SEATTLE -- Say what you will about the 2026 Mets, but one thing is unequivocally true: No one has played more free baseball than them.
Nine innings have frequently not been enough for the Mets, who played their 12th extra-inning game of the year Monday night at T-Mobile Park. Not only does that lead MLB, but it’s three more than any other team. A full 20 percent of their games have gone to the 10th (or the 11th, or the 12th …), putting them on pace for 32 extra-inning games this season. That would break the 1943 Red Sox’s record of 31.
And while the modern-day Mets have been decent in those situations, winning seven of their 12 extended games, they dropped Monday’s contest, 3-2, on a Cole Young walk-off single against A.J. Minter in the 10th.
“Not ideal,” manager Carlos Mendoza said. “But it’s part of it. You’ve got to keep going. You’ve got to find a way. I feel like we’ve been playing a lot of close games.”
They certainly have. Because the Mets have played so many extended games, in fact, and because their starting pitchers have tended not to last deep into them, Mets relievers have already thrown 258 innings. That ranks fourth in the Majors and equates to an average of 13 outs from the bullpen each night.
Tack on four West Coast trips in nine weeks, and it becomes only natural for a sense of fatigue to set in.
“It’s part of the season,” said starter-turned-reliever-turned-bulk-guy Sean Manaea. “The bullpen’s been incredible the last month. I think Mendy’s done a really good job navigating everything. I know we’re doing everything we can. These games are stressful, but we’re right in it, and we’ll get ‘em more than not.”
The first four hits of Monday’s game were all solo homers, with Jared Young and Marcus Semien going deep for the Mets and Colt Emerson and Josh Naylor doing so for the Mariners. That created a deadlock until the bottom of the 10th, when automatic runner Randy Arozarena stole third with one out, allowing him to score easily on Young’s single.
From the Mets’ perspective, the brightest light of the evening was Manaea, who returned to the rotation with five sparkling innings behind opener Austin Warren. Featuring some of his finest velocity of the season, Manaea struck out four batters and allowed only one hit -- Emerson’s homer. But the Mets didn’t put a man on base against Mariners starter Emerson Hancock until the fifth, all but ensuring their fate of another close, tight one.
On cue, Mendoza rolled out his high-leverage relievers, chasing a win that never came. Brooks Raley and Luke Weaver faced four batters apiece, with Raley giving up the game-tying homer. Closer Devin Williams saw three. Minter faced two, striking out the first of them before allowing Cole Young’s walk-off.
Jared Young called the overall situation “not ideal,” especially considering it’s been this way for weeks. The Mets’ last 30 games have included nine one-run contests, seven extra-inning affairs and six walk-offs.
“Extra-inning games are great,” Young said, “when you win them.”
Not so much when you lose. Plus, given their relative lack of offensive punch and the strength of their bullpen, the Mets figure to continue playing lots of free baseball over the coming months. These types of things tend to come in bunches, as Weaver recently put it, resulting in stretches where the bullpen is overtaxed, the coaching staff is scheming and many on the roster are flat-out tired.
That’s an especially bad combination for a Mets team that is 26-34, stuck in last place in the NL East and chasing as many wins as possible heading into Trade Deadline season.
Perhaps Monday’s extra-inning affair could have been avoided had Mendoza stuck with Manaea into the seventh, but the left-hander had already reached his prescribed pitch count, and the quality of his stuff was beginning to flag. As it was, he threw five innings.
Typically for these Mets, that wound up being only half the game.