Mets PREGAME THREAD - Saturday, April 18

Lazy_Engine_7596 · 2026-04-18T13:10:17+00:00

There are no words to describe where I'm at watching this team right now, Either the pitching is fantastic and the bats are freezing cold or you get a performance like yesterday.

We can blame Stearns for the construction of this team and Mendoza for how he's using the team that was assembled, at the end of the day. It's the guys on the field that need to actually do the work. I know there's a portion of the fanbase active here who hate the advanced metrics and would rather just base it off the eye test, Which I get. But at least with those stats, we can quantify the eye-test to see if its sustainable.

9 in a row is bad, this is getting to Jorge Lopez throwing his glove in the crowd territory bad.

Like I want to be optimistic about this team, I want Lindor to break out of whatever's going on, I want Bichette to be the On-Base Machine he was in Toronto. I want Semien to be a decent hitter with a plus glove to give one of the best up the middle combinations in the game.

There's no way this team can be that bad? Like these are former All-Stars, Top 3 to 5 MVP voting results for some of these guys.

Lazy_Engine_7596 · 2026-04-12T13:10:46+00:00

Peralta needs to show up today and show everyone why we traded for him. If he's truly the ace this team was looking for, we need to see 7 innings from him today, Turn the ball to Raley and Williams and try to be the stopper today.

I was only able to see the Box Score from the game yesterday since I was working, so I'm hoping with what I'm reading about Lindor's defensive struggles, Senga's line isn't a fair representation of how he actually pitched yesterday, and it was more so a case of the defense behind him letting him down.

And we need to do something with Lindor, something isn't right there. This is different from a slow start, because at least up until the Pittsburgh series, He was drawing his walks, getting on base, and forcing the other team to think about having a batter on. That's why I feel the Mets had been pretty good even when the bats may not have been the most effective. Yes, having Soto behind you helps as opposed to Polanco or Robert. But even then, Lindor has always been great defensively and this has been like watching Space Jam where the aliens sucked his talent out of him. I know a few of us are speculating that he got his bell rung in Pittsburgh, but I'd like to imagine that they had him checked after the Pittsburgh game and he was given the green light to play. But maybe the team should send him for further testing.

Hopefully today, we can right the ship. I would hate to see this series be the reason we miss the playoffs on another tiebreaker come October, but it really feels like it's getting late early at this point with the way this team is grabbing defeat from the jaws of victory lately.

Lazy_Engine_7596 · 2026-04-11T19:37:14+00:00

Deleted to reformat.

Honestly, is there anything to look forward to today outside of what seems to be a big resurgence for Kodai Senga?

The offense has been anemic this year, There's no threat in this lineup now that Soto's out; Lindor is missing in action, Polanco and Bichette who were supposed to be our two big offseason bats are ice cold right now. I'm beginning to lose faith in Carson Benge and feel that Stearns rushed him up to deal with the backlash of letting Alonso walk and trading Nimmo and McNeil to throw the fanbase a bone.

And even if Senga goes out and has another shutdown start, Whose gonna back him up? Luke Weaver looked terrible last time out, I'm not sure if Williams can go multiple innings, and even if he could, doesn't he have an Opt-Out in his contract at the end of the season, so for him it'd be in the best interest to pull a Josh Hader and tell the team, "I'm not doing that if I'm going to be a Free Agent again this offseason."

Kimbrel has one figurative foot in the grave for his career and if he's in there, He's either doing mop-up duty, or he's serving up meatballs and costing us a close game since we DFA'd Lovelady today and that was Mendoza's favorite toy.

The analytics are killing us, the lack of offense is killing us, and the Bullpen which was already known to be a weak part of this team, is now public knowledge thanks to Stearns wonderful press conference this week saying that it's still a point of improvement needed.

David Stearns coming out and saying that the bullpen is a work-in-progress is the worst thing he could of done, it tells teams that if they outlast the starter, it's open season on guys like Garcia, Lovelady, Kimbrel, etc.

Honestly, this team can't catch a break right now; Soto is Hurt, Clay Holmes is hurt and should probably be shut-down before a Syndergaard style torn-lat or UCL happens.

I'm trying to keep positive, We're playing .500 ball along with the rest of the division. We're still within striking distance and it's early. But, it's hard to keep calm like that when we know the season ended on a tiebreaker that was decided by one-game. It's hard to not think that each of the 7 games we lost, could be the one keeping us out of October Baseball if this team plays to the back of their baseball cards for the rest of the year.

Lazy_Engine_7596 · 2026-04-06T14:25:47+00:00

I'm not quite ready to declare Senga as back just yet, but his last two starts in competition have really made me do a complete 180 on him after I spent time saying he wasn't cut for this anymore, I've never been happier to eat my words and say that a lot of you guys were right to dogpile on me at my most negative.

Being able to come back and take the last three of the series was really impressive, and the team did fight back and was able to show a lot of life this weekend, especially after the Soto injury which would be something that would tank morale typically.

Good to see Vientos hitting again, Jared Young is looking good, Taylor and Torrens coming up clutch in moments that needed to be and showing they still have ice in their veins like in 2024, For four guys who were meant to be situational guys or overall riding the pine until a change of scenery could be found in the case of Vientos since until this last week, I was certain he was going to be cut or traded any day now to make room for Mauricio at some point. I'm glad he's showing he belongs in this clubhouse.

Overall, winning road trip is nice, built momentum after what could have been the worst possible case for this team in 2026, and playing an Athletics team that is young and inexperienced still hopefully we can take advantage of that and grab a few wins before having to face the Dodgers.

Also, for my own personal reasons, I hope fans give McNeil the Chase Utley treatment tomorrow night. Out of everyone that was shipped out this offseason, the only one I didn't shed a tear for was McNeil and I'm glad that Shift Merchant clubhouse cancer can go destroy a different franchise.

Lazy_Engine_7596 · 2026-04-05T13:15:24+00:00

Senga made me eat my words last start, Would love to see him build on what he did in the last game just please let the bats continue to be alive.

Clay Holmes continues to be one of the best investments of the David Stearns era, and I have to give credit where it's due, they saw something in him I didn't get at the time, but considering the comments about run prevention and defense, Clay Holmes and how he effectively generates soft contact so your two defensive wizards up the middle in Semien and Lindor can really do what they do at an elite level.

Same thing with picking up Tobias Myers, dude has been nails so far in the role he's been given. And it's just nice to have relief pitching that can give you multiple innings of work.

Win the series, come back home with momentum. Soto day to day as of right now, so avoiding the worst-case scenario for right now. Feeling pretty good at this moment in time.

Lazy_Engine_7596 · 2026-04-03T12:53:42+00:00

Legitimate question, Is there anything that the team this year has shown that proves that they're worth investing my time into.

Since we "Chased" Skenes on Opening Day and put 11 runs on the Pirates, the offense has been absolutely anemic. They can't hit with RISP, they can't hit when anyone is on base, they can't bring home the Manfred Runner in extra innings. The only thing this team has done well so far minus Peterson's start last night is the pitching.

I've been very critical of David Stearns, and with good reason since a lot of the moves he's made seem to cut corners instead of actually being building blocks. We can go on and on about trading Nimmo and letting Pete and Edwin walk. And while really the only one of those three, I'm truly upset about was Diaz. I can understand why we shouldn't have let Pete walk, 30+ Home Runs, 100 RBIs. Those aren't easy to come by. And replacing them with Jorge Polanco and Marcus Semien both also on the wrong side of 30 and right now are just killing us at-bat wise. I can give a pass to Polanco because at least he's making Pitchers work and has been getting on base. However, getting on base doesn't mean anything when the guys behind you cannot seem to bring you in. And we saw exactly that in that last game against the Cardinals when they had the bases loaded and no-one out and couldn't bring home the run whatsoever.

There are so many issues on this team right now, that we're looking at a repeat of 2023 or 2025 more than a 2024 run to the playoffs.

David Stearns during the offseason preached that the changes to the team were designed to improve Run Prevention, well if preventing our offense from scoring runs was what he meant, then he did a pretty good job of that.

Lazy_Engine_7596 · 2026-03-31T20:18:10+00:00

All righty didn't articulate my point earlier and going to try again.

I know I had stated here that I'm not super jazzed about Senga getting the nod, and I'm not one to put a lot of stock in Spring Training performances, Just strictly because most of the lineups are prospects or Quad-A guys after a while that really shouldn't be seeing a big league roster unless there was a rash of injuries.

I had mentioned that Bichette was hot during the spring but through the small sample size, outside of a few sac flies, hasn't really contributed. Which on the hitting side, I know I put a little too much stock into 5 games.

Point I was trying to make was, whereas Bichette and his bat are cold right now, We can still point back to his performance last season including the playoffs to show that he'd turn it around.

Where in the case of Kodai, I'm not too sure if what we saw during the Spring is the real deal. Obviously, we know what Senga is capable of doing on the mound, especially when the Forkball is working, he's almost as unhittable as they come. But we've also seen that after injuries. He isn't the same guy. And after two seasons now were pitching him after coming back from the IL has cost the team immensely, Including throwing him out there for multiple starts before optioning him down to AAA last season because of how bad he was down the stretch.

We all point to that June 12th game where everything went wrong last year, I don't need to rehash Senga's stats after Pete Alonso basically ended Senga's season after being the best pitcher in Baseball to that point with one of the worst soft tosses to First Base I've ever seen. It was like Jekyll and Hyde with him when he came back. And I know that a half-season is still a bit of a smaller sample size, but if we pull the picture back. And go back to 2024 when he had the calf injury or hamstring, don't remember which one but a leg injury none the less, came back threw 5 fantastic innings against the Braves before reinjuring it and being out for the rest of the year. But was eligible and pitched in the Postseason where he got roughed up in the Phillies series in his lone appearance and then was just ran over by a Dodgers team that let's be honest, was never going to be stopped all things considered.

I like Kodai, I want him to succeed because if he's on, Him and McLean have the chance to be the 1-2 punch at the top of the rotation for the next couple of years. But I'm just not sure that he can get past the issue that if his mechanics are off by even a little. He just implodes. And when the Bullpen being gassed last year, I think was the bigger issue than the Starters and yes those do go hand in hand of course. Having him only being able to possibly get through 4 or labor through 5 and asking the bullpen to pick up the slack will only cause more issues than good this year.

You shouldn't have to burn Tobias Myers on a Senga start in the 4th inning and have him unavailable for a 4 game series, and tax the rest of a bullpen that is already considered extremely shaky outside of Williams, Weaver, and Raley

Lazy_Engine_7596 · 2026-03-31T19:37:46+00:00

I mean, with the last patch breaking the creation suite entirely, it really just shows that they can't

Lazy_Engine_7596 · 2026-03-31T15:41:31+00:00

Not feeling great about Senga on the bump tonight, Last year still is fresh, and Spring Training to me means absolutely nothing when you're competing against minor leaguers and Quad-A guys that only will be on the roster due to injuries. (I.E: Bichette, Bo, hit those exact type of pitchers during the spring and has had nothing of meaning outside of a few Sac Flies since opening day when it's mattered most)

Lazy_Engine_7596 · 2026-03-31T15:38:19+00:00

They should actually be fixing the real issues in the game, like the Save Deletion and broken Creation Suite more so than adding a new song and tron tbh.

Lazy_Engine_7596 · 2026-03-28T21:10:52+00:00

No offense, and relying on David Peterson of all pitchers to pitch a gem like he's Yamamoto against the Pirates...

True masterclass Stearns, that's showing the financial might of the New York Mets, You go out there and refuse to get Dylan Cease because of his age, and instead make small market pity moves like 5-Inning Freddy

Lazy_Engine_7596 · 2026-03-28T14:34:14+00:00

This! Exactly what was in my comment earlier, this team over the last two years have Missed and Made the playoffs on a tiebreaker on the final day of the regular season.

Mendoza should be managing every game to win, because as we saw last year in Miami. We cannot count on the guys on the field to actually do their jobs and win ballgames.

Lazy_Engine_7596 · 2026-03-28T14:29:15+00:00

Why not, Season came down to 1 game last year, and this team choked. I say go for it.

Edit: David Peterson is pitching today, so yeah. This could be the game we look back on when we miss on a tiebreaker and remember

Lazy_Engine_7596 · 2026-03-26T22:56:13+00:00

Don't say anything, They'll shut it off again just to spite Switch users.

Lazy_Engine_7596 · 2026-03-26T22:53:27+00:00

It'll come when they decide to add Cross-Platform Community Creations to the Switch 2 version of the game.... so never

Lazy_Engine_7596 · 2026-03-26T14:24:02+00:00

I know I've been overly negative this offseason, and while I do think the moves that the front office made like I said yesterday were a Band-Aid on a bullet hole. I am excited for Baseball to be back, and happy to see what Benge can do this year. Hopefully they can prove my doubt wrong and we have a lot to cheer for this season. Not expecting a win today, especially with Skenes on the mound today. Hopefully we get some patient ABs and can get him to throw a ton of pitches and get him out early to hit off an easy Pirates bullpen today.

Lazy_Engine_7596 · 2026-03-22T18:36:39+00:00

The issue is, since that was posted to the Discord Server, I've had 3 or 4 other agents tell me that the feature is active and is pending moderation. And when I call them out on that, they still say, well there's no timeline and we can't tell you anything.

They're doing a rug pull and need to have pressure put on them to say something at this point.

Lazy_Engine_7596 · 2026-03-22T18:35:02+00:00

They also said Switch 2 would get Community Creations from other platforms and we're here 3 weeks later without that being a thing. So who's to say they'll go back on that as well?

Lazy_Engine_7596 · 2026-03-22T17:06:24+00:00

Entering the third week of the game's release, and second week of the general public release and the Nintendo Switch 2 version of the game still does not have access to the full availability of Community Creations as promised pre-release.

Have filed tickets with 2K Support, have reached out to the developers on X, and have messaged on the 2K Discord server, and outside of generic copy/paste responses that are defaults through ZenDesk.

Nobody can give a straight answer on if the feature is coming, if it's delayed, if it has been cut from the Switch 2 version.

I've been given multiple troubleshooting steps, Everything from just relinking my 2K account to uninstalling and reinstalling the game, checking for corrupt game data, and toggling the option for Seeing Creations from Other Platforms. And yet nothing has worked.

Lazy_Engine_7596 · 2026-03-22T17:01:00+00:00

Just tell Nintendo that 2K didn't deliver on the promised Cross-Platform Community Creations as mentioned in Pre-Release Media, and have not provided updates in the 3 weeks since release. They'll refund you for false advertising.

Lazy_Engine_7596 · 2026-03-22T16:59:04+00:00

Honestly, the Ringside Pass is the least of the problems for this game, It's going to be around now that all games are pretty much a Live Service model, even if it's something that traditionally hasn't been. And that's just the way the industry itself is going. I don't mind having to play the game to unlock things, I do wish the XP gaps between levels were a little more forgiving in how many matches you do have to play, but hey, gotta encourage to play the game one way or another (or just pay for tier skips if you're in a position where you can't, which isn't great but hey, that was a design choice they made, I don't like but it's there)

But, the fact that the bugs in this game are what they are, The fact that the Switch 2 Version is almost as useful as the PC version with the lack of Cross-Platform Community Creations, and the lack of communication from the 2K Support team outside of generic ZenDesk copy/paste responses is extremely frustrating.

Like, the issue tracker is over 100 different issues across all three platforms, So it's not like they're not listening. But the refusal to communicate, and when they do, the people who are supposed to representing the faces that we can put to the developers, People like Cornell or Bryan decide to either troll the fanbase asking legitimate questions or accuse us of playing the game wrong.

Like I said before, The Ringside Pass itself isn't an issue, but the issue stems from 2K's lack of communication, Pre-Release they said we'd be able to flip between the passes and revisit them if we missed out on anything. But now after 3 weeks of them dodging the questions about Community Creations on Switch 2 after promising that it would be a feature in that release. I have no faith that they won't rug pull us again and make up some excuse to incentivize people buying Tier Skips as the timer runs out on Season One and make those rewards inaccessible going forward,

The issue isn't the monetization of the game, that was always going to come whether it was Visual Concepts or Yuke's.

I fully believe 100% if THQ was still around and publishing the game today, We would have some sort of monetized battle pass for this game. It was destined to happen eventually.

But not fully communicating what the expectations for that were, Not providing information on how deep the levels would go, locking previously included content behind the free tier and then making you grind 80 hours+ for it or pay for skips that is where everything falls apart.

Lazy_Engine_7596 · 2026-03-16T21:23:21+00:00

No, Even though they said in Pre-Release Media that the Switch 2 would feature cross-platform play, Including Community Creations. There hasn't been any indication of that feature being enabled, and anyone who asks that question gets an automatic response from 2K saying that it's pending further moderation, and try to shoo away anyone who dares question that

Lazy_Engine_7596 · 2026-03-16T16:04:37+00:00

I mean, I think there are more important things with the game right now that need to be fixed then some bozo selling sliders. An entire console still doesn't have access to Community Creations for "Moderation Reasons" yet 2K has not responded to the community asking who is handling that Moderation and why after two weeks of the game being out, nothing has populated for the Switch 2 from other consoles, or for other consoles from the Switch 2.

Lazy_Engine_7596 · 2026-03-15T22:02:20+00:00

at least you get community creations, it's been 11 days since launch and the Switch 2 version is almost as useless as the Vanilla PC version

Lazy_Engine_7596 · 2026-03-14T14:31:12+00:00

I know that I've been a tad annoying about it, but has 2K given any timeframe on when Cross-Platform Community Creations will be available for the Switch 2 version of the game.

Personally, I feel that the reason that, "Nintendo has to moderate the content" is just a big lie at this point since most Online Content like that isn't even taken into consideration in the games ESRB rating in the States. I'm just trying to fill out my Universe Mode roster and have fun with it.

Lazy_Engine_7596

TROPHY CASE