Senga Has No Return Date, Robert Jr. Awaiting MRI: The Mets' Injury Crisis Is Getting Worse

The Mets have a two-front injury problem and no clear answers on either side. As ESPN reported, right-hander Kodai Senga — placed on the IL Tuesday with lumbar spine inflammation — said Wednesday he has no timetable to return. Hours later, manager Carlos Mendoza confirmed center fielder Luis Robert Jr. was sent for an MRI on his lower back after sitting out two straight games with tightness that showed no signs of improvement. "We gotta wait and see what the MRI says," Mendoza said. "Whether we need to put him on the IL or he continues to be day to day."

Senga's situation is the more structurally alarming of the two. The 33-year-old right-hander has been battling back discomfort since spring training — managing it quietly until it became, in his own words, "difficult to stand on one leg." He received an epidural Monday after an MRI, and the absence of a return timeline is the kind of language that signals this is not a two-week rest situation. His 2026 line already tells the story of a compromised pitcher: a 17.28 ERA over his last three starts before the IL stint, pulled with two outs in the third inning in his final outing. The back wasn't just flaring — it was actively dismantling his mechanics.

Robert's arc is almost a parallel narrative. He arrived in New York after the White Sox trade carrying a well-documented lower-body injury history — just 210 games played over two seasons, a .660 OPS, and a frame that keeps breaking down. The Mets managed his spring carefully for exactly this reason. He rewarded them with a walk-off homer on Opening Weekend and a hot start, but he's since cooled to a .224/.327/.329 slash line in 98 plate appearances, and now his back is forcing the issue. An MRI that shows structural damage could mean a prolonged IL stint for a player New York desperately needs at full strength to make their outfield math work.

From a market standpoint, Senga's absence reshapes how to think about Mets team totals and opposing hitter props for the next several weeks. With Senga unavailable and his rotation spot needing a fill-in, New York's staff ERA and WHIP figures are going to take a hit. Lean toward overs on team totals when the Mets start a replacement-level arm, and expect opposing batters — particularly those with strong contact profiles — to see elevated hit and total-bases ceilings. Robert's status matters most for the Mets' own offensive props: his absence from the lineup removes one of their few genuine power threats, making Mets team totals incrementally harder to reach against quality pitching.

The compounding factor here is roster depth. The Mets aren't a team that can absorb two simultaneous contributors hitting the IL without meaningful regression at the lineup and rotation level. If Robert's MRI comes back with anything more than mild inflammation, expect New York's run-scoring output to dip noticeably — their team total has been hovering around 4.5 on most nights, and that number looks soft against mid-tier or better starters while Robert sits. Fade Mets team total overs in the short term and keep an eye on the umpire-assigned strikeout environment when rotation replacements take the ball — those arms tend to generate swing-and-miss at a far lower clip than Senga's ceiling suggested.