On May 25, 2026, the New York Mets opened a three-game series at Citi Field against the Cincinnati Reds, and A.J. Ewing — billed as a potential spark plug for the wounded offense — arrives with the clubhouse under pressure.
The numbers are blunt. The Mets entered the weekend 22-31 after being swept by the Marlins over Memorial Day weekend, scoring two total runs in three games and falling firmly back into last place in the National League East. Cincinnati arrived 27-25 overall but slumped to 7-14 in May, a month that included an earlier eight-game losing streak during which the Reds were walked off three days in a row by the Cubs.
Those figures matter because both teams are trying to reset. The Mets had won the Subway Series and split a series with the Nationals earlier in May, a hot stretch that now looks distant after the offensive collapse in Miami. The Reds, meanwhile, have shown signs of life after their brutal skid; Elly De La Cruz has 25 extra-base hits and nine stolen bases, and Sal Stewart has 21 extra-base hits and 10 stolen bases, evidence of the lineup’s power-speed mix even if May’s ledger is poor. Pitching chatter has followed Chase Burns, who has been described in some circles as being in the Cy Young conversation, underscoring how the rotation could tilt games despite recent team inconsistencies.
Context is immediate: this is not an exhibition. The Mets’ injuries are extensive and public — Francisco Lindor, Clay Holmes, Francisco Alvarez, Kodai Senga, Luis Robert Jr., Jorge Polanco, Ronny Mauricio, Young and Mike Tauchman were listed as unavailable — and reporters have noted an illness sweeping the clubhouse. Expectations for reinforcements were already thin; Carson Benge was expected to get on base at a high clip, and veterans Bo Bichette, Brett Baty and Mark Vientos were called on to produce at a high level. Against that backdrop, a sweep in Miami that yielded two runs over three games left the Mets with a narrow margin for error entering a home stand that began Friday.
The friction is obvious. A local preview predicted the Mets would lose two of three to the Reds, and the betting of public opinion is not far off the raw metrics: a slumping offense, battered depth and a Mets record that underlines sustained trouble. At the same time, the Reds are coming off one of their worst stretches of the season and remain a team with players capable of changing a series — De La Cruz and Stewart’s extra-base hit totals and stolen bases are real game-changers, even if the club’s May record is ugly. That contradiction — a Mets lineup missing key pieces and producing almost no offense versus a Reds club that can scuttle between flashes of recovery and deep slumps — frames every pitch at Citi Field this weekend.
The immediate story is simple and consequential: can the Mets manufacture runs at home before the injury list deepens, or will the Reds take advantage of a battered lineup and a fragile clubhouse? The clearest answer will come in how Ewing and the hitters respond over three games — if the expected spark doesn’t arrive, the Mets’ slide, already visible in the 22-31 ledger and the two-run Miami weekend, looks likely to deepen, and the Reds’ late-May recovery will feel more like a turning point than a reprieve.
