The Mets concluded a 3-3 road trip by losing back-to-back games for the first time this season.
Fresh off a 3-3 road trip in which they took two out of three from the Athletics and dropped two out of three to the Twins, the Mets (11-7) return to Citi Field for a seven-game homestand. They’ll begin their latest Citi Field swing with a four-game set against the Cardinals (9-9). The Mets dropped two out of three to St. Louis at Citi Field last year, though they won the season series 4-2 thanks to a sweep at Busch Stadium.
The Mets’ offense continued to sputter in Minnesota, as it has for much of the season. The Mets won 5-1 on Monday, although they mustered just one run on three hits through five frames—the run came courtesy of a Pete Alonso run-scoring single. Once starter Joe Ryan was removed, New York got to work on Minnesota’s bullpen, pushing two runs across in the sixth and two in the seventh, the latter of which came on a Juan Soto two-run shot. Clay Holmes struck out eight to pick up his second straight win.
Tuesday was much of the same offensively, with a less favorable result as the Mets fell 6-3. The offense had few answers for Bailey Ober, mustering an Alonso homer in the first and a Soto homer in the fourth. Unfortunately, a Francisco Lindor error in the field opened up the floodgates for two runs in the third, and Minnesota tacked on a run in the fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh. The Mets tried to rally, scoring one in the seventh, but that’s all they would muster.
The series concluded with a 4-3 loss in ten innings on Wednesday afternoon. The offense was, again, relatively quiet from start to finish, which is unfortunate despite getting a solid pitching performance from Justin Hagenman in his major league debut. The Mets trailed 3-0 before rallying for three in the eighth to send the game into extras. After failing to score in the top of the frame, the Twins quickly capitalized with a leadoff single to plate the extra runner. This represented the first time all season that the Mets have lost back-to-back games.
The overall numbers from the road trip don’t quite do justice to the team’s offensive struggles, as they were aided by a strong showing on Friday night and a late game surge on Sunday. Overall, the Mets hit .235/.315/.413 with a 109 wRC+, which puts them squarely in the middle of the pack for the past six games among NL teams and among MLB teams more broadly.
A lot of that is due to Alonso’s brilliance, as the first baseman hit .429/.519/.857 with a 267 wRC+ on the road trip. He hit two homers, drove in six, and scored five runs, leading the team in each of those categories. Soto hit his second and third home runs as a Met on Monday and on Tuesday, but he also had a double play yesterday with the bases loaded that killed a potential run-scoring rally. Overall, he slashed .136/.236/.409 with a 97 wRC+.
Tyrone Taylor, who is going to get a bulk of the time in center for the time being with Jose Siri on the self, continued to languish at the plate, hitting .176/.263/.294 with a 66 wRC+. The fear is that, while he’s a perfect platoon player, he will be exposed with more prolonged playing time, and the Mets may sense it too, as they are currently giving Jeff McNeil reps in center field as he rehabs from his spring injury and works his way back.
The Cardinals have had a perfectly average start to their season, as evidenced by their 9-9 record so far. They are coming off winning two of three at home against the Astros to conclude a 4-2 homestand.
St. Louis have had a strong start to the season offensively, as their 122 wRC+ and .783 OPS both rank second to the Diamondbacks among NL squads. They have also scored the fourth-most runs (94) among NL teams, have the third-best K% (19.5%) in the league . A lot of that is due to Brendan Donovan’s incredible start, as he is slashing .380/.416/.549 with a 172 wRC+ in 18 games this season. Lars Nootbaar has also gotten off to a hot start, slashing .284/.422/.463 with a 154 wRC+ in 17 games. Nolan Arenado has also enjoyed a bit of a resurgence, hitting .292/.378/.477 with a 135 wRC+ in 17 games. Their offense is very balanced, with no player has hit more than three homers or driven in more than 11 runs.
Their starting pitching isn’t anything to sneeze at, either. Their rotation currently sports a 3.91 ERA (7th best in the NL) and a 3.49 FIP (5th best in the NL). Their bullpen is probably their biggest weakness so far in 2025, with a 4.30 ERA (9th best in the NL).
Thursday, April 17: Griffin Canning vs. Andre Pallante, 7:10 PM EDT on SNY
Canning (2025): 15.0 IP, 13 K, 8 BB, 2 HR, 4.20 ERA, 4.61 FIP, 110 ERA-
Canning ended up missing his scheduled start on Wednesday due to an illness, which forced the team to call up Justin Hagenman. Ultimately, the illness just pushed him back by a day and, since the team wanted to use a sixth starter anyway, didn’t really change munch. In his last start, he picked up his first win as a Met against the A’s, despite giving up four earned runs on seven hits. He walked three batters for a second straight start and struck out a season-low three.
Pallante (2025): 16.1 IP, 13 K, 7 BB, 2 HR, 2.20 ERA, 4.31 FIP, 57 ERA-
Pallante has gotten off to a terrific start in his fourth season in the bigs. The right-hander has earned two wins and is sporting a sparkling 2.20 ERA in three starts, although his FIP is two full runs higher. He is coming off his best start of the year, as he pitched seven scoreless frames against the potent Phillies offense and limited them to two hits and two walks while striking out four.
Friday, April 18: David Peterson vs. Miles Mikolas, 7:10 PM EDT on SNY
Peterson (2025): 16.2 IP, 17 K, 8 BB, 0 HR, 2.70 ERA, 4.16 FIP, 71 ERA-
Peterson suffered his first loss of the season in his last start, though he deserved a much better fate. He picked up his second quality start in three tries and rebounded nicely from his outing against the Blue Jays, where he only lasted 4 2⁄3 innings and walked five. Against the Athletics, he went six innings, surrendered two earned runs on seven hits, and struck out five. Importantly, he didn’t walk anyone and really peppered the strike zone, throwing 74% of his pitches (66 of 89) for strikes. The Mets will take that every time.
Mikolas (2025): 13.0 IP, 10 K, 5 BB, 0 HR, 9.00 ERA, 2.64 FIP, 232 ERA-
Very few pitchers have suffered a bigger fall than Mikolas. The right-hander was an All Star in 2018 and finished sixth in NL Cy Young voting, and he made the NL All Star team as recently as 2022. His stats have declined ever year since, and after posting a -0.3 bWAR in 2024 he’s at -0.6 this season. A lot of this is the result of giving up nine runs (eight earned) on 11 hits over 2 2⁄3 innings on April 6 against the Red Sox. His last start was better, as he went five innings and gave up three earned runs on three hits in a loss to the Phillies. His ERA- is the worst among all starting pitchers in the NL, and second-worst in baseball.
Saturday, April 19: Kodai Senga vs. Matthew Liberatore, 4:05 PM EDT on FOX
Senga (2025): 17.0 IP, 16 K, 5 BB, 1 HR, 1.06 ERA, 2.78 FIP, 28 ERA-
Senga has assuaged any fears of a slow start after missing almost all of 2024, at least at this early juncture of the season. The right-hander, who finished second in NL Cy Young voting in 2023, has picked up the win in back-to-back starts after suffering the lost in his season-opening outing against the Marlins. His last time out, he hurled seven shutout innings against the A’s, scattering four hits and striking out four while walking two hitters. Senga has the fifth-best ERA- among NL starting pitchers and tenth-best among all starters in MLB.
Liberatore (2025): 18.1 IP, 18 K, 1 BB, 1 HR, 3.93 ERA, 1.93 FIP, 101 ERA-
Liberatore is coming off a really great start against the Phillies, as he tossed six shutout innings to pick up his first win of 2025. The left-hander struck out seven and walked one while scattering three hits. The walk was his first of the year after not issuing a free pass in his first two appearances. He’s gone at least six innings in each of his three starts for St. Louis this year, and has been very efficient, throwing fewer than 90 pitches in each start. His 1.4% BB% is the best among all starters in MLB.
Sunday, April 20: Clay Holmes vs. Sonny Gray, 1:40 PM EDT on WPIX
Holmes (2025): 19.2 IP, 28 K, 11 BB, 0 HR, 3.66 ERA, 2.16 FIP, 96 ERA-
Holmes is riding high heading into this Sunday start, with wins in back-to-back starts. He went five his last time out against Minnesota and allowed one earned run on two hits, with eight strikeouts and two walks. He’s now struck out 18 over his last two starts. Holmes is currently fourth among National League starting pitchers with a 31.5% K%. So far, it would be hard to label the experiment of Holmes to the rotation anything other than a success.
Gray (2025): 23.0 IP, 23 K, 3 BB, 4 HR, 3.13 ERA, 3.93 FIP, 81 ERA-
Gray has picked up wins in three of his four starts, and St. Louis has yet to lose a game he has started so far this year. In his last outing, he went seven scoreless innings against the Astros, scattering three hits and striking out four while walking one. That followed up a game in which he allowed one earned run on three hits over five innings to the Pirates. He has been very good at limiting traffic on the basepaths, as evidenced by his 0.78 WHIP, which is fourth-best among NL starting pitchers.