The Mets won a game. So let’s not bury the lede. That hasn’t happened often enough in 2026. Not even close. 

So here is to avoiding a sweep at home against the Cardinals with a 5-4 victory Thursday built around Juan Soto’s hitting brilliance and the best unit on the team, the pen, providing 4 ¹/₃ bulletproof innings. 

Now back to the big picture. Because this was not a good three days. The Cardinals took two of three at Citi Field and lead the NL wild card, though they spent the offseason trading veterans (Nolan Arenado, Willson Contreras, Brendan Donovan and Sonny Gray) and thus stripping their season-opening payroll under $100 million in a 162-game season for the first time since 2010. 

St. Louis spent less in total major league free agency ($18 million) than the Mets are investing in Jorge Polanco in 2026 ($20 million) to basically not play baseball.