Heading into Tuesday's game against the Detroit Tigers, the Mets own the worst record in the MLB at 15-25 and find themselves 12.5 games back in the NL East standings.
New York was expected to be one of the top teams in the league, but have been far from it. They dealt with a 12-game losing streak in April while Juan Soto was out with a calf injury, and now Francisco Lindor, among others, are sidelined on the injured list as well.
With things are looking like it's now-or-never for the Mets to save their 2026 season, president of baseball operations David Stearns expressed optimism that the team can still make a run and "get this together."
"I do believe that," Stearns said. "We have not shown that yet, but I do believe that."
He added: "I think we have the talent on the roster and the character on the roster to make a run. We've got a lot of season left. I'm not going to say it's early, it's not. We're a quarter into the season, it's not early anymore, but we do have enough season left to make a run and I think we have the talent to do that."
Stearns admitted that the group has "underachieved" from what they expected the season would look like, but still believes they can turn it around.
"I think we've underachieved, there's no question," Stearns said. "Collectively as an organization, we've got to figure out a way to get better and I think we will."
Some thought making a change at manager would be the short-term solution to save the season, taking after the Red Sox and Phillies, but Stearns backed Carlos Mendoza on May 1 and doubled down on those comments Tuesday. He made it very clear the organization has no plans to move on from Mendoza any time soon.
"I'll let my words speak for themselves, I've been very clear and consistent that I think Mendy does a really good job," Stearns said. "I believe Mendy does a really good job. I like coming to work with him every day. I'm not going to address this every two weeks when I talk to you guys and I'll leave it at that."
Looking ahead, the Mets will try to become just the fifth team in MLB history to suffer a 10-game losing streak and still make the postseason. When asked what gives him confidence in the talent of the players to flip the script on the 2026 season, Stearns said he believes in the experience and background the individuals on the roster have.
"I think we have a lot of players with really good track records in this league," Stearns. "We are counting on those track records. Not only on the field, but how they prepare for games. How they go about their business, how hard they're working right now. And we believe that ultimately that's going to show."
Talking to the fans, Stearns acknowledged their frustration with how the year has gone, but again, pointed to the "talent on this team" to be able to right the ship.
"I think our message to fanbase is we recognize that the first six weeks of this season haven't been close to good enough," Stearns said. "We understand that, we're disappointed in it. We also believe we have the talent on this team to turn this around and our focus is doing everything we can every single day to get it there."
The Mets' talent will get their chance to turn things around one last time this week with six straight home games, three against the Tigers and another three in the first Subway Series of the year against the Yankees over the weekend.
