The New York Mets are in a desperate fight for their season, having lost 31 of 49 games since mid-June. They entered the Tuesday game after winning the fight match-up in a 13-3 strong win. They are trying to do anything to stay afloat in this late-season run. After falling behind early in the game 0-2, the Mets made a great comeback for five runs in the fifth inning that gave them a 5-2 lead. The bullpen bridge of Huascar Brazoban and Tyler Rogers looked strong through the seventh. Everything was looking good, and manager Carlos Mendoza hoped Ryan Helsley would steady the late innings.

But he surrendered a game-tying, two-run home run to former Met Harrison Bader. After walking the next batter, the manager had to move closer to Edwin Diaz. But in the end, everything went right, with Diaz striking out four of five batters, and Brandon Nimmo delivered a walk-off single in the ninth, securing a tight 6-5 win.

The Mets acquired Ryan Helsley from the St. Louis Cardinals around the July 30–31 deadline and Tyler Rogers. He posted a 3.00 ERA with twenty-one saves before the trade. Since his arrival, Helsley has posted his career-worst performance.  Helsley has a 0-3 record with a 10.38 ERA. In 8⅔ innings with the Mets, he has allowed 14 runs (10 earned) and blown all four of his save opportunities.

After the game, Carlos Mendoza went on high alert.  “Too good of a stuff for them to be taking some really good swings on fastballs, get really good takes on sliders,” Mendoza said. “We got to look back and see what we’re missing.”  His words pointed directly to tipping pitches.

Carlos Mendoza’s concern is that hitters somehow know what’s coming. “Because for those guys or for teams to have comfortable at-bats like that, something is going on here that we have to figure out,” he concluded.

The frustrating part is that the Mets know what Helsley can be.

Carlos Mendoza’s ghost of a closer

Last year, he led all of Baseball with a Cardinals franchise-record 49 saves in  53 opportunities, paired with a 2.04 ERA and a 7-4 record and won the Trevor Hoffman National League Reliever of the Year Award.

The talent is clearly still in there, and no one understands this better than the Mets’ closer Edwin Diaz, who has a 1.60 ERA with 76 strikeouts in just over 50 innings this year. He himself endured his own nightmare season with a  5.59 ERA in 2019 when he was booed often at Citi Field. “I’ve been through that,” Diaz said on Helsley’s struggle. “My advice to him is just stay with your head up. We trust him. We know what pitcher he is. He’s one of the best closers in the game.”

And how are the other two trade deadline acquisitions doing so far for the 71-match (71–61 as of Aug. 27, 2025) winning team? Soto has been largely reliable since his July 25 acquisition, including earning a win against the Braves on August 12. His ERA with the Mets has stayed in the low-2.00s range across his first dozen appearances. And in 13 appearances with New York, Tyler Rogers has a 0-1 record with a 2.03 ERA in 13.1 innings.

But with only 30 games left and a thin Wild Card lead, the Mets need 2024’s version of Helsley. So the question remains: Can the Mets solve this mystery and get Helsley right before it’s too late?