With the 2025 regular season coming to a close on Sunday, at least three teams wasted no time in announcing decisions on the immediate futures of their managers.
But the team that, arguably, most needed a change, the New York Mets, announced that the manager who presided over one of the most catastrophic and excruciating collapses in MLB history would be back for another go at it in 2026.
In San Francisco, the Giants announced Monday that they had fired Bob Melvin, who over two seasons guided the three-time World Series-winning franchise (seven, going back to Giants days in New York) to a 161-163 record. The Bay Area club will now seek its fourth manager since 2019.
Later on Monday, the Minnesota Twins said they had decided to cut ties with their manager of seven years, 44-year-old Rocco Baldelli. In his seven seasons, the Twins payroll never ranked higher than 16th in MLB, but Baldelli guided them to three postseason appearances and first-place finishes in the American League Central Division anyway.
Mets Baseball Operations Boss Endorses Mendoza
In Pittsburgh, despite finishing in the National League Central basement 20 games under .500, the news was happier for manager Don Kelly. After he took over for fired Derek Shelton on May 9, the team was pleased enough with his performance that the Pirates handed Kelly a contract extension on Monday, meaning he will be at the Bucs’ helm in 2026. Terms of the deal were not announced.
Then there is the manager of the New York Mets. Fans have been clamoring for Carlos Mendoza to be fired since well before the team completed its 93-game-long fold with a 4-0 defeat to the Miami Marlins on Sunday.
Mendoza, Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns announced, will be back in 2026 to manage the Mets for a third season.
Mets Had Chance at Playoffs on Season’s Final Day
The Mets could have qualified for the NL playoffs despite their epic collapse if they could only win on Sunday. Instead, the loss completed a stretch of 55 losses in 93 games since June 12 â a day when the Mets held the best record in MLB at 45-24, and led the Philadelphia Phillies in the NL East by 5 1/2 games.
Instead, they finished 13 games behind the Phillies, and out of the playoffs on a tiebreaker with the Cincinnati Reds.
In his debut season with the Mets, Mendoza had a very different year. The 2024 Mets finished with 89 wins despite being 40-41 at the season’s halfway mark on June 30.
They topped the Milwaukee Brewers 2-1 in the Wild Card series, then eliminated the Phillies in four games in the NL Division Series before being stopped by the eventual World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers four games to two in the NLCS.
Owner’s Investment Gone Bad
But Mets owner Steve Cohen, perhaps sensing that club was on the verge of World Series contention, poured money into the team, running up a payroll tab of more than $342 million in 2025, second only to the Dodgers.
The result: 83 wins â six fewer than last year â and not even a playoff berth.
The 45-year-old Mendoza speaking on Sunday took accountability for the Mets’ cratered season.
“I take responsibility. I’m the manager,” he said, as quoted by the New York sports cable channel SNY. “It starts with me, and I’ve got to take a long look here â how I need to get better. That was a message to the whole team as well. This is unacceptable.”
According to Stearns, though Mendoza’s job remains secure, the same may not be true for the Mets coaching staff, whose positions would be evaluated in the weeks ahead.
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