The New York Mets lost their final regular season game against the Miami Marlins on Sunday, finalizing an ignominious end to their year after a strong start to the season took a brutal turn in the standings.
The Mets surged to a lead in that National League East division after a blockbuster offseason of free agent acquisitions. But pitcher injuries and regressions on the mound drove a collapse that superstars like Pete Alonso, Juan Soto and Francisco Lindor couldn’t hold off.
Now, questions are swirling around manager Carlos Mendoza’s job security even though he has another year ahead on his contract. And the prevalence of those questions forced a response from Mendoza after the loss on Sunday, as the manager offered a two-word answer on his culpability in the collapse.
“I’m responsible,” Mendoza said, according to Mike Puma of the New York Post.
Mendoza took the blame for a stunning Mets collapse, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that president of baseball operations David Stearns or owner Steve Cohen will cut ties with him. The executives might feel that injuries as well as poor performances from trade deadline pickups Ryan Hesley and Cedric Mullins were outside of the manager’s control.
But Mendoza seemed to understand that his performance will fall under some serious scrutiny.
“Since Day 1 when you take this job, you are on the hotseat,” the manager added, per Puma. “When you are managing a team that has a lot of expectations and you go home, questions like this are going to come up and that’s part of it.”
After a seriously disappointing end to the season, Mendoza seems to have accepted that fans and the media will be questioning his job security. And when it comes to being fired after the brutal turn of the Mets’ campaign, he offered a clear response. But it remains to be seen how his bosses will view the best path forward at the helm.
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