{"id":123189,"date":"2026-06-01T08:00:26","date_gmt":"2026-06-01T12:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/?p=123189&preview=true&preview_id=123189"},"modified":"2026-05-31T22:23:59","modified_gmt":"2026-06-01T02:23:59","slug":"how-the-mets-starting-rotation-shapes-up-heading-into-june","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2026\/06\/01\/how-the-mets-starting-rotation-shapes-up-heading-into-june\/","title":{"rendered":"How the Mets Starting Rotation Shapes Up Heading into June"},"content":{"rendered":"

Through two months of the 2026 MLB season, the New York Mets sit at 26-33 and just a half game up on the Miami Marlins for fourth place in the National League East. Well short of expectations at this point, and it’s largely because of two factors: Their offense being among the bottom of the league in every statistical category. Then, of course, injuries to key players. That leaves the starting rotation. Despite other factors, they’ve largely been solid, but they’re now in a bit of flux since Clay Holmes<\/a>‘ injury.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n

How the Mets Starting Rotation Shapes Up Heading into June<\/h2>\r\n

\"NY<\/p>\r\n

Mets Need Nolan McLean to Get Back on Track<\/h3>\r\n

Nolan McLean<\/a> has been awful over his last three starts. Before his most recent start on Sunday afternoon against the Marlins, McLean had allowed 13 earned runs over his last two starts and hit four batters\u2014both losses for the Mets. On Sunday, while the Mets won the game 10-1 over the Marlins, it wasn’t a good start for McLean either. McLean threw five innings and only allowed one earned run, but he was wild with his command and mechanics and walked five Marlins while hitting another. That’s five straight games where McLean has hit a batter.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n

It was never going to be easy for the rookie right-hander, and he’s only pitched in 20 career games for New York. However, a lot is riding on him, and his fixing his mechanics is critical for the Mets. McLean has to be the ace of the Mets’ rotation.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n

Peralta Must Be More Consistent\u00a0\u00a0<\/h3>\r\n

Freddy Peralta’s <\/a>inconsistencies have been well documented <\/a>so far, but it still goes without saying that the Mets need more from him. They acquired him from the Milwaukee Brewers for prospects Brandon Sproat and Jett Williams in the offseason. While he hasn’t been “bad,” his numbers don’t match last year’s. He’s 3-4 with a 3.55 ERA in 2026. In his last start against the Marlins over the weekend, he only went 4 2\/3 innings and allowed seven hits with two earned runs. He has a 4.86 ERA over his last three starts.<\/p>\r\n

Peralta and McLean, with Holmes out, have to be the cogs in the Mets’ rotation. New York needs them to give them a decent chance to win every time they take the mound. They simply can’t be having hard times blowing 5-0 leads (like McLean against the Nationals) or struggling to hold on to a four-run lead (Peralta against the Marlins). The Mets acquired Peralta to set themselves up at the top of the rotation. Recently, both have struggled, and they’ll have to pitch better in June.<\/p>\r\n

Christian Scott & Jonah Tong’s Place<\/h3>\r\n

While McLean and Peralta have been struggling, Christian Scott<\/a>\u00a0and Jonah Tong<\/a> have stepped up in different ways. Scott has started games, and Tong has been out of the bullpen in long relief. Scott, coming off Tommy John surgery and missing the 2025 season, made his return to the big leagues in April. It’s been an overall mixed bag for Scott, but he has really excelled in his last two outings, both coming against the Marlins, and earned his first career win last weekend. He’s struck out 13 batters in those starts.<\/p>\r\n

Out of the bullpen in two games, Tong has been effective and hasn’t allowed an earned run in 6 2\/3 innings of relief. However, in his last outing against the Cincinnati Reds last week, his walks were up to four. It’s unknown when Tong will get his first start, but for now, he’ll have to be a long relief pitcher. One of many that the Mets have.<\/p>\r\n

David Peterson, Sean Manaea, and Tobias Myers<\/h3>\r\n

Things have been really scrambled at the bottom of the rotation for the Mets. At first, the team was counting on lefty David Peterson<\/a>, but Peterson has really struggled as a starter this season, which has been a continuation from August of last year. With this, the Mets put him in the bullpen, and he was much better. The Mets put him back in the rotation, but Peterson struggled again against the Reds. New York then put him back in the bullpen<\/a>\u00a0for Sean Manaea<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n

Manaea has spent the whole season in the bullpen and has struggled for the Mets since last season. Out of the bullpen, Manaea has a 5.56 ERA. How long his leash will be in the rotation depends on Manaea’s performance. Tobias Myers<\/a> was recently optioned to Triple-A in hopes of preparing him to start games when he comes back to the major leagues.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n

The Road Ahead<\/h3>\r\n

In June, the Mets will face the Seattle Mariners, San Diego Padres, St. Louis Cardinals, Atlanta Braves, Cincinnati Reds, Philadelphia Phillies (twice), Chicago Cubs, and Toronto Blue Jays. All teams are trying to make the playoffs. Except for the Blue Jays, each of those teams has a record over .500. The Mets’ rotation will be tested in June, especially young arms like McLean, Scott, and Tong (bullpen or rotation). Them pitching well will go a long way in helping the Mets get back in it, if they can.<\/p>\r\n

Mandatory Credit: Jim Rassol-USA TODAY Sports<\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Through two months of the 2026 MLB season, the New York Mets sit at 26-33 and just a half game up on the Miami Marlins for fourth place in the National League East. Well short of expectations at this point, and it’s largely because of two factors: Their offense being among the bottom of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4682,"featured_media":102596,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1071,22],"tags":[28476,1332,2514,29121,3753,3075,28490],"class_list":["post-123189","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb","category-mets","tag-christian-scott","tag-david-peterson","tag-freddy-peralta","tag-jonah-tong","tag-nolan-mclean","tag-sean-manaea","tag-tobias-myers"],"modified_by":"Evan Mazza, Site Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123189","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4682"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=123189"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123189\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":123198,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123189\/revisions\/123198"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/102596"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=123189"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=123189"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=123189"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}