Jonah Tong could not escape an unrelenting tailspin.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Can the Mets?\u00a0<\/p>\n
A season that has been spiraling might have reached its roughest moment Friday, when Tong went from a fan favorite to hearing some boos in 19 minutes that tanked a game and added a bit more weight to a Mets campaign that is tanking.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Mets \u2014 who were baseball\u2019s best team in mid-June and as recently as Sept. 2 held a five-game wild-card lead \u2014 are imploding, their seventh consecutive loss arguably the ugliest of the stretch yet.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Tong did not survive the first inning. Jeff McNeil was tossed in the fourth. What might have been a night remembered for welcoming back Jacob deGrom<\/a> could be remembered for 41,040 fans in Queens beginning to say goodbye to the 2025 Mets.\u00a0<\/p>\n Jonah Tong (21) gives up six runs and is taken out in the first inning when the New York Mets played the Texas Rangers on Friday, September 12, 2025 at Citi Field in Queens, NY. Robert Sabo for NY Post<\/p>\n New York Mets pitcher Jonah Tong (21) struggled in the first inning. Robert Sabo for NY Post<\/p>\n The season\u2019s final home stand began with an 8-3 dud to the Rangers that was filled with the frustration of a team that suddenly \u2014 or maybe not so suddenly, with the Mets now 31-48 since June 13 \u2014 cannot do anything right.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cObviously very concerned,\u201d Brandon Nimmo said of the collapse of the Mets (76-72), who hold a razor-thin half-game lead over the Giants in the battle for the final NL wild-card spot. \u201cWe want to be in the playoffs, and we\u2019re not playing playoff baseball right now. But got to come into [Saturday] expecting things to change.\u201d<\/p>\n Such has been the rallying cry for half of June, most of July, most of August and most of September. A team with undeniable talent has lost at least seven straight games for a third time. A team with a seemingly bottomless wallet is four games over .500 for the first time since April 16.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re frustrated obviously. I\u2019m not going to lie,\u201d manager Carlos Mendoza said of his clubhouse. \u201cBut I\u2019m going to keep saying it: We got to get out of it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Jeff McNeil (1) reacts to getting tossed during the fourth inning when the New York Mets played the Texas Rangers on Friday, September 12, 2025 at Citi Field in Queens, NY. Robert Sabo for NY Post<\/p>\n