NY Mets sloppiness continued in another frustrating loss to the Braves

There’s a certain art to unraveling. Some teams do it quietly, a frayed thread tugged loose in the ninth inning. The New York Mets, however, have taken to it like a toddler with a roll of toilet paper, unspooling with the kind of reckless abandon that leaves you staring at the mess, wondering how it happened so fast. There are losses you can stomach, and hard-fought battles that don’t end your way. Then there are nights like this, where defeat hangs in the air before the first pitch, and every inning confirms the suspicion. What began as a chance to rebound instead played out like a rerun, same errors, different actors, and another opportunity left soaking in the Atlanta humidity.

The Mets’ sloppy play was on full display again Wednesday, continuing a troubling trend against the Braves.

Sloppy baseball can be forgiven in small doses. What the Mets are doing is something else entirely. Over the last two nights, they’ve turned routine innings into blooper reels, one mental mistake after another, each one more avoidable than the last.

Paul Blackburn didn’t need to outduel Chris Sale to give his team a shot. He just needed to keep things steady. Instead, he opened the game by serving up a home run on his first pitch and later uncorked a spike that turned into a run, not because of the wild pitch itself, but because Luis Torrens tried using his mask as a glove. Another run would later score on a separate wild pitch because when the Mets make a mess, they rarely settle for one spill. That’s not quirky. That’s basic baseball gone missing.

And that’s been the theme. From Álvarez misplaying a potential rundown in extra innings, to Soto getting doubled off on a great catch late in the game, the Mets have looked completely unprepared in the game's most fundamental moments. Even the small things, like five empty singles and a quiet walk, feel louder when paired with defensive lapses and sloppy execution.

This isn’t about getting beat by better teams. It’s about handing them the blueprint. When your own mistakes are doing the damage, the scoreboard’s just a formality. The Mets didn’t lose the last two games because of talent gaps. They lost because they played like a team that can’t get out of its way.

If baseball is about fundamentals, the Mets have been missing the mark lately. It’s not just facing tough opponents; it’s the mental errors and careless moments turning routine plays into costly mistakes. Until they tighten up the basics, no amount of talent or promise will translate into victories. Sloppiness isn’t just frustrating, it’s a problem that’s quickly becoming their biggest hurdle.