Jeff McNeil is back at Citi Field this weekend, and he will be doing it from the visitors dugout. The Athletics visit the Mets for a three-game series after New York dropped two straight to the Diamondbacks and slipped to 7-6 entering Friday.
The Mets still salvaged one win in the homestand, beating Arizona 4-3 in walk-off fashion on Tuesday after the game was moved up to 4:10pm because of cold conditions. Ronny Mauricio delivered the winner with a single in the 10th inning in his first at-bat of the year, but the next two nights turned quickly in the other direction: David Peterson allowed five runs through the first two innings on Wednesday, and Nolan McLean allowed one hit through five innings and pitched into the seventh on Thursday before the bullpen gave way.
That leaves the Mets trying to steady themselves against an Athletics club that arrives at 5-7 and has already put together a pair of series wins over stronger competition. The Oakland Sacramento Athletics took two of three from the Yankees in the Bronx and two of three from the Astros at home, including wins by 3-2 and 1-0 over New York and by 11-4 and 12-0 over Houston after one 12-0 loss.
The matchup also brings back a familiar face. Last April, the Mets played the Athletics in California and won two of the three games, giving New York a recent edge in the season series. This time, McNeil is the one making the trip back to a stadium he knows well, even as the Mets try to keep pace in a tight early National League race and avoid letting a cold, sparse homestand become a longer problem.
The tension for New York is that the lineup has looked thinner without Juan Soto, while the pitching staff has not consistently covered for it. Sean Manaea gave up two runs in relief on Wednesday after Luis Robert Jr. dropped a ball in the ninth, Luke Weaver blew a 1-0 lead on Thursday and allowed four runs, and Luis García was charged with three runs in the eighth. The Athletics, meanwhile, have had a clear early edge from Shea Langeliers, who was slashing.289/.333/.644 with a 182 wRC+ and 0.6 fWAR in 48 plate appearances, with five home runs tied for the league lead and a.978 OPS that ranked 11th.
If the Mets are going to avoid another flat weekend, they will need better innings from the middle of the staff and a quicker response at the plate. Against a club that has already beaten the Yankees and Astros, and with McNeil now on the other side of the field, this series is less a reunion than a test of whether New York can stop the drift before it deepens.
