Francisco Lindor’s ninth-inning error caps a first half the Mets would rather forget

The New York Mets finally get a break. The All-Star break, that is. And not a moment too soon for a team that spent the first half of 2026 stumbling from one disaster to another. Sunday’s loss to the Boston Red Sox was just the latest gut punch, but this one had a fittingly ugly ending.

Francisco Lindor, one of the highest-paid players in baseball, botched a routine grounder in the top of the ninth inning. It should have been a game-ending double play. Instead, it turned into a nightmare that sent the Mets into the break on a four-game losing streak.

With one out and a runner on first, Mets closer Devin Williams induced a ground ball from Romy Gonzalez directly at Lindor. A fairly simple play — step on second, throw to first, ballgame over. Instead Lindor booted the ball, slipped trying to recover, and watched both runners reach safely. Nobody was out.

From there the wheels came off. Caleb Durbin and Andruw Monasterio both walked, forcing in a run to cut the lead to 3-2. Jarren Duran singled to tie it. Williams managed to escape further damage by getting Masataka Yoshida to hit into a double play, but the damage was done.

The Mets went quietly in the bottom of the ninth. Lindor led off with a pop-up. Anthony Seigler drove in the go-ahead run with a sacrifice fly in the 10th, and the Mets went down in order in the bottom half to seal the 4-3 loss.

It’s been that kind of season. Lindor is hitting .231 with 12 homers and has been worth just 1.3 WAR, according to FanGraphs — a far cry from the superstar production the Mets are paying him $341 million to provide. His defense, once elite, has slipped enough that errors like Sunday’s feel less like flukes and more like patterns.

The Mets head into the break at 42-46, fourth place in the NL East, 10 games behind the Braves. The bullpen is a mess. The lineup lacks consistent thump. And the schedule only gets tougher after the break with 13 straight games against winning teams.

This isn’t a team that needs a few days off. It needs a fundamental rethink — or at the very least, a trade deadline that brings in some actual help. Otherwise this first half might look like the good old days by September.