in a run with an RBI double in the series opener. He led the way in an important win on Saturday with a home run and an RBI double.

Then, on Sunday, Alonso blasted a 115.9 mph rocket with the bases loaded. Sadly, luck wasn’t on his side, with the hardest-hit ball by any Met this season flying straight into the glove of Marlins outfielder Javier Sanoja. It was just one of those days and one of those seasons. However, Alonso can’t be blamed for the collapse, nor can he be blamed for the shortcomings in Miami. He did all he could.

HEROIC START

The Mets needed a hero on Saturday. And they got one in Clay Holmes. Channeling the herculean efforts of John Maineand Johan Santana, Holmes delivered a masterpiece when the Mets needed it the most. The reliever turned starter tossed six scoreless innings, allowing just one hit while striking out two. Despite having pitched nearly 100 more innings than his normal workload, Holmes put forward his best start of the entire year. He was masterful on the mound, shutting down the Marlins and doing whatever it took to get the job done. Ultimately, it didn’t matter, but Holmes at least gave his team a fighting chance going into the final day. And that will be remembered.

MASTER OF HIS CRAFT

While the team failed as a collective unit, Edwin Díaz put together a majestic individual season in 2025. The closer was money all year for the Mets, and that continued across the final weekend in Miami. He entered the ninth inning of Saturday’s game and sealed the win with a scoreless inning. The three-time All-Star was even better on Sunday. Thanks to manager Carlos Mendoza mismanaging the pitching in the finale, Díaz was asked to come into the game in the fifth inning. He responded by delivering two scoreless innings to keep the game alive and give his offense a chance. And, according to reports, Díaz even expressed a willingness to stay in the game beyond the sixth. Like Holmes and Alonso, Díaz more than did his job this weekend.

3 DOWN

FUMBLING THE BAG

As we mentioned up top, the Mets arrived in Miami with everything in their favor. All they had to do was take care of business against an already eliminated Marlins team, and the final Wild Card spot would be theirs. However, as we’ve seen over the last three-plus months, the Mets are not a good baseball team, and we got a stark reminder of that over the weekend. An ugly, humiliating, season-changing meltdown on Friday was the start of an all-time epic collapse reaching its conclusion.

Then, needing just a win on Sunday to get in with the Reds having lost to the Brewers, the Mets couldn’t even score a single run on the way to missing the postseason most embarrassingly. Forget talent; this team just did not play with a pulse or a heart when it mattered most. They choked and put up little fight on the way to sealing an absolute bust of a season.

SELF-ENFORCED WOUNDS

The Mets only hurt themselves on the way to collapsing out of the playoffs. They did not play good baseball for two out of the three games in Miami, and they were suitably punished. Mental mistakes and self-enforced errors were the theme of the night in an ugly 6-2 loss on Friday. The offense also didn’t show, going 1-for-10 with RISP, leaving seven runners stranded on base. It was a similar story in Sunday’s finale, with the lineup finishing 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position while managing just five hits all game. Again, all the Mets had to do this weekend was win two games, and they would have now been preparing to take on the Dodgers in the Wild Card round. Instead, the same old mistakes that have plagued this team all year doomed them on the final weekend.

MANAGING TO LOSE

Carlos Mendoza was seen as a rising star after his highly successful first year in the dugout in 2024. However, a lot of that shine has now faded following a disastrous 2025 season. Mendoza made a ton of mistakes and a slew of questionable decisions this year. That was again the case in Miami. He took Brandon Sproat out of the game on Friday and opted to put in Gregory Soto, who hasn’t been great in Queens. The result? Soto allowed two more runs to score, essentially throwing away a game the Mets couldn’t afford to lose.

In a must-win game to end all other must-win games on Sunday, Mendoza’s ability to manage the game left a lot to be desired. He decided to start the struggling Sean Manaea in a big spot and then pulled him after just 1.2 innings. Mendoza then went with Brooks Raley and Ryne Stanek, who combined to allow a back-breaking three earned runs.

Edwin Díaz was warmed up in the bullpen, but Mendoza decided to put Tyler Rogers in the game first, who gave up another run to make it a 4-0 game. Díaz then entered in the fifth and pitched two scoreless innings, but by that point, it was too late. If that wasn’t bad enough, Mendoza decided not to put Starling Marte in the game as a pinch-hitter in the ninth. That’s even though Ronny Mauricio and Cedric Mullins were the first two hitters up. In a game the Mets had to win to make the playoffs, Mendoza wasn’t nearly aggressive enough. And he also needs to take blame for just how lifeless his team looked in huge spots on Friday and again on Sunday.

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