This story was excerpted from Anthony DiComo’s Mets Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
NEW YORK -- One ray of light, at least, snuck through Citi Field this week when the Mets activated Francisco Alvarez from the injured list about a month ahead of schedule and revealed that Francisco Lindor has -- finally -- begun participating in baseball activities.
Injuries may not be the story of the Mets’ 2026 season, but they’ve certainly been a part of it, considering Lindor, Alvarez, Juan Soto, Jorge Polanco, Luis Robert Jr., Kodai Senga and several others have spent significant time away from the team. Given the size of the hole the Mets dug themselves in April, they’ll be hard-pressed to climb their way out of it without at least some help from returning players.
So even though injuries may not be the primary reason why the Mets fell to last place in the NL East, they’re still a significant reason why the club has struggled to improve.
“From the very beginning, they were players that were supposed to be in the everyday lineup,” manager Carlos Mendoza said of Alvarez and Lindor.
For close to a month, the Mets played without four-ninths of their Opening Day starting lineup. While A.J. Ewing’s arrival, Carson Benge’s breakout and Jared Young’s resurgence all helped the Mets win their share of games over that stretch, the team hasn’t been able to rip off the type of season-defining run required to reinsert itself into the National League playoff picture.
Alvarez’s return from a torn right meniscus made the Mets a bit closer to whole, allowing team officials to dream on some improvement -- especially after Alvarez homered on Tuesday in his second game back. If Lindor can finish mending his strained left calf muscle before the end of June, his return would help layer that narrative.
But not every injury update has been good. Even if things go well for Lindor, he’s still probably multiple weeks away from a return. Polanco recently paused his rehab due to nagging Achilles discomfort and will probably be limited to DH duties once he returns. Robert hasn’t accomplished anything of substance in weeks, which means he won’t return anytime soon. Senga, meanwhile, complained of a minor but notable bout of ulnar nerve irritation in his right arm this week, but he returned on Thursday to pitch a strong start with Double-A Binghamton, throwing six innings while striking out five.
In other words, while a few Mets are making their way back, the cavalry isn’t necessarily coming. That’s why, when asked this week about the returns of some injured pieces, Mendoza was careful not to prop them up as panaceas. Even president of baseball operations David Stearns recently said that in future offseasons, he will need to reevaluate the way the team assesses injury-prone players.
“You can’t sit here and wait till Lindor, because I don’t know when that’s going to happen,” Mendoza said. “It was good to see Francisco Alvarez back in the lineup [this week], but we cannot just sit here and wait for these guys and look at them as saviors. We’ve got the guys in that room, and they have what it takes to go out there and win baseball games right now."