Mets path forward narrows without Francisco Lindor

The New York Mets just can’t catch a break, even as they’ve won their last two games after losing 12 in a row. Francisco Lindor exited Wednesday’s game with a calf strain and manager Carlos Mendoza said the day after that his star shortstop would be down for “quite a bit.”

The Mets made it an official winning streak with a 10-8 win over Minnesota on Thursday night. New York held a 6-0 lead after two innings, but Minnesota tied the game 7-7 in the 8th inning on a Ryan Jeffers grand slam. Bo Bichette countered with a bases-clearing double in the bottom half.

Ronny Mauricio, who started at shortstop, was 0 for 4 with two strikeouts. Juan Soto, who returned from his own calf strain on Tuesday, was 0 for 3 with a pair of walks, now 1 for 6 since his return.

Now, that isn’t to say the Mets are automatically screwed and out of the playoffs, nor is Soto about to slump into a bad season. The Mets’ next two series are against the cellar-dwelling Rockies and rebuilding Nationals. However, the complicated clubhouse dynamic–it’s no secret that Soto and Lindor aren’t close–makes it all the more important for someone to step up.

This is because Soto, for all of his talent, simply doesn’t lead by example. He’s never had to, if you think about it. Not in Washington, not in San Diego, and certainly not in the Bronx.

It’s not exactly Soto’s fault either. He was a youngster on a Nationals team loaded with veteran leadership, namely future Hall of Famer Max Scherzer. With the Padres? Simply too many cooks in the kitchen between Soto, Manny Machado, and Fernando Tatis Jr., with Soto not wanting to step on either’s toes.

And in New York? He had one job: Bat in front of team captain and soon-to-be two-time MVP Aaron Judge and provide MVP-like numbers alongside him.

The same is very much the case in Flushing. Lindor is basically the unofficial Mets captain and clearly expects a lot from his teammates. A bombshell report from the Post revealed his feud with Jeff McNeil, now with the Athletics, and that he and Soto didn’t quite gel either. That isn’t to say they hate each other, just “different personalities” as Mike Puma reported.

In a nutshell, Lindor sees Soto as someone with star talent and a matching contract. And yet, he simply shows up to the stadium to play and win. Not make friends, not forge relationships, nothing. The guy didn’t even check in with his teammates while he was home during the losing streak.

This is why, despite a fairly soft schedule coming up, the Mets are in trouble. They’re +400 to win the NL East at NY sports betting apps like DraftKings. Lindor was heating up after his slow start and is now out indefinitely. Who’s going to step up and be the reliable bat in his absence?

It could be Bichette, who’s 6 for his last 13, but he can’t match Lindor’s power. Certainly not Luis Robert Jr. or Marcus Semien. Maybe Brett Baty and Carson Benge will finally start overachieving?

And that only covers the lineup. The Mets still have middling pitching, even with ace Freddy Peralta at the top of the rotation. Closer Devin Williams, who signed a three-year, $51 million deal in the offseason, looks even worse than he did with the Yankees.

Barring Soto breaking out and one or two bats mashing behind him, this officially looks like a very “Mets” season for the New York Mets indeed. It’s not even May, and there’s already been a double-digit losing streak. One star player was injured, returned, only for the team to lose its other star in Lindor.

But again, this isn’t necessarily the end of the line for the Mets. Quite an uphill battle, sure, but not impossible. Assuming Lindor misses a month, the Mets’ scheduling favors them. They play the Rockies and Nationals twice, plus the Angels and Marlins. The only winning teams sprinkled in are the Detroit Tigers, and the Yankees for the first round of the Subway Series in May.

All they have to do is win the games. They don’t even have to win all of them. Just most of them. The Mets are a better team on paper than people realize, even with the glaring holes in the roster. There is indeed a path for them to get back on track.

But with Francisco Lindor sidelined and no new leaders emerging, this seems more likely to go off the rails again. And potentially worse this time around.