The New York Mets entered 2026 with the highest payroll in Major League Baseball. Twenty-three games in, they own the worst record in the sport — and just snapped a 12-game losing streak that’s the franchise’s longest since 2002.
See the damageThree of Steve Cohen’s premium bats, three early-season faceplants. wRC+ of 100 is league average.
Now also out “a while” with a calf injury after the streak. The franchise cornerstone is producing 29% below league average at the plate.
The $765M offseason headliner missed time with a right calf strain. Came back the night the streak ended. Expected to carry the lineup; can’t carry it from the trainer’s table.
The free-agent middle-infield bet. So far: a slugging line that wouldn’t play in Triple-A.
53 wRC+ means he’s been roughly half a league-average hitter. The veteran steady-hand signing has been neither steady nor a hand.
$102.1M
Combined 2026 salary of Lindor, Bichette, and Semien. Combined wRC+: well below the line a Triple-A call-up would put up. There’s a reason every “Are the Mets okay?” column reaches for that number.
A few things to keep in mind as you watch this slow-motion 9-figure crash.
The Mets are the first team in MLB history to follow a winning season with a 12-game losing streak in April of the next year. Steve Cohen has publicly batted down rumors that the 2026 payroll would slip below 2025’s $342M figure — calling critics “the usual idiots misinterpreting.” The 7-16 start is the worst opening 23 games in baseball, and the rotation has matched the offense step-for-step in falling apart. Soto returned. Lindor went down. The streak ended. The hole did not.