The New York Mets have one of the most expensive rosters in the history of sports.
It hasn’t worked out even close to how they planned.
And while there wasn’t really any suspense about this, it only became official this week how the Mets would fare in the NL East Division.
Tuesday night will be the first day the Mets play this season with no mathematical chance to finish as division champs.
The @Mets have been eliminated from the N.L East Division race.#LGM #MLB
— MLB Magic Numbers ⚾️ (@MLBMagNum) September 8, 2026
How Mets Were Eliminated From NL East
While it seems like this was a foregone conclusion, it wasn’t until the records entirely showed it to be the case.
The math entering Tuesday night is this:
- The division-leading Braves are 85-59.
- The Mets are 66-78, 19.0 games back.
The Braves have 18 games left to play this season.
Even if the Mets went 18-0, and the Braves went 0-18, and the rest of the division cooperated as needed, New York would come up short.
It’s been a disaster of a season for a Mets team led by Juan Soto and Francisco Lindor that made a bunch of huge changes in the offseason in the hopes of rebounding from last year’s down-the-stretch collapse.
Somehow, the moves that brought in Freddy Peralta, and Luis Robert Jr., and Marcus Semien, and Bo Bichette, and Jorge Polanco — they didn’t work out.
Can Mets Still Make Playoffs?
If you’re the optimistic type, there’s good news: The Mets have been eliminated from the NL East race, but not from the NL Wild Card.
The third-and-final spot in those standings is held by the Arizona Diamondbacks, who are 77-68.
The Mets are 10.5 games behind Arizona with 18 to play (and 17 to play for the Diamondbacks). So technically, there’s a chance.
Such a comeback would be near-impossible even if the Mets went on a crazy winning streak, though, because there are also six teams with better records than New York that are also on the outside looking in for the Wild Card race — the Padres, Marlins, Cardinals, Pirates, Reds and Nationals.
It’s been the reality for a while, of course. The Mets knew they weren’t in the hunt when they traded Peralta away already at the deadline.
They’ve been a little better lately, winning six out of their last 10 games, but it’s a too little, too late kind of situation in Queens.
There will be big questions for the Mets to answer this offseason about what their future might hold.
For now, they’re just playing out the string on a season that is all but mathematically over — and in the NL East, it’s officially over.
Mets Officially Learn MLB Playoff Fate