Mets Notebook: Team not writing themselves off despite rough season

Abbey Mastracco, New York Daily NewsSun, June 7, 2026 at 9:59 PM UTC·4 min read

SAN DIEGO — It’s only the beginning of June, yet after Sunday, the Mets will be done playing games on the West Coast, at least, for now. While many are ready to write off the 2026 season as a wash, the Mets aren’t ready to give in yet.

“We’re done for the regular season,” manager Carlos Mendoza said Sunday at Petco Park. “I’m trying to be optimistic here.”

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After Sunday, the Mets will have played 35 road games, but only played seven in the Eastern Time Zone. In April alone, they flew to California three times without a day off ahead of the trip, going to San Francisco after St. Louis, and Los Angeles and Anaheim after homestands. The current trip, which began Monday in Seattle, was also after a homestand.

Every road trip will be in the Central or Eastern Time Zones for the rest of the season.

“I love California, but I’m happy to just be going to Chicago, which is maybe the furthest west we go again,” said left-hander Sean Manaea. “It was definitely grind, but I’m proud of the way we handled everything and I’m excited for the rest of the season.”

Though Mendoza isn’t willing to concede that the road schedule has played a role in the team’s early-season struggles, players have mentioned that it hasn’t been easy. The time change disrupts sleep and can make it tough to recover after intense games.

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It’s also tough to get players out to the West Coast from Syracuse when needed, as they had to in Anaheim after Ronny Mauricio was injured, but they’re far from the only team that’s ever had to send a minor leaguer on a cross-country redeye.

“The schedule is the schedule, man,” Mendoza said. “We knew right away when we saw it that we had these West Coast trips early on, but it’s part of it. Everybody deals with it, whether it’s early, middle or late, so that’s not an excuse.”

The training staff has paid extra attention to sleep, nutrition, and hydration during these West Coast trips, especially in Denver, with the altitude, and in Phoenix, with the heat. Those cities were part of a three-city trip that started in Anaheim and had an off-day in between series against the Rockies and Diamondbacks. They’ve had off-days on most of these trips, which Mendoza said have been helpful, and off-days on the back end once they’ve returned to New York.

Adopting a schedule where all 30 teams face one another at least once during the season has resulted in shorter homestands and more frequent trips. Teams tend to alternate playing one week at home and one week on the road, instead of longer homestands and longer road trips.

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It’s nothing the Mets, or any other team, for that matter, can control.

“You get on a plane,” Mendoza said. “And you go play.”

GO NEW YORK GO

Maybe the Mets can blame the road schedule for one thing: A general lack of interest in the Knicks.

The biggest Knicks fan on the Mets is Francisco Lindor, who attended a playoff game with John Franco earlier in the postseason, but with the shortstop rehabbing his strained calf, the rest of the clubhouse is somewhat devoid of fans interested in the NBA Finals.

Brooks Raley grew up a San Antontonio Spurs fan before losing a bet in college that required him to switch his allegiance to the Dallas Mavericks. The left-hander has stuck with the Mavs, despite his buddies back home ribbing him about the Spurs and Victor Wembanyama. Not even Wemby could Raley back, but at least he pays his bets.

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Carson Benge, an Oklahoma native, was rooting for the Oklahoma City Thunder since it’s his state’s only professional team. When the Spurs eliminated the Thunder, his interest waned. Aside from baseball, Benge doesn’t have much interest in sports anyway.

Jared Young is more interested in the Stanley Cup Final, which isn’t surprising for a Canadian. He’s hoping for another Vegas Golden Knights win for Mitch Marner so the former Toronto Maple Leafs forward can dispel the narrative that he was the reason for the Leafs’ continued playoff failures. However, he has a passing interest in the Knicks at the moment, seeing how the city has rallied around the team.

Mark Vientos appears to be the biggest Knicks fan on the team outside of Lindor. The first baseman grew up watching the Miami Heat, but with family from New York, he’s always liked the Knicks as well.

One person who will undoubtedly be watching is Mendoza.

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“Of course,” he said.

Benge was given the game ball from his 5-for-5 game Sunday and immediately gave it to his father so he wouldn’t lose it. He’s not sure what he’ll do with it just yet, but at least he knows it’s safe.