The NBA Finals and Stanley Cup Final are in the books and summer is officially here, which means baseball takes center stage for a few months until the start of the NFL season in the fall.
Over the last couple of weeks alone, we’ve seen a stunning blockbuster trade, a switch-hitting catcher make history and several divisional races heat up as the temperatures have done the same.
After sweeping the New York Mets and winning a series against the MLB-best 49–30 Detroit Tigers, are the Tampa Bay Rays a legitimate contender? Did the Boston Red Sox make a mistake by trading away Rafael Devers? We’ll answer those questions and more below.
The Mets have reason to worry
Verdict: Fact
Cue the Friday the 13th theme. The Mets were riding high on that fateful day entering play against the Rays on June 13, boasting the best record in the National League and a 4 ½ game lead over the Philadelphia Phillies. Since that point, the Mets have played nightmarish baseball and won just one of their last 10 games. Making matters worse, the Phillies overtook them for the NL East lead after taking two of three from the not-so-Amazins’ during a June 20–22 series at Citizens Bank Park.
Let’s be clear here. It’s a long season, and the Mets are still 13 games above .500 and firmly in the mix for the division title; at worst a wild-card spot. There’s no need to panic. But worry? There are several reasons to worry.
During the Mets’ losing skid, only one team, the Texas Rangers, has scored fewer runs than New York. The Mets lineup, which features $765 million man Juan Soto, slugger Pete Alonso and star shortstop Francisco Lindor, has been shut out twice and has scored two runs or fewer four times in those 10 games.
The most concerning part for the Mets? The trio of Lindor-Soto-Alonso has mostly been highly productive in June. The rest of the batting order? Not so much. Catcher Francisco Alvarez, once the top prospect in the majors, has scuffled to a career-worst .652 OPS and on Sunday was optioned to Triple A to work through his struggles. Alvarez is far from the only underachiever, with others like Brett Baty, Luisangel Acuña and Tyrone Taylor also bringing down the offense. Simply put, if Lindor, Soto, Alonso or Brandon Nimmo aren’t hitting, the Mets are probably in trouble.
And it’s not just the lineup. The previously stout pitching staff has yielded the second-most runs in MLB since June 13 while Mets starters have pitched the seventh-fewest innings during that span, prompting manager Carlos Mendoza to lean more and more on an increasingly taxed bullpen. As you can see, it’s been a perfect storm for the Mets during this less-than-stellar stretch.
Plus, the injury bug has landed in Queens. Ace Kodai Senga, outfielder Jesse Winker and starting pitchers Tylor Megill and Sean Manaea are all either sidelined or working their way back from injuries.
In their division, the Mets have to contend with the playoff-tested Phillies and the resurgent Braves. New York is too talented to continue playing like this. But it would be a lie to say that this wasn’t a worrying stretch.
The Red Sox made a mistake trading Rafael Devers
Verdict: Fiction
Yes, the return the Red Sox received from the San Francisco Giants—pitcher Jordan Hicks (6.47 ERA in 2025) and prospects Kyle Harrison, James Tibbs and Jose Bello—was almost universally regarded as underwhelming and immediately gave Boston fans flashbacks to the Mookie Betts deal. But to be fair to the Red Sox, it’s not always easy to get good value for a player whose relationship with the club has been frayed.
Boston’s fault lies not in trading Devers once it got to that point. The Red Sox’ real sin is that they mismanaged this situation from the very start back in the spring, then backed themselves into a corner to the point where they felt the only solution was an ill-timed trade.
It was the Red Sox who, while they were in the mix to sign Alex Bregman this offseason, placated Devers and apparently assured him that his standing as the club’s third baseman was not in jeopardy, but that they would let him know if that changed. They didn’t, according to reporting from ESPN’s Jeff Passan.
It was the Red Sox who, after reportedly surprising Devers with the Bregman signing, suggested that the longtime third baseman cede his duties to Bregman without giving their star player the time he deserved to properly digest such a transition.
To be frank, the Red Sox were right to suggest that the defensively superior Bregman take over third base duties. But in relationships, communication is everything.
And in blindsiding Devers with the Bregman signing, then asking him to play first base in the aftermath of the Triston Casas injury, Boston dropped the ball.
Just look at the difference in how Devers responded to the Red Sox’ haphazard request for him to play first base versus the Giants’ seeming transparency.
“I know I’m a ballplayer but at the same time, they can’t expect me to play every single position out there,” Devers said in response to the Red Sox.
“I’m here to play wherever they want me to play,” Devers said at his introductory press conference with the Giants.
Sometimes, it’s not what you say, it’s how you say it.
Cal Raleigh has overtaken Aaron Judge in AL MVP race
Verdict: Fiction
Raleigh, the best catcher in the game, just keeps on hitting home runs and making MLB history. On June 20, Raleigh broke Hall of Famer Johnny Bench’s 55-year-old record for the most home runs by a catcher before the All-Star break, belting his 29th and 30th home runs of the season. Seattle’s backstop is currently on pace for 67 home runs, which would shatter the single-season record for the most by a catcher in a season, and would break the single-season AL home run record of 62 homers, set by New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge in 2022. In short, Raleigh is making me look foolish for betting against him.
The fact that the 2024 AL Platinum Glove winner is hitting at this level while also playing superb defense at the most physically demanding position in the sport is nothing short of astounding. In most years, Raleigh would be the runaway favorite for AL MVP.
For now though, Judge—first in OPS (1.202), wRC+ (231) and WAR (5.6)—remains the favorite for MVP even with a 10-game stretch entering Tuesday during which he posted a .200/.349/.400 slash line with a 37.2% strikeout rate. Judge, like Raleigh, is an above-average defender. Plus, the Yankees slugger is still pacing for the highest single-season wRC+ since Barry Bonds in 2002. It’s safe to say Judge is the closest thing we’ve seen to Bonds since the slugger overtook the all-time homer record.
That doesn’t mean the MVP race is over, though. Raleigh is easily the second-most valuable player in the AL by a wide margin. And should Judge, riding high with a .453 BABIP, experience some regression to the mean on balls in play, it could further open the door to Raleigh winning the award.
For now, this is comfortably a two-horse race, with Judge maintaining the slight edge.
The Rays are a legitimate American League contender
Verdict: Fact
On Memorial Day, the Rays were 27–26 and six games back of the first-place New York Yankees in the American League East. Since then, Tampa Bay has gone 16–9, boasts the best run differential in MLB and has defeated the then-National League-best Mets and American League-best Tigers in back-to-back series.
And not only did they beat the two best teams in baseball at the time, they outscored them 45–29 combined over the course of those six games.
Tampa Bay has more than just numbers on their side. There’s a level of moxie and confidence in this team. They’re never truly out of a game. Look no further than their stunning comeback against the Baltimore Orioles on June 18. The Rays were down 8–0 after two innings, then, frame-by-frame, closed the deficit with an unrelenting lineup and shutdown bullpen, stunning Baltimore to win the game 12–8 and match the biggest comeback in franchise history.
Here’s what makes Tampa Bay truly scary as a legitimate AL contender. Complete with all the hallmarks of past successful Rays teams, Tampa Bay can beat clubs in a multitude of ways—they have a strong rotation and an elite bullpen, they don’t beat themselves in the field or on the basepaths and they have a proven manager, Kevin Cash, who has already taken the club to one World Series.
They may not win the division, but the Rays look playoff-bound and should not be discounted if they’re still playing in October.
Ronald Acuña Jr. should start in the All-Star Game
Verdict: Fact
I can’t believe I’m saying this, because Juan Soto, Teoscar Hernandez or James Wood (only 678,358 votes?!?!) would each be deserving of starting for the NL. But Acuña, who has surged from 596,363 votes and sixth among outfielders in the first ballot update to 1,140,061 votes and fourth among outfielders in the second ballet update, has been that good.
Since quite literally the first pitch he saw in his return to play on May 23 after recovering from ACL surgery, Acuña has been one of the two or three best hitters in MLB. In the 28 games he’s played since, the 27-year-old ranks first in batting average, first in on-base percentage, fifth in slugging percentage, tied for first in runs scored and second in WAR.
Simply amazing. And while it feels wrong to leapfrog Acuña to All-Star starting status over players like Soto and Wood, who have played twice as many games, it feels worse to not properly credit the Atlanta Braves star for this level of play.
Plus, this year’s All-Star Game is at Truist Park in Atlanta. How cool would it be to see the reception Acuña receives from the hometown fans if he were to run out onto the field as an All-Star starter on July 15?
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Fact or Fiction: The Mets Have Reason to Worry.