The New York Mets fired Carlos Mendoza on Friday, a move that felt less like a shock and more like the final flare from a season already burning out. After a six-game losing streak, a 34-47 record, and a roster that was supposed to chase October instead of chase its own tail, the Mets handed the dugout to Andy Green as interim manager.

This is what panic looks like in Queens.

Mendoza didn’t lose his job because of one bad week. He lost it because the Mets built a win-now monster, poured money and prospects into it, and somehow ended up buried in last place in the National League East. At 13 games under .500, 15 games behind the Atlanta Braves, and sitting miles from the final NL wild-card spot, New York finally decided someone had to wear the mess.

That someone was Mendoza.

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It’s a brutal turn for a manager who, not long ago, looked like one of the better stories in baseball. In 2024, Mendoza helped drag the Mets from early-season disaster to the National League Championship Series. That run gave the organization belief. It gave the fans hope. It gave owner Steve Cohen and president of baseball operations David Stearns enough confidence to swing big again.

Then came the crash.

The Mets entered this season with championship expectations built around Juan Soto and Francisco Lindor, but the stars barely got time to share the field. Soto missed time with a right calf strain. Lindor later went down with a left calf strain and missed more than two months. Through all the chaos, the two franchise cornerstones have played only 10 games together.

That’s bad luck. But it’s not the whole excuse.

The supporting cast hasn’t delivered, either. Marcus Semien was hitting just .214 with a .613 OPS before landing on the injured list with a hip flexor strain. Bo Bichette opened the season ice cold, carrying a .583 OPS through May before finally finding some rhythm in June. Jorge Polanco has appeared in only 14 games because of an Achilles injury. Luis Robert Jr. played 24 games before a back injury knocked him out.

For a team designed to overwhelm opponents with depth, the Mets have looked thin, fragile, and weirdly lifeless.

The pitching staff has been even uglier. New York’s rotation has completely unraveled since Clay Holmes went down with a broken fibula in May. Freddy Peralta owns a 4.53 ERA. Kodai Senga was moved to the bullpen after getting rocked for a 10.08 ERA over seven starts. David Peterson, an All-Star last season, was shipped to the Cubs after posting a 6.09 ERA in 16 outings.

In June, the Mets’ staff put up a 6.35 ERA, the worst mark in Major League Baseball.

That’s not a slump. That’s a siren.

The bullpen, led by Devin Williams and Luke Weaver, has mostly held up its end of the deal. But even a good bullpen can’t keep rescuing a rotation that’s leaking runs and an offense that disappears for days at a time.

Cohen admitted the obvious: the season has been a disappointment, and Mets fans deserve better. He’s right. This wasn’t supposed to be a development year. This wasn’t supposed to be a transition year. This was supposed to be the payoff for an aggressive roster overhaul.

Instead, the Mets are staring at a 5.2% playoff chance, according to FanGraphs, and hoping Andy Green can somehow kick life into a team that has spent three months looking stunned by its own failure.

Mendoza finishes his Mets tenure at 206-199. That record doesn’t scream disaster. But in New York, context is everything. When the payroll is massive, the expectations are louder, and the roster has Soto, Lindor, Bichette, Semien, Robert and expensive pitching pieces, hovering near the bottom of the division isn’t survivable.

That’s the cold part of managing a team built like this. You can be respected. You can be liked. You can even have a recent playoff run on your résumé.

But when the season goes sideways this badly, grace doesn’t save the job.

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The Mets didn’t just fire Carlos Mendoza. They admitted the entire plan is wobbling. Green’s job now is simple in theory and brutal in reality: stop the bleeding, wake up the bats, stabilize the pitching, and give the clubhouse a pulse before the season becomes completely unsalvageable.

There’s still talent here. Soto and Lindor can change games. Bichette is heating up. Williams and Weaver give the bullpen real teeth. Baseball seasons can flip quickly.

But right now, the Mets don’t look like a sleeping giant.

They look like a very expensive warning sign.