NEW YORK — The weight of a brutal season is pressing down on the Mets, and pitcher Luke Weaver isn't afraid to say it. After another gut-wrenching loss—their 17th in 20 games—Weaver opened up about a club that's suffocating under the pressure to turn things around.
"At the end of the day, this pursuit of perfection is just an ultimate pressurized failure mindset," Weaver said softly during a lengthy postgame reflection. "Everybody wants to be the hero because we care and we want to win really, really bad. I just don't think success lives in that realm. The freedom of which we play day to day is just kind of being suffocated a little bit."
The latest blow came when Weaver surrendered a go-ahead, two-run homer to Washington's CJ Abrams in the eighth inning, turning a 4-3 lead into a 5-4 loss. It's a familiar script for a team that's now lost 10 games this season after holding a lead.
New York's 10-21 record is the worst in Major League Baseball, and their .323 winning percentage through April ranks as the fourth-lowest in franchise history—trailing only the disastrous starts of the 1962, 1964, and 1981 squads. For a team that underwent a high-profile offseason makeover, bringing in stars like Bo Bichette, Marcus Semien, and Devin Williams while saying goodbye to fan favorites Pete Alonso, Brandon Nimmo, and Edwin Díaz, this stumble has been especially jarring.
There were glimpses of hope on this night. After falling behind 3-0, the Mets stormed back on MJ Melendez's three-run homer in the third and Mark Vientos' RBI double in the sixth. But the bullpen couldn't hold the line. Luis García Jr. singled on the first pitch of the eighth from Weaver, and after Daylen Lile beat a relay throw to avoid a double play, Abrams crushed a hanging changeup 403 feet to right-center.
"I want to do my job. It's that simple," Weaver said. "There are moments that feel really close, and then there's just one mistake that magnifies our situation. Of course I sit there and feel the weight of the world, like I let the team down. But at the end of the day, I do feel like I'm in a good spot. It's just... we sit there and tell you guys, 'It'll come. This is the game. This is the law of averages.' But those words just don't hold the same weight when you continue to lose day after day."
For Mets fans, the message is clear: this season is becoming a test of mental toughness as much as baseball skill. The talent is there, but the pressure is mounting—and until they find a way to play free again, the losses may keep piling up.