Don't Let the Door Hit You On the Way Out, 2026

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Francisco Lindor finally hit his 300th career home run, Carson Benge had three hits, and Ronny Mauricio hit another homer, but it wasn’t enough as the Mets lost the season finale to the Washington Nationals by a score of 6-4.

Against the left-hander DJ Herz, the Mets got the ball rolling immediately. Lindor led off the game with a ringing single to right center. A wild pitch moved him over to second, and he got to third when Juan Soto grounded out to short. Bo Bichette fanned on a fastball, but Benge came through of course with an RBI single between the shortstop and the third baseman. 

Sean Manaea, pitching on four days rest for the first time in a while, didn’t have the lead for very long. He got the first two outs in the bottom of the first rather quickly, just needing three pitches. Then, Brady House walked on six pitches, and scored when CJ Abrams hit a lucky triple that stopped dead in its tracks when it hit the jutting of the right field wall. 

The Mets had more fun in the top of the second. Luis Torrens drew a walk with one out, then scored when Mauricio hit his third home run in three at-bats. This one was off a fastball down the middle that just kept carrying and carrying until it landed over the center field fence. 3-1 Mets. Lindor followed that up by crushing another Herz fastball to left for his 300th dinger. That made it 4-1. 

The Nationals crawled back. Again, their first two batters were retired by Manaea before they did anything. Harry Ford and Nasim Nuñez hit back-to-back doubles, both hit hard, to make it a 4-2 Met lead. 

With one out in the third, the Mets threatened again. Benge singled to right center, and then Marcus Semien hit a double that bounced onto the right field fence. Benge didn’t get a good read on it though and only ended up at third base. This would prove to cost the Mets a run when Brett Baty grounded out to short on a nice play by Nuñez, and then Torrens flew out to left for the third out.

The Nationals tied it in the bottom of the frame. Andres Chaparro slugged a cutter for a solo shot to start off the Nationals third. With two outs, Dylan Crews doubled to left. Jacob Young hit a hot shot right at the third baseman Bichette. The ball ricocheted off of Bichette’s glove and went into shallow left center, allowing Crews to score and knot the game up at four. It was originally ruled an error before it was changed to a single. 

The top of the fourth is barely worth mentioning, except for the fact that Mauricio drew a 10-pitch walk where he saw only one fastball. That was more encouraging than the home run for the guy who loves to fish for breaking balls in the dirt. 

After a 1-2-3 fourth, Manaea gave up the lead in the bottom of the fifth when Chaparro homered yet again, this time on a sinker. 

The Mets threatened to tie the game or even take the lead back in the top of the sixth against the right-hander Riley Cornelio, but it ended rather stupidly. With two outs and nobody on, Mauricio singled to right center. Lindor walked to move Mauricio to second. Soto was about to walk on four pitches - the count was 3-0, when Cornelio picked off Mauricio at second. Ronny…

Manaea finished strong with a 1-2-3 bottom of the sixth. He threw exactly 100 pitches. He finished his season with a 4.78 ERA, but with an xFIP of 4.25, which isn’t terrible, considering how his season began.

The Nationals added an insurance run in their seventh against Austin Warren. James Wood walked with one out, and scored after singles by Chaparro and House. 

Facing the righty Jack Sinclair in the top of the eighth, the Mets stacked together some baserunners to no avail. Semien reached on an error, then reached second on a balk. After Baty and Torrens made outs, the Nationals went to the lefty Erik Tolman for the rest of the way. He walked AJ Ewing on four pitches before Mauricio struck out on three pitches. 

Cionel Pérez’s velo was fine when he handled the bottom of the eighth. In the ninth, Lindor and Soto both flew out. Bichette, in hopefully not his final at-bat as a Met, singled the opposite way. But Benge struck out on a slider to end the Mets’ season. 

While they had a better second half than the first, the Mets finished the 2026 season 74-88. The season will be remembered for the team’s impressive rookies, yes, but mostly be remembered as a major disappointment. 

Francisco Lindor became the first shortstop in MLB history to hit 300+ home runs and steal 200+ bases. After he hit #300, Juan Soto notably hugged him at home plate. 

After the game, Lindor was asked what he learned from this season, and I found what he said fairly interesting:

"That health matters a lot...And that the relationships grow even bigger throughout the ups and downs. I've learned you can't force relationships. I learned that when you are healthy, you got to go give it everything you got.”

The Mets have a 62.6% chance at getting a top six pick in next year's draft, and a 8.68% chance of getting the number one overall selection. Unless they change the rules in the new CBA. 

The Mets ran out of challenges by the third inning. They really need to work on that for next season.

The Mets couldn’t help themselves and made one last bullpen switch before the game. RHP Jonathan Pintaro was put on the 15-day IL due to “illness.” (Andy Green said a few days ago he was under the weather.) LHP Jefry Yan was called up but not used in the game.

Kinda random revelation: the Mets called the Guardians after their August series and suggested they adjust their PitchCom decibel levels. If you recall, the Mets swept the Guardians in that series.

Juan Soto was asked what makes him confident that the Mets will improve next year. He began his answer with “Carson Benge”.

On this day in 2008, Shea Stadium hosted a Met game for the final time.

Exactly 10 years later, David Wright took the field for the first time in over two years.

On this day in 2019, Pete Alonso set a major league record for home runs by a rookie when he hit his 53rd homer of the season.

No game today, tomorrow, or any day until at the very least next February. Life is pain.

David Stearns is scheduled to hold an end of season presser today. We’ll have full coverage of that tomorrow.