The New York Mets opened a three-game series against the Kansas City Royals at Citi Field on Monday, and both teams arrived with records near the bottom of the league. The Mets were 38-53. The Royals were 37-54, one game worse, in a matchup being framed as a rematch of the 2015 World Series even though neither club looked anything like a contender.
That is why this series matters now. The Mets had just finished a 3-5 road trip by taking two of three from the Braves, then returned home for one last set before the All-Star game. The Royals came in on a two-game winning streak after beating the Phillies in their final two games, but they had lost four straight before that and eight of their previous nine. In a season where both clubs sit in the league's bottom five, every game changes the shape of the standings more than the box score alone suggests.
Juan Soto gave the Mets the one kind of jolt that travels anywhere. He hit a three-run homer on Monday and entered the series with 19 home runs, tied with Shohei Ohtani. Soto was also leading NL hitters in OPS at.984 and in wRC+ at 168, and he had been voted in as a starter for the NL squad in the upcoming All-Star game. For a team trying to stay relevant while the trade market starts to hum around expiring contracts, that production is the reason the Mets can still make a night like this feel bigger than the record says it should be.
The past between these teams only sharpens the contrast. The Mets had taken two of three from the Royals in Kansas City last year and also won two of three at Citi Field in 2024, leaving them 14-16 all-time against Kansas City. But the present is harder to dress up than the history. The Royals entered with a 95 wRC+, and the Mets have been described as sellers with rumors swirling around players on expiring contracts, even if no trade was imminent. That leaves the series with a familiar shape and an unfamiliar urgency: three games now, two more chances to sort out whether either team can turn a rematch into something more than a reminder of where both stand.
