The Mets Spent a Fortune to Win It All. They Became a $340 Million Disaster.
After having the best record in baseball in June, the team suffered a stunning collapse that ranks among the worst of the franchise’s many September meltdowns
The New York Mets, with a record-breaking $340 million payroll, failed to make the playoffs despite owner Steve Cohen’s significant investment.
After a 45-24 start and over 96% playoff odds, the Mets collapsed, finishing 38-55 in the latter half of the season.
The team’s pitching struggled, ranking 26th in ERA after mid-June, despite a lineup featuring star players like Juan Soto and Francisco Lindor.
When billionaire hedge-fund mogul Steve Cohen bought the New York Mets, he made it clear that he expected to win a championship within five years and would spare no expense in pursuit of that goal.
Five years later, Cohen has stayed true to his word.
He has poured a ridiculous amount of his own money into his team’s roster to transform the skinflint Mets into a financial juggernaut. In December, Cohen authorized a record-breaking $765 million contract to sign free-agent superstar Juan Soto, a legacy-defining move that helped send the Mets’ payroll to around $340 million.
The problem is that the players haven’t held up their end of the bargain. In their last chance to meet Cohen’s timeline, the Mets won’t be going to the World Series. They aren’t even going to the playoffs—an embarrassing, stunning collapse that immediately ranks among the worst of the Mets’ many September meltdowns.
Less than 24 hours later, Cohen apologized to Mets fans on social media, promising to “figure out the obvious and less obvious reasons why the team didn’t perform up to your and my expectations.”
“The result,” Cohen wrote, “was unacceptable.”
On the morning of June 13, the Mets possessed the best record in the major leagues at 45-24. Their odds of reaching the postseason, according to the statistics website FanGraphs, were above 96%. The only way they would be sitting at home in October would be if they completely and utterly fell apart in a way that was all but unimaginable.
Which is exactly what proceeded to happen. The Mets went 38-55 over the final 3 ½ months of their schedule, third-worst in the entire National League. They went 7-14 down the stretch, ceding the final NL wild-card spot to the upstart Cincinnati Reds.
In classic Mets fashion, it ended in about the most painful way possible. The Mets entered the final day of the regular season on Sunday needing a victory over the Miami Marlins and for the Reds to lose in Milwaukee. The Brewers, who finished the season at an MLB-best 97-65, did their part and beat Cincinnati.
It was the Mets who failed to deliver. Their beleaguered bullpen struggled again. Their lineup eked out just five hits. The Marlins, who have a history of stomping all over the Mets’ hearts, sent them packing with a 4-0 win. In the end, both squads went 83-79 in 2025. The Reds advanced by virtue of going 4-2 against the Mets, earning the tiebreaker.
Cincinnati’s surge into the playoffs is a remarkable accomplishment worthy of recognition. After a spate of health problems forced him into retirement, manager Terry Francona returned to the dugout to take over the Reds, a talented but underperforming organization in need of an experienced leader
In his first season at the helm, the 66-year-old Francona has guided the Reds to the playoffs for the first time in an uninterrupted campaign since 2013. Their prize is a trip to Los Angeles for a best-of-three series against Shohei Ohtani and the Dodgers, beginning on Tuesday.
But the conversation reverberating around the sport on Sunday was about how the team with the seemingly limitless budget imploded. They lost out to a team with a payroll of $119 million, or more than $220 million lower than their own.
“It hurts,” shortstop Francisco Lindor said. “It hurts to fail at a task.”
Fans of the Mets are accustomed to having their spirits broken. This is the franchise that dropped the last five games of the season to miss the playoffs in 1998, that blew a seven-game advantage with 17 games remaining in 2007 and that fell out of postseason contention in Game 162 in 2008. (The opponent that put them out of their misery those last two times? Also the Marlins.)
This one, however, might be the most painful debacle yet.
“It’s kind of beyond frustration,” first baseman Pete Alonso said. “It’s just straight-up disappointing, and there’s no other way to sugarcoat it.”
These Mets were supposed to be different. Cohen’s arrival in November 2020 marked the beginning of a new era in Flushing. They had all the pieces. Their front office is helmed by president of baseball operations David Stearns, one of the most heralded executives in the sport. The lineup featured a three-headed monster of Soto, Lindor and Alonso. They all delivered phenomenal performances, combining for 112 home runs, 324 runs scored and 317 RBIs.
The issue was their pitching. Despite the gigantic payroll, they spent only a small amount on their staff. They eschewed the opportunity to acquire big-name arms in favor of a collection of pitchers on the fringes of the market with plenty of upside—but even more question marks.
For a while, the approach worked. In the middle of June, the Mets had the best ERA in the majors. But they ranked 26th in ERA from that point forward. By the end, they were relying on three rookie starters who were all called up within the past six weeks.
Through it all, the idea that the Mets would really be in this position was difficult to imagine. Surely, at some point, a team with a $340 million payroll would turn things around.
Instead, the 2025 New York Mets were a $340 million disaster.