Mets weigh bullpen pecking order as they chase October
With a 1-0 lead in Game 1 of the wild-card series at Chavez Ravine, New York plans a bridge to Edwin Díaz while sorting its late-inning options.
In Game 1 of the National League wild-card series at Chavez Ravine, the Mets hold a 1-0 lead in the sixth as they assess who can hold the lead in the middle innings and bridge to Edwin Díaz. The question of which reliever can be trusted to preserve the advantage has taken on urgency in the final stretch of the season as New York searches for a bullpen pecking order that can support a run at October.
Nolan McLean shut down the Dodgers for 4 1/3 innings before trouble surfaced, and Tyler Rogers worked his way out of a jam to keep the score intact. The Dodgers’ bottom of the order — switch-hitter Tommy Edman, righty Andy Pages and lefty Ben Rortvedt — was set to come up next, testing the Mets’ middle-relief plan as the club weighs its options for the rest of the game. Carlos Mendoza has kept left-hander Brooks Raley in reserve for the top of the order and for Shohei Ohtani and Freddie Freeman, with the idea of saving his best arms for the late frames. Edwin Díaz is ready to take the ball from Raley and finish the final two innings if the Mets can cross the bridge to him.
The conversation around the Mets’ bullpen centers on reliability and sequencing, a theme that grows in importance as the team aims to secure a postseason berth. By design, Mendoza’s plan seeks to pair arms in ways that allow Díaz to close, while ensuring that the middle innings do not collapse the lead. The club’s evaluators want a clear pecking order that avoids ad hoc calls in high-leverage moments and aligns with the deeper bullpen options the roster has assembled this season. The ultimate goal is to reach October with a bullpen that can handle the lanes of work required in extra innings and late-game scenarios.
As the regular season winds down, the Mets are balancing short-term instincts with long-range needs, recognizing that any misstep in mid-inning management could derail a postseason bid. The hope is that a well-defined bridge crew will give Díaz the chance to do what he does best: finish games with a lead. The focus, for now, remains on incremental gains in the middle innings and a clearer sense of who will be trusted to hold a late lead when the calendar flips to October.