What's so different about this Mets pennant race
The franchise's first championship in 1969 was a miracle — seven years removed from its birth as a lovable laughingstock — after coming back from a 10-game deficit to the Cubs in mid-August. Their second pennant was clinched in 1973 after Tug McGraw asked you to believe in a team that would be six games under .500 and in fifth place in the second week of September.
The most dominant team in Mets history needed an improbable ninth-inning rally (16 innings total) to avoid Houston's Cy Young winner, Mike Scott, in Game 7 of the 1986 NLCS, then forced Game 7 of the World Series by executing the most memorable two-out rally the sport has ever seen. In 1999, the Mets needed to sweep a series from the Pirates — and have the Reds lose two — on the final weekend of the regular season to force their way into a one-game playoff.
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At this point in 2015, the Mets were hovering around .500, having spent most of the season's first four months looking up at the Nationals. The next season, the Mets were under .500 in mid-August, eventually earning a wild-card spot by one game. Last year, the Mets' incredible run to the NLCS was made possible by a dramatic regular-season-closing series in Atlanta and a tiebreaker over the Diamondbacks.
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USA Today
23 minutes ago
- USA Today
Eugenio Suarez trade corrects a Mariners mistake. Can he lead Seattle to World Series?
PHOENIX — The Seattle Mariners, who made the painful mistake of trading third baseman Eugenio Suarez two years ago to the Arizona Diamondbacks only to watch him become one of the game's premier power hitters, swallowed their pride Wednesday night and traded for him back. Suarez, who has 36 homers and 87 RBIs, becomes the first player in baseball history to hit at least 35 homers before he was traded in-season. 'Super excited, it's a great move,'' Mariners MVP candidate Cal Raleigh told reporters after their game Wednesday night. 'He's pretty much everything you look for in a teammate. He's supportive. Super nice. Keeps it light in the room. Always positive. And you add on to that, he's a great player. 'We saw that when he was here the first time, and we were obviously all sad that he left, but we're happy that he's coming back …. Very, very excited for it. Obviously, we know how great a guy he is, how great he's playing this year. Great, great add.' It was the second deal the Mariners and Diamondbacks made in a week with the D-backs also trading first baseman Josh Naylor to Seattle for two pitching prospects. Now, they sent his corner infield teammate to provide the Mariners much-needed power to reach the postseason for only the second time since 2001 after near-misses the last two years. The Mariners, fortunate that the market for Suarez never materialized the way the Diamondbacks envisioned, were able to pull off the deal without touching any of their prized prospects. The cost was first baseman Tyler Locklear, their ninth-best prospect, who leads all Triple-A hitters with 16 homers and 56 RBIs since June 1; and minor-league pitchers Hunter Cranton and Juan Burgos, their 16th- and 17th-ranked prospects, respectively. Just like that, they now have a team built to win their first World Series championship in franchise history. The Mariners (57-52) are five games behind the Houston Astros in the AL West, and are tied with the Texas Rangers for the third and final wild-card berth. Yet, with their star-studded rotation of Logan Gilbert, Bryan Woo, George Kirby, Luis Castillo and Bryce Miller, they can scare the living daylights out of any team in the postseason. And now, they finally have the power they have long coveted, with Suarez hitting 53 home runs over the past year, trailing only Shohei Ohtani (60 homers) and Aaron Judge (58). Raleigh (41 homers) and Suarez (36) make the Mariners the second team in MLB history to enter August with at least two players having at least 35 homers, joining the 1961 Yankees who had Roger Maris (40) and Mickey Mantle (39). The Mariners now have one of the deepest and most-talented lineups in the American League, rectifying the blunder they made two years ago when they traded Suarez. The Mariners thought his career was in a steep decline after the 2023 season, which saw him hit .232 with 22 homers, 96 RBIs and a league-leading 214 strikeouts. The Mariners sent him to Arizona, receiving only minor-league reliever Carlos Vargas and backup catcher Seby Zavala, while saving about $11 million in salary. It looked like a shrewd move when Suarez was struggling so badly — hitting just .193 — that the Diamondbacks considered designating him for assignment in late June 2024. He instead caught fire, hitting .307 with 20 homers and a .942 OPS in the second half, and never cooled off. Now, all the Mariners need is for Suarez to stay hot for three more months, their starting pitching to stay healthy, maybe grab one more late-inning reliever by Thursday's trade deadline, and take the franchise on a magical ride to its first World Series. It has been a long time coming, but now the Mariners have the lineup, the pitching, and the burning desire to pull it off. They've saved prized prospects long enough. Now, it's time for a parade. Follow Nightengale on X: @BNightengale
New York Times
an hour ago
- New York Times
Where the Mets go from here
The 2025 MLB trade deadline arrives at 6 p.m. (ET) Thursday. Join us for live updates and analysis on trades around the league. Getty Images Getty Images So, after they landed Tyler Rogers and Ryan Helsley to bolster their bullpen, what's next for the Mets? It's probably the offense, league sources said. Center field stands out as the most obvious area for an upgrade, but the Mets aren't limiting themselves to just that position, people familiar with their thinking said. Their fluid situation at designated hitter allows them to explore different things. Getty Images Within an hour of the Phillies trading for Twins closer Jhoan Duran, the Mets made a move for Cardinals closer Ryan Helsley. Relief pitching — especially closers — was one place where this trade market felt potentially deepest, and once that market started to move, two of the biggest chips came off the board in a hurry. Duran ranked No. 6 on our Big Board (the top-ranked closer other than Emmanuel Clase) and Helsley ranked No. 26 (the top bullpen rental), but Pirates closer David Bednar, Rays closer Pete Fairbanks, and Royals closer Carlos Estévez also ranked among our top 50. Padres closer Robert Suarez didn't make the Big Board but probably should have (we chose not to rank him, but it now seems possible the Padres could get creative and trade him). The Giants could also trade Camilo Doval, the Nationals could trade Kyle Finnegan, the Angels could trade Kenley Jansen, and the Braves could try to find a taker for Raisel Iglesias. There are still plenty of closers available, but two of the best have come off the board in quick succession. More coming shortly from The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal about Jansen... The Mets' deal for Cardinals closer Ryan Helsley is, to use a highly technical term from The Athletic's prospects guru Keith Law, "a f---ing heist." After New York traded MLB reliever José Buttó and two MLB-ready prospects to the Giants for setup man Tyler Rogers, the Cardinals by comparison got three prospects well outside New York's top five in return for the two-time All-Star closer — shortstop Jesus Baez and right-handed pitchers Nate Dohm and Frank Elissalt. Baez ranked No. 7 in Law's list of the top 20 prospects in the Mets' farm system before the season, while Dohm ranked No. 17 on that list. Baez is still in the lower levels of the minors. Elissalt was not ranked on Law's list. GO FURTHER New York Mets 2025 top 20 prospects: Brandon Sproat, Jett Williams lead the way Getty Images In their three-game sweep in San Diego, the Mets saw first-hand the value of a shutdown bullpen. The Padres' league-best pen held New York to four hits in 47 at-bats, allowing one run in 11 1/3 innings. That's the kind of pen the Mets are aiming to construct. In Tyler Rogers and Ryan Helsley, the Mets have acquired arguably the two best rental relievers on the market. Rogers is a nightmare on opposing hitters with his submarine arm angle — to the point that the Trajekt system many teams employ to prep for pitchers can't imitate him — and Helsley led the National League in saves just last season. New York can shorten the game now, with Rogers and Helsley joining Reed Garrett, Gregory Soto, Ryne Stanek and Brooks Raley as set-up options to get to Edwin Díaz. Helsley's ample closing experience also provides manager Carlos Mendoza with the freedom to use Díaz earlier in games if desired. The Mets had lacked that kind of piece since A.J. Minter went down earlier this season. Getty Images The Cardinals sell-off begins. Closer Ryan Helsley is the first of three relievers St. Louis expects to move before Thursday's deadline, including right-hander Phil Maton and left-hander Steven Matz. Helsley, the longest-tenured Cardinal, joins what is shaping up the be a super-bullpen in Queens. The Cardinals, eager to bolster their depleted farm system, add prospects Jesus Baez, Nate Dohm and Frank Elissalt. Baez entered the season ranked No. 7 in the Mets system, per The Athletic's Keith Law, while Dohm is ranked No. 17. Though he hasn't been as dominant as last season, Helsley, 30, remains one of the top closers in the league thanks to his powerful fastball and wipeout slider. Entering play on Wednesday, Helsley had posted a 3.00 ERA over 36 games (21 saves), with 41 strikeouts in 36 innings. Helsley's fastball ranks in the 99th percentile in average velocity (99.3 miles per hour). Both his chase rate and whiff rates are over 30 percent and he's struck out roughly a quarter of his total batters faced this year. There will be some concern over his fastball command — the heater has been hit much harder this year than in previous seasons. But Helsley's stuff, combined with his overall experience, makes him a legitimate weapon and greatly improves the back-end of any contending team's bullpen. GO FURTHER Mets acquire closer Ryan Helsley from Cardinals: Sources The Mets are sending prospects Jesus Baez, Nate Dohm and Frank Elissalt to the Cardinals in the deal for Ryan Helsley, league sources tell The Athletic . Getty Images Ryan Helsley, the fireballing two-time All-Star closer and longest-tenured member of the St. Louis Cardinals, recently estimated his chances of being traded away '90 percent.' He was proven correct on Wednesday, when the New York Mets traded for Helsley, league sources confirmed to The Athletic's Will Sammon. Minutes after our team at The Athletic broke the Phillies' trade for Jhoan Duran, there are some reports about their main competition in the NL East also going all-out for a top closer... We'll have more on that for you shortly... Getty Images One rival evaluator tells me that 18-year-old Eduardo Tait, the former Phillies catching prospect heading to Minnesota, is regarded as having a high ceiling and was asked about by several teams. The evaluator said that pitching prospect Mick Abel could use some improvement his changeup but is now in a good position to do so with the Twins, who are strong at pitching development. GO FURTHER Phillies call their shot and get their closer, acquiring Jhoan Durán from Twins Getty Images Jhoan Duran was asked about the possibility of getting traded an hour ago: 'That'd be hard. I got a couple years here and I feel like here is my family so if that happens, that's maybe breaking my heart a little bit.' Getty Images Minnesota's rumored asking price for Jhoan Duran was extremely high, and the Twins ended up getting (basically) two top-100 prospects for the 27-year-old closer. High-A catcher Eduardo Tait is a consensus top-100 prospect and 23-year-old right-hander Mick Abel was a top-100 prospect prior to graduating to the majors earlier this season. It's the biggest prospect haul for any player traded so far, and yet it's easy to see why Philadelphia was willing to pay the price. Bullpen issues have been a constant for the Phillies, and in Duran they get an elite-level reliever with overpowering raw stuff who can transform the late-inning situation for the next 2 1/2 seasons. Duran leaves behind a huge hole in the Twins' bullpen and his potential closer replacement, Griffin Jax, has also been rumored to be available on the trade market. Louis Varland and Brock Stewart are other candidates to take on a bigger role for the Twins. Tait is the second teenage catching prospect acquired by Minnesota this week, as the Twins picked up rookie-ball prospect Enrique Jimenez in the Chris Paddack swap. It's clear the Twins value catcher depth with Christian Vázquez and impending free agent and Ryan Jeffers under team control through only 2026. Getty Images It has been a rough go for the Phillies bullpen since top reliever José Alvarado was suspended for PED usage on May 18. Since then, the group ranks in the bottom half of MLB in ERA (16th, 4.09), WHIP (19th, 1.35), K% (23rd, 20.7%) and FIP (27th, 4.53), per Fangraphs. The Phillies have needed a high leverage arm to pair with relievers like Matt Strahm and Orion Kerkering, the latter of whom has emerged as a key part of the closer by committee operation in recent weeks. They will get that in Duran, who has a 2.01 ERA and 53 strikeouts in 49 1/3 innings. Griffin Jax, another reliever on the trade block who tentatively becomes the Twins' closer if and when the Jhoan Duran trade is finalized, had this to say to The Athletic's Dan Hayes minutes before the Duran trade news broke: The Athletic's Jayson Stark reports that the Twins will be getting right-handed pitcher Mick Abel and catcher Eduardo Tait from the Phillies in this deal if finalized. Tait was ranked as the No. 4 prospect in the Phillies' farm system and Abel was ranked the team's No. 9 prospect before the season, per The Athletic's Keith Law. Getty Images The Phillies are close to acquiring closer Jhoan Duran from the Twins, league sources tell The Athletic . Getty Images By Chandler Rome and Dan Hayes The Astros still employ two of Carlos Correa's closest friends: Jose Altuve and Lance McCullers Jr. McCullers is the godfather of Correa's oldest son, Kylo. 'Correa is a guy with a lot of history here in Houston,' Altuve said after the Astros' 9-1 win against the Washington Nationals on Wednesday. 'He's a great player, great human being, great teammate. Anything that happens, I hope it's the best for him and for us.' Asked if he had spoken to Correa about the possibility of a reunion, Altuve replied 'not yet' and 'maybe when the trade deadline is over.' He then politely ended the interview. Read more from our updated story below. GO FURTHER A Carlos Correa return to Houston via trade with Twins seems unlikely — for now: Sources Getty Images There are a lot of closers and other high-leverage relievers who could be traded in the next 24 hours — Jhoan Duran, Ryan Helsley, Pete Fairbanks, David Bednar, Camilo Doval — but first, contenders are addressing their late-inning, left-handed matchups. Three left-handed relievers have been traded today, and that's after lefty Gregory Soto went to the Mets as the first reliever of consequence to be traded this week. Andrew Chafin (from the Nationals to Angels), Taylor Rogers (from the Reds to Pirates), and now Caleb Ferguson (from the Pirates to Mariners) have all been traded in the past few hours. The only left-handed reliever who made our Big Board was Reid Detmers of the Angels, but he's kind of an unusual case as a failed starter who only this year began pitching out of the bullpen (with considerable success the past three months). Among the other lefties who could be available: Danny Coulombe of the Twins, JoJo Romero of the Cardinals, Jalen Beeks of the Diamondbacks, and Aaron Bummer of the Braves. Getty Images The Yankees optioned JC Escarra to Triple A to make room for Austin Slater, who was acquired earlier today from the White Sox.
New York Times
an hour ago
- New York Times
Your views on Jhoan Duran to Phillies
The 2025 MLB trade deadline arrives at 6 p.m. (ET) Thursday. Join us for live updates and analysis on trades around the league. Getty Images As for the Phillies' new closer, we have a doozy of some insight from The Athletic's Jayson Stark coming for you shortly. But let's quickly go over what you all think of the Jhoan Duran deal: Loren H: I will wait for more professional analysis, but it feels like the Twins could have gotten more. I really hate the owners of this team, and the GM doesn't give me any confidence either. Sean S: Let's go! Getting Durán without giving up Painter, Miller or Crawford is huge. Cat F: This trade is maybe okay from a raw value But the Twins talked a big game about "needing to get blown away" by an offer and this isn't it. Sure feels like they folded. Getty Images The Mets have made some bold moves today, first getting Giants setup man Tyler Rogers then adding All-Star Cardinals closer Ryan Helsley to help Edwin Diaz at the back of their bullpen. Let's see what you had to say about it all... Austin C: This deal rules. Incredible 8th inning set up man for Diaz. None of the Mets top 7 prospects touched in any deal today. SS Baez the most valuable player traded with the most potential of all Mets moves but he's far from making the show, we have Lindor, and Pena our IFA who was just signed has the most upside and is the future. John Z: Mets are getting after it, revamped the bullpen in a couple days, hope they can find a starter or bring up 1 of the kids because Holmes and Montas are a weakness right now. Evans #24 F: In the comments in the other article re Rogers trade. Someone said Mets would need to trade Vientos and one of the three top pitching prospects to get Helsey. Guess not 😉 Getty Images Whew. Hope you've had a chance to catch your breath from that trade deadline flurry. Here are the full details that sent two of baseball's current top closers into the thick of the National League East race: Phillies get RHP Jhoan Duran from Twins for minor-league catcher Eduardo Tait and pitcher Mick Abel . from Twins for minor-league catcher and pitcher . Mets get LHP Ryan Helsley from Cardinals for minor-league shortstop Jesus Baez and pitchers Nate Dohm and Frank Elissalt. Got it? Getty Images With the Los Angeles Angels, it's always dangerous to make definitive statements. So while their trade for relievers Andrew Chafin and Luis García would indicate the team is in 'buy' mode, a loss to the Texas Rangers on Wednesday night still might leave them open to a sell-type deal. Closer Kenley Jansen is the Angels' most desirable potential free agent, and club officials sent conflicting signals after the trade with the Nationals on whether he might still be available. The question might not even be that relevant. The bullpen market erupted Wednesday with deals for relievers with bigger stuff and better numbers than Jansen. The trade for Chafin and García, at least, protects the Angels if they pull one of their trademark reversals. It happened in 2023, when the team made several 'buy' moves at the deadline, then dumped most of those players on waivers when they fell out of contention in August. A trade of Jansen would be even more sudden. It also might damage the chances of him returning to the team next season, an outcome both he and general manager Perry Minasian have said they desire. But with the Angels, nothing cannot be ruled out until the deadline passes. Getty Images So, after they landed Tyler Rogers and Ryan Helsley to bolster their bullpen, what's next for the Mets? It's probably the offense, league sources said. Center field stands out as the most obvious area for an upgrade, but the Mets aren't limiting themselves to just that position, people familiar with their thinking said. Their fluid situation at designated hitter allows them to explore different things. Getty Images Within an hour of the Phillies trading for Twins closer Jhoan Duran, the Mets made a move for Cardinals closer Ryan Helsley. Relief pitching — especially closers — was one place where this trade market felt potentially deepest, and once that market started to move, two of the biggest chips came off the board in a hurry. Duran ranked No. 6 on our Big Board (the top-ranked closer other than Emmanuel Clase) and Helsley ranked No. 26 (the top bullpen rental), but Pirates closer David Bednar, Rays closer Pete Fairbanks, and Royals closer Carlos Estévez also ranked among our top 50. Padres closer Robert Suarez didn't make the Big Board but probably should have (we chose not to rank him, but it now seems possible the Padres could get creative and trade him). The Giants could also trade Camilo Doval, the Nationals could trade Kyle Finnegan, the Angels could trade Kenley Jansen, and the Braves could try to find a taker for Raisel Iglesias. There are still plenty of closers available, but two of the best have come off the board in quick succession. More coming shortly from The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal about Jansen... The Mets' deal for Cardinals closer Ryan Helsley is, to use a highly technical term from The Athletic's prospects guru Keith Law, "a f---ing heist." After New York traded MLB reliever José Buttó and two MLB-ready prospects to the Giants for setup man Tyler Rogers, the Cardinals by comparison got three prospects well outside New York's top five in return for the two-time All-Star closer — shortstop Jesus Baez and right-handed pitchers Nate Dohm and Frank Elissalt. Baez ranked No. 7 in Law's list of the top 20 prospects in the Mets' farm system before the season, while Dohm ranked No. 17 on that list. Baez is still in the lower levels of the minors. Elissalt was not ranked on Law's list. GO FURTHER New York Mets 2025 top 20 prospects: Brandon Sproat, Jett Williams lead the way Getty Images In their three-game sweep in San Diego, the Mets saw first-hand the value of a shutdown bullpen. The Padres' league-best pen held New York to four hits in 47 at-bats, allowing one run in 11 1/3 innings. That's the kind of pen the Mets are aiming to construct. In Tyler Rogers and Ryan Helsley, the Mets have acquired arguably the two best rental relievers on the market. Rogers is a nightmare on opposing hitters with his submarine arm angle — to the point that the Trajekt system many teams employ to prep for pitchers can't imitate him — and Helsley led the National League in saves just last season. New York can shorten the game now, with Rogers and Helsley joining Reed Garrett, Gregory Soto, Ryne Stanek and Brooks Raley as set-up options to get to Edwin Díaz. Helsley's ample closing experience also provides manager Carlos Mendoza with the freedom to use Díaz earlier in games if desired. The Mets had lacked that kind of piece since A.J. Minter went down earlier this season. Getty Images The Cardinals sell-off begins. Closer Ryan Helsley is the first of three relievers St. Louis expects to move before Thursday's deadline, including right-hander Phil Maton and left-hander Steven Matz. Helsley, the longest-tenured Cardinal, joins what is shaping up the be a super-bullpen in Queens. The Cardinals, eager to bolster their depleted farm system, add prospects Jesus Baez, Nate Dohm and Frank Elissalt. Baez entered the season ranked No. 7 in the Mets system, per The Athletic's Keith Law, while Dohm is ranked No. 17. Though he hasn't been as dominant as last season, Helsley, 30, remains one of the top closers in the league thanks to his powerful fastball and wipeout slider. Entering play on Wednesday, Helsley had posted a 3.00 ERA over 36 games (21 saves), with 41 strikeouts in 36 innings. Helsley's fastball ranks in the 99th percentile in average velocity (99.3 miles per hour). Both his chase rate and whiff rates are over 30 percent and he's struck out roughly a quarter of his total batters faced this year. There will be some concern over his fastball command — the heater has been hit much harder this year than in previous seasons. But Helsley's stuff, combined with his overall experience, makes him a legitimate weapon and greatly improves the back-end of any contending team's bullpen. GO FURTHER Mets acquire closer Ryan Helsley from Cardinals: Sources The Mets are sending prospects Jesus Baez, Nate Dohm and Frank Elissalt to the Cardinals in the deal for Ryan Helsley, league sources tell The Athletic . Getty Images Ryan Helsley, the fireballing two-time All-Star closer and longest-tenured member of the St. Louis Cardinals, recently estimated his chances of being traded away '90 percent.' He was proven correct on Wednesday, when the New York Mets traded for Helsley, league sources confirmed to The Athletic's Will Sammon. Minutes after our team at The Athletic broke the Phillies' trade for Jhoan Duran, there are some reports about their main competition in the NL East also going all-out for a top closer... We'll have more on that for you shortly... Getty Images One rival evaluator tells me that 18-year-old Eduardo Tait, the former Phillies catching prospect heading to Minnesota, is regarded as having a high ceiling and was asked about by several teams. The evaluator said that pitching prospect Mick Abel could use some improvement his changeup but is now in a good position to do so with the Twins, who are strong at pitching development. GO FURTHER Phillies call their shot and get their closer, acquiring Jhoan Durán from Twins Getty Images Jhoan Duran was asked about the possibility of getting traded an hour ago: 'That'd be hard. I got a couple years here and I feel like here is my family so if that happens, that's maybe breaking my heart a little bit.' Getty Images Minnesota's rumored asking price for Jhoan Duran was extremely high, and the Twins ended up getting (basically) two top-100 prospects for the 27-year-old closer. High-A catcher Eduardo Tait is a consensus top-100 prospect and 23-year-old right-hander Mick Abel was a top-100 prospect prior to graduating to the majors earlier this season. It's the biggest prospect haul for any player traded so far, and yet it's easy to see why Philadelphia was willing to pay the price. Bullpen issues have been a constant for the Phillies, and in Duran they get an elite-level reliever with overpowering raw stuff who can transform the late-inning situation for the next 2 1/2 seasons. Duran leaves behind a huge hole in the Twins' bullpen and his potential closer replacement, Griffin Jax, has also been rumored to be available on the trade market. Louis Varland and Brock Stewart are other candidates to take on a bigger role for the Twins. Tait is the second teenage catching prospect acquired by Minnesota this week, as the Twins picked up rookie-ball prospect Enrique Jimenez in the Chris Paddack swap. It's clear the Twins value catcher depth with Christian Vázquez and impending free agent and Ryan Jeffers under team control through only 2026. Getty Images It has been a rough go for the Phillies bullpen since top reliever José Alvarado was suspended for PED usage on May 18. Since then, the group ranks in the bottom half of MLB in ERA (16th, 4.09), WHIP (19th, 1.35), K% (23rd, 20.7%) and FIP (27th, 4.53), per Fangraphs. The Phillies have needed a high leverage arm to pair with relievers like Matt Strahm and Orion Kerkering, the latter of whom has emerged as a key part of the closer by committee operation in recent weeks. They will get that in Duran, who has a 2.01 ERA and 53 strikeouts in 49 1/3 innings. Griffin Jax, another reliever on the trade block who tentatively becomes the Twins' closer if and when the Jhoan Duran trade is finalized, had this to say to The Athletic's Dan Hayes minutes before the Duran trade news broke: The Athletic's Jayson Stark reports that the Twins will be getting right-handed pitcher Mick Abel and catcher Eduardo Tait from the Phillies in this deal if finalized. Tait was ranked as the No. 4 prospect in the Phillies' farm system and Abel was ranked the team's No. 9 prospect before the season, per The Athletic's Keith Law.
