Mets Back Mendoza Despite Historic Struggles — And That Tells You Everything About Their Team Total

David Stearns walked up to the podium in Anaheim on Friday and said the quiet part loud: the Mets aren't firing Carlos Mendoza. Per MLB.com, the team's president of baseball operations was explicit — 'We don't view this as a manager problem, and we don't intend to make a change' — making clear that the organization sees its 10-21 record, the third-worst 31-game start in franchise history, as a roster and health problem, not a dugout one. That framing matters more than the headline.

The injury list reads like a lineup card for a contender's IL: Juan Soto, Francisco Lindor, and Jorge Polanco have all missed significant time, gutting an offense that was built to compete for a division title. New York currently ranks 29th in the majors in runs scored — not a rounding error, not bad luck, a structural collapse driven by absence. The roster Stearns constructed this winter was expensive and calculated. Without its key components healthy and in sync, it's been one of the least productive offenses in baseball.

Mendoza himself is a known quantity at this point: 182-173 over parts of three seasons, with a legitimate comeback narrative from 2024 already in his ledger. Last year the Mets started 24-35 through 59 games and still made the postseason. Stearns and Steve Cohen are betting the same resilience is baked into this group. That may be true. But it also means the front office is content to wait out this stretch rather than reset expectations — which is precisely the kind of organizational inertia that keeps bad numbers on the board longer.

For bettors, the signal here isn't about Mendoza's job security — it's about what the Mets' team total looks like while this roster is still reassembling. New York's offense has been historically anemic, ranking near the bottom of the league in nearly every production category. Until Soto and Lindor are back in the lineup together and producing at their career norms, lean hard on Mets team unders. The market still prices them as a competent offense because of name value; the actual run production says otherwise. A nine-game West Coast trip starting in Anaheim — night games, fresh arms — only amplifies that edge. First-5-inning unders are especially compelling while the lineup construction remains in flux.

The broader takeaway: Stearns' public commitment to Mendoza removes one variable of uncertainty, but it does nothing to fix the run environment. The Mets are going to keep running this offense out there, injuries and all, for the foreseeable future. That's not a turnaround story yet — that's a team total waiting to disappoint.