New York Mets Mike Vaccaro New-look Mets still trying to escape last year’s issues By Mike Vaccaro Published April 1, 2026, 8:16 p.m. ET Cardinals' Nathan Church, right, slides safely in to second under the tag of Marcus Semien during the Mets' 2-1, 11-inning loss on April 1, 2026 in St. Louis. AP The loss? You can live with a loss. You can even live with a series loss. It’s highly likely that even the Dodgers might drop a series on their way to 140 wins. Hell, even the Yankees might drop one on their way to 145.
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Even bad ones, tough ones, like the 2-1, 11-inning pillow fight setback the Mets suffered in St. Louis on Wednesday. The Cardinals didn’t win the game as much as shrug their shoulders and reluctantly agree not to lose it. It was a very gentlemanly afternoon under gray skies and the Cardinals won on a pop fly. Which was perfect.
This is the part of the column, and the season, where we are mandated by constitutional decree to remind you that it is only six games, that it is only one week, that there’s a lot of ballgame left, a lot of season. The Mets are 3-3. They aren’t 0-6. With just two or three better at-bats in a couple of games, they could easily be 5-1 and cruising to San Francisco.
