MLB Panic Meter: Why the Phillies (and one AL contender) have even more reason to worry than the Mets

We’re almost a month into the 2026 Major League Baseball season, and as such it’s time to check on some teams and players who have thus far struggled in the face of high expectations. Specifically, we’re here to highlight how concerned said teams and players should be about their struggles to date. That’s why we have the Panic Meter. 

The panic meter is scaled 0-10, with 0 being not a care in the world and 10 being mass hysteria. The 0-4 side is building concern while the 6-10 side is worry creeping toward panic. A 5 would be the center point between “decent concern” and “slight worry.” 

With those particulars laid out, let’s get to panickin’. 

New York Mets (8-16)

Panic Meter: 8

No surprise here. The Mets recently brought a merciful end to their 12-game losing streak, but at this writing they still share the cellar in the National League East. Coming off a disappointing 2025 campaign in which they went from the best record in baseball in June to narrowly missing the playoffs, the Mets were of course hoping for a rebound season in 2026. Thus far, that hasn’t come close to happening, as they’re presently on pace to clock 108 losses this season. That’s unlikely to come to pass, but the reality is that no team that’s ever endured a losing streak of 12 or more games has ever made the playoffs in MLB.

Manager Carlos Mendoza’s job is hereby in danger, and, who knows, if the general current trajectory continues, then lead decision-maker David Stearns might also find himself imperiled. Lessening the current sense of desperation in Queens is the recent return from the injured list of Juan Soto, the team’s best hitter. On the downside, star shortstop Francisco Lindor, who had been heating up at the plate recently, exited Wednesday’s streak-snapping win over the Twins with a calf injury. There’s a theoretically softer stretch of schedule coming up in which the Mets will play 12 straight against the Rockies, Angels, and Nationals. Needless to say, the Queenslanders need to take full advantage if they’re to begin repairing the damage done to their postseason odds over the first month of the season.

Philadelphia Phillies (8-16)

Panic meter: 9

Overshadowed by the Mets’ recent skid, the Phillies are the other, perhaps overlooked NL East team already in desperation mode. Presently, they have the exact same record as the far more lamented Mets, and they’re working on an eight-game losing streak, the longest current skid in baseball. They’ve also been significantly worse than the Mets at a fundamental level. The Mets right now are lugging around a run differential of minus-26 for the season. The Phillies? Their run differential is almost twice as bad at minus-50. In related matters, the Phillies are just 5-10 at home and just 2-10 versus teams with winning records.

Things in Philly are such that manager Rob Thomson, who’d been roundly successful in his Phillies dugout career until the first month of this season, is feeling the coils of the hot seat warming beneath him. In broad terms, the rotation has been the problem for Philly, which is surprising given their recent history. Presently, the Phils rank 28th in MLB in rotation ERA and 23rd in rotation innings. Jesús Luzardo in particular has struggled badly, as he’s allowed 22 runs in 27 1/3 innings. The good news is that he’s got an FIP of 3.25, which suggests he’s been tragically unlucky so far. The other bit of good news is that ace Zack Wheeler will rejoin the rotation on Saturday after recovering from thoracic outlet decompression surgery in the offseason. Still, much harm has been done to the team’s hopes. 

Boston Red Sox (9-15)

Panic meter: 7

Yes, meet the last-place Red Sox. Thanks to an impressive young core paired with veteran offseason additions like Ranger Suarez, Willson Contreras, and Sonny Gray. Suffice it to say, the high expectations coming into the season — many observers picked Boston to prevail in the burlap-tough American League East — have thus far not been met. Presently, the Sox are on pace for 101 losses, which would make for their worst season since, oh, 1932. No, that’s not likely to happen, but the Sox have indeed struggled badly thus far in 2026.

Boston needs a number of assumed frontline contributors to rise and meet their expected levels in a hurry. Ace Garrett Crochet has an ERA of almost 8.00, and elsewhere in the rotation Brayan Bello hasn’t been much better. In the lineup, Jarren Duran, Marcelo Mayer, and Trevor Story have all struggled to varying yet similar extremes. Roman Anthony’s power has been MIA so far. All of those names can be plausibly expected to find something closer to their anticipated levels moving forward, but will it be enough to distinguish the Sox in a division that’s stuffed top to bottom with aspiring contenders?

Seattle Mariners (11-15) & Cal Raleigh

Panic Meter: 4

Coming off one of the greatest offensive seasons ever enjoyed by a catcher — he cracked 60 homers a season ago — Raleigh in his age-29 campaign was expected once again to be a force in the Seattle lineup. Thus far, he’s been anything but. Through his first 26 games of ’26, Raleigh is slashing .198/.281/.386 with five homers in 101 at-bats. That comes up to an OPS+ of 92 versus last year’s figure of 166.

Yeah, it was ugly for Raleigh to start the season, and as recently as April 14 he was batting .145/.231/.261. More recently, though, Raleigh has made his bad start look like nothing more than that — a bad start. Going into the weekend slate, Raleigh has now homered in three straight games. To be sure, he bears monitoring moving forward because of his significantly diminished quality-of-contact indicators, but it’s looking like he’s about to find his level. 

Houston Astros (10-16)

Panic Meter: 9

The Astros aren’t all that far removed from being, in essence, a modern MLB dynasty. However, age and free-agent departures have eaten away at what was once a championship core. Even so, Houston made the postseason in 2024 and last season won 87 games and missed the playoffs only because of a tiebreaker with the Detroit Tigers. This season? The wheels are off. The present moment finds the Astros at 10-16 and in last place in the AL West. That puts them in line for a tidy 100 losses on the season. God-tier slugger Yordan Alvarez is more than doing his part (he’s the AL MVP right now), and Christian Walker and Jose Altuve are doing their part. Otherwise, though, it’s, well, panic time. 

This is all because of the injuries to the Houston rotation. Right now, the Astros have seven — seven! — primary starting pitchers on the injured list, and that grim tally includes a trio of Tommy John surgeries within the last calendar year. More to the point, the Astros are right now without ace Hunter Brown, mid-rotation stabilizer Ronel Blanco, and name offseason addition Tatsuya Imai. Throw in the free agent loss of Framber Valdez, and the Astros are in a state of full-on desperation on this front. This carnage and the reality that it won’t soon be resolved are why the Astros’ current panic meter is almost topped out.