Coming off their series win in Atlanta, the Philadelphia Phillies find themselves a game and a half ahead of the New York Mets for first in the NL East. Despite their 2-4 road trip, the Phillies actually gained ground on the Mets, thanks to a 2-5 week of their own.
Over the weekend, the Mets took a page out of the Phillies' book and got swept by the lowly Pirates in Pittsburgh, with their struggles in the Steel City being historic.
Mets one-up Phillies' embarrassing sweep in Pittsburgh in historic fashion
The Mets' 12-1 loss on Sunday to complete the sweep was their 13th in their last 16 games. It was the third straight game that the Mets had been absolutely crushed by Pittsburgh, which set a franchise record for the worst combined score in a single series.
Gary Cohen just said this is the most lopsided series by score (30-4) in Mets' history. Pretty much sums up a weekend of embarrassment that's almost beyond comprehension, considering how bad the Pirates are. Truly hard to believe how completely this has unraveled.
— John Harper (@NYNJHarper) June 29, 2025
The Mets' starting pitching allowed 14 earned runs during the series, and their pitching staff appears to finally be coming back down to earth after carrying the team through the first few months of the season. Everything is reeling for the team, as their unexpected bright spot Griffin Canning was lost for the season with an Achilles injury, and he joins Kodai Senga and Tylor Megill as Mets starters who have recently been placed on the IL.
Even funnier, the 11-run loss in the finale came less than a day after a players-only meeting was held in an effort to turn things around, per MLB.com's Will Aldrich. Former Phillies outfielder Travis Jankowski even got roughed up on the mound as the Mets had waived the white flag. The Pirates' sweep of the Phillies in early June had the team 4.5 games behind the Mets in the division, and it appeared the sky was falling for Philadelphia.
They had lost nine out of 10, then followed that up by rattling off nine wins in 11 games to regain their footing in the division. The Mets hope they can do the same to stay afloat, as does their billionaire owner, Steve Cohen, who's doing all he can to try to remain optimistic about his team's struggles with a hilarious cope.
Tough stretch , no sugarcoating it . I didn’t see this coming . I’m as frustrated as everybody else . We will get through this period . Our injured pitching will come back over the next few weeks . It is unlikely the team’s hitting with RISP will continue at this weak pace. Keep…
— Steven Cohen (@StevenACohen2) June 30, 2025
The Phillies and Mets have traded spots atop the division multiple times this season. While that trend is very likely to continue, it feels unlikely that the Mets can go on a sustained hot streak like we've seen from the Phillies given their slew of pitching injuries.