RJ Hamster
Mets move on from manager. What comes next?
Friday, June 26
Welcome to The Pregame Lineup, a weekday newsletter that gets you up to speed on everything you need to know for today’s games, while catching you up on fun and interesting stories you might have missed. Today’s edition is brought to you by David Adler.
Another big-time manager is out. But how much of a difference can it make?
The Mets dismissed Carlos Mendoza this morning, at the halfway point of one of their most disappointing seasons in recent memory.
Is it too little, too late for the Mets? We’ll see.
Through 81 games, the Mets are a season-worst 13 games below .500 at 34-47. New York is firmly in last place of a National League East division where every other team is .500 or better, and 9 1/2 games back in the Wild Card standings.
This is the first time the Mets have let a manager go mid-season since Willie Randolph in May 2008, and the move comes less than two years after Mendoza led the team to the 2024 National League Championship Series. Taking over as interim basis is Andy Green, the former Padres manager who was serving as New York’s vice president of player development.
Maybe Green can give the Mets a spark over the second half of their season. Managerial changes have led to playoff runs before, but the Mets have a steep uphill climb ahead of them.
Really, the biggest immediate result of the Mets’ managerial move could be pushing the team toward selling at the Trade Deadline.
Two other teams before the Mets had already dismissed high-profile skippers this season. The Red Sox fired former World Series-winning manager Alex Cora in late April, with Chad Tracy stepping in in Boston. Days later, the Phillies dismissed manager Rob Thomsondespite four straight playoff appearances entering this year. Don Mattingly took the helm in Philly.
Those two firings have produced different results. The Red Sox, even after their shakeup, are still in a similar spot to the Mets — they’re 13 games under .500 at 33-46 and in last place in the American League East.
But the Phillies? They’ve surged under Mattingly. The Phils are 36-17 since Donnie Baseball took over and are now in control of the top NL Wild Card spot. They’re also just four games back of the Braves in the NL East.
Green’s first game as Mets manager will be against those very Phillies — the Mets open a rivalry series against the Phils tonight at Citi Field (7:10 p.m. ET, MLB.TV).
The Mets don’t have the runway that the Phillies had, but maybe they can get something, anything, going under Green. They at least finally have both of their superstar hitters back in the lineup going forward, Juan Soto and Francisco Lindor. Those two have played precious few games together in 2026, as both have dealt with injuries at various points of the season.
“Our commitment to bringing our fans a championship-caliber team has not changed,” Mets owner Steve Cohen said in a statement today. “There is no sugar-coating it: This season has been a disappointment and our fans deserve better than what we’ve delivered.”
GAMES OF THE NIGHT
Cy Young contenders and rivalry showdowns highlight tonight’s games to watch.
Reds at Pirates (6:40 p.m. ET, MLB.TV)
Paul Skenes has kept himself in the NL Cy Young conversation with a 2.86 ERA and 107 strikeouts. But he and the Pirates are struggling to win games. Skenes is 0-5 in his last seven starts, and Pittsburgh has lost all seven of those games. Skenes’ last win was May 12 against the Rockies.
Cubs at Brewers (7:45 p.m. ET, Apple TV)
This NL Central rivalry series between the first-place Brewers and second-place Cubs should start off with a bang tonight. Milwaukee has Cy Young favorite Jacob Misiorowski on the mound, with his Major League-leading 1.45 ERA and 138 strikeouts. The Miz beat the Cubs handily in his first start against them this season, throwing six shutout innings with eight K’s on May 19.
Dodgers at Padres (9:45 p.m. ET, Apple TV)
A big series begins out west as San Diego’s Walker Buehler, who’s been on both sides of the Dodgers-Padres rivalry, draws the start against his old team. He’s been great this month, with a 1.71 ERA in four June starts. But the Dodgers still sit on baseball’s thronefor now, with MLB’s best record at 52-29.
FORMER MVP TURNING BACK THE CLOCK
A 38-year-old former MVP is turning back the clock and looks like one of the best hitters in the league again.
That would be Paul Goldschmidt, who has suddenly reversed the aging curve in 2026.
Goldy has been a top-10 hitter in the Majorsfor the Yankees, with a .933 OPS entering tonight’s game against the rival Red Sox (7:10 p.m. ET, MLB.TV).
Goldschmidt’s resurgence means that, even with Aaron Judge out, the Yankees have still had one of the best 1-2 punches in baseball between him and Ben Rice. The Bronx Bombers are currently the only team with multiple players who have an OPS over .900 across at least 200 plate appearances.
How has Goldschmidt done it? Mike Petriello investigates here. He finds three big reasons for Goldy’s success, but we want to focus on one of them here: Goldschmidt is absolutely crushing lefties.
The Yankees are putting Goldschmidt in the most advantageous situations — over 40% of his plate appearances this season are against left-handed pitching.
And he’s rewarding them for that. Goldy is batting .418 with a 1.323 OPS and eight home runs against lefties. Of the 144 hitters with at least 75 plate appearances against left-handed pitchers this season, Goldschmidt has been the very best hitter of them all.
Highest OPS vs. LHP in 2026
Min. 75 PA vs. LHP
- Paul Goldschmidt (Yankees): 1.323
- Miguel Vargas (White Sox): 1.108
- Corbin Carroll (D-backs): 1.099
- Otto Lopez (Marlins): 1.085
- Shea Langeliers (A’s): 1.053
He’s dominating basically every lefty he faces, even the best of them — case in point, his two-homer game against Tarik Skubal the other day — even if he has “no idea” why.
AROUND THE LEAGUE
Here’s some more news and notes from around the Majors.
• The 2026 All-Star finalists were announced last night, as well as the two players who clinched starting spots at the All-Star Game as the top overall vote-getters in each league during Phase 1 of balloting. Those two players: Shohei Ohtani in the National League and Ernie Clement (!!) in the American League. Ohtani is an All-Star for a sixth straight season, while Clement is an All-Star for the first time in his career.
• We’ve literally never seen this before: The Phillies came back to win a third straight game against the Nationals with a go-ahead home run in the ninth inning. The Phils are the only team in MLB history to hit a go-ahead homer in the ninth inning of three consecutive games, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
• The Red Sox finally managed to beat Cam Schlittler, who had dominated them in each of his first three career starts against them. And the Sox got that series-opening win against their archrivals even though they didn’t land in Boston until 5 a.m. due to mechanical troubles on their team flight.
• Tatsuya Imai is looking more and more comfortable in the Major Leagues. The Astros right-hander has now turned in back-to-back double-digit strikeout outings after a rocky start to his MLB career. Yesterday’s game — six scoreless innings with 10 K’s to beat the Tigers — might even be his best yet, even though he was part of a combined no-hitter a month ago.
GET THAT DOG HIS DOG
Envy, thy name is Doggo.
You might’ve seen the viral video this week from the Marlins’ Bark at the Park night, when one lucky pup feasted on a hot dog while another dog stared longingly from the seat behind.
But don’t you worry — he’s about to have his day.
The dog-less dog, a 6-year-old cunucu named Jonah, has been found. And the Marlins — after putting out a “Wanted” poster for “a very good boy” — are going to make Jonah’s dream day at loanDepot park come true.
So Jonah will finally get his Marlins dog … even though his favorite food is actually ice cream. That’s a dog with good taste.
GET READY FOR PHASE 2 OF ALL-STAR VOTING
Now that the All-Star finalists have been announced, it’s almost time to decide the starters for the 2026 Midsummer Classic.
Phase 2 of All-Star voting will open at noon ET on Monday and last for 72 hours, concluding at noon ET on Thursday.
Once per 24-hour period, fans can vote for the All-Star Game starters they want to see by filling out a 2026 KONAMI eBaseball MLB All-Star Ballot at MLB.com/vote, on all 30 MLB club sites and on the MLB App and MLB Ballpark App.
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