Not even Juan Soto can save these New York Mets

Under more ideal circumstances, Juan Soto returning from the injured list in time for the New York Mets’ upcoming homestand would be considered a sigh of relief.

Eleven losses in a row later, the most recent to the Cubs in extra innings on Sunday, Soto’s return seems almost uneventful. The Mets now sit 7-15 and dead last in the NL East.

Moreover, they own the worst record in all of baseball alongside the Kansas City Royals. Not even the division rival Nationals—under .500 for about half of their championship season in 2019—hit that kind of low. They were never the worst team in MLB, and their longest losing streak was only five games.

As Max Goodman at NJ.com has pointed out regularly, these Mets have just been, well, exceptionally bad:

What’s going on? Has manager Carlos Mendoza simply lost the team? Not if you ask his players.

“He’s done a fantastic job. This is not on him,” shortstop Francisco Lindor said. “It comes down to us. Mendy is our guy, he’s our leader, he’s in control and he’s done a tremendous job. We just haven’t executed. It would be unfair to put everything on him.”

“He doesn’t swing a bat and he doesn’t throw a baseball”, added closer Devin Williams. “We’re not performing.”

Lindor was 0 for 4 with a strikeout on Sunday and he didn’t hit his first home run, a solo shot, until Tuesday of last week. Coincidentally, that home run also accounts for his sole RBI.

Williams, on the other hand, blew the save in the ninth and allowed the Cubs to tie the score. Sunday marked his first blown save of the season, but his ERA is an awful 7.11.

And yet, both men are right. The Mets are on this 11-game losing streak simply because nobody in the lineup has stepped up in Soto’s absence. Remember, he was batting .355 before his calf injury, and the Mets also lost slugging first baseman Pete Alonso in free agency. Powerful outfielder Brandon Nimmo was also traded for the aging Marcus Semien in a swapping of bad contracts.

Nimmo is batting .311 with four homers and an .893 OPS on the year, while Semien is only hitting .234 with one home run and a .606 OPS.

Bo Bichette is batting .217 while Brett Baty has been a non-factor. Carson Benge looks like a rushed prospect, Mark Vientos’ power is streaky and unreliable. Veteran Tommy Pham, now 38, was called up from the minors to potentially boost the lineup, and is 0 for 8 in five games.

Add it all up, and Juan Soto isn’t riding to the rescue and putting the Mets on a streak back to World Series contention. Rather, he’s a tourniquet. An expensive Band-Aid. He’ll make the lineup better, but can’t carry the team by himself. Someone simply needs to step up.

The easy answer is to who is Lindor, but the two don’t seem to like each other. Bichette or Benge getting hot would also be helpful. Anything so that this pitching staff isn’t continually working from behind.

The Mets simply need to score runs and come through with runners in scoring position. Their next nine games are against the Twins, Rockies, and Angels, none of whom made the playoffs in 2025. Add Soto back to the mix, and the Mets should win at some point. They can’t lose forever.

But that starts at the plate. And after eleven losses in a row, the Mets’ first priority is simply swinging a good enough bat to win a game.