NY Mets schedule ignores NL East teams for a full month's worth of games

The “balanced” Major League Baseball schedule means everyone plays each other at least once while also eliminating the competitiveness within the division. The days of the New York Mets facing the other NL East clubs 19 times a year are over with. One series at home and one on the road has been eliminated on the schedule to work in more games against American League clubs.

Unbelievably, the Mets won’t play another NL East club until April 28th when they host the Washington Nationals. By that point, they will have already gotten a series against the Athletics and Minnesota Twins out of the way. They’ve even made two separate trips to California, once to play the San Francisco Giants and another against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

New York won’t even see the Atlanta Braves until June 12th with June 18th being their first look at the Philadelphia Phillies. They must have a lot of NL East opponents at the end of the year then, right?

The Mets schedule in September is a little NL East-heavy, but still lacking

The Mets finish with the Nationals and they do see the Phillies and Miami Marlins for a series. They’re completely done with the Braves on August 12th. It’s both a sigh of relief and a not-so-satisfying way to schedule the 162-game schedule.

The story wasn’t much different last year. August 24th was the final matchup between the Mets and Braves. They faced the other three clubs from the NL East in September, but they also had games on the April schedule to pit the Mets against their rivals.

June 17th was the first game the Mets and Braves played in 2025. The season spiral had already begun, making it feel even worse to see Atlanta sweep New York right after the sinking began against the Tampa Bay Rays.

Both series against the Braves were stacked in the same month with the other two coming in August. It can’t be easy to schedule matchups against 29 teams in a balanced way. For the second straight year, the Mets-Braves showdown has to wait and when it does happen, they’ll come quickly.

There’s both an advantage and disadvantage that can’t be predicted with a schedule like this. Catch a time at the right time due to injuries and maybe you can get away with a clean sweep. Face them in a hot streak and an otherwise weak ball club might get the best of you.