Ultimately, wherever the 2025 Mets end up, as they perilously flirt with October oblivion, no one shoulders more of the blame than president of baseball ops David Stearns.

Stearns understands that, too. It’s not unusual in this business to be called a genius in June and a dunce by September. The truth tends to lie somewhere in between, but that’s not how the game works when you’re sitting on a $340 million payroll — the second highest in the majors — and have the sport’s richest owner as your boss.

What Stearns is banking on, and desperately needs, is for these mojo-less Mets to somehow squeeze their way into October. Pushing the reset button on this bizarro season is his only path to salvation and few teams would relish that clean slate more than this bafflingly underachieving group.

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