With their postseason lives in jeopardy, both the New York Mets and Houston Astros — two of the most expensive, experienced and talented rosters in MLB — posted losing records in the month of September. The Mets went 9-15. The Astros went 11-13. That was only the tail end of spectacular collapses for both teams, especially for the Mets, who held the best record in all of baseball at one point before the All-Star break.
New York just needed to beat the Miami Marlins in the regular season finale to advance to the NL Wild Card... and lost. The Astros were locked in a tight race for the AL West crown for months, but the bottom dropped out down the stretch as Seattle hit its stride and finished strong.
Both teams should be right back in the postseason mix next season. This was not the desired outcome for either club, but we needn't overreact completely. The Mets still have Juan Soto for another 14 years. He'll take a few stabs at a deep October run before that contract expires, no doubt. The Astros are at the tail end of their dynastic run, but a team with that much postseason experience and that much quality pitching won't just fade away. Houston is just holding out hope for a healthier campaign in 2026.
That said, the Mets and Astros both need to operate aggressively in free agency. New York and Houston are more saddled with significant salary commitments already, but the best owners keep on spending anyway. The Mets basically hung up the phone after signing Soto last winter and let the pitching staff fall by the wayside, a huge mistake. Houston dealt away Kyle Tucker and made every effort to conserve cap space, only to fold and trade for Carlos Correa at the deadline. It was too little, too late.
Here are a few free agent targets that can help both teams take a meaningful step in the right direction.
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Astros should target Phillies outfielder Harrison Bader
Many questioned if Harrison Bader was enough of an upgrade for the Philadelphia Phillies at the trade deadline, but the 31-year-old has breezed past expectations and delivered incredible results for the NL East champs. In 50 games with the Phillies, Bader hit .305 with an .824 OPS, swatting 11 doubles, five home runs and driving home 16 runs. He's also one of the best defensive centerfielders in the sport.
Bader has a history of high highs and low lows, but he's clearly a talented individual who can meaningfully move the needle for a contender. Houston dealt with a talent shortage in the outfield all season. Yordan Álvarez and Jake Meyers both dealt with significant injuries. Cam Smith never really put it together. Jesús Sánchez, Houston's own deadline addition, did not achieve his usual offensive success in 2025.
Houston can plug Bader into the lineup as an everyday vacuum cleaner in centerfield and a potential leadoff bat. At worst, he's a solid back-end hitter and five-tool contributor with especially strong production against lefties. This was by far Bader's best season in terms of making contact and consistently forcing his way on-base, so it's fair to question the sustainability of it all. But watching the Phillies, it's hard to feel like it's all a flash in the pan. Bader's approach at the plate has improved dramatically and he's bringing positive energy to the lineup on a daily basis.
The Astros need the outfield depth, plain and simple. There are other offseason priorities, of course, such as re-signing Framber Valdez and supplementing Hunter Brown in the rotation, but the outfield needs to be a real focus for Dana Brown and the front office. The Tucker trade was perceived as a necessary evil for a team in cost-cutting mode, but his absence was deeply felt this season. Of course it was. Bader isn't a one-for-one replacement, but it's clear his peak extends far beyond what most folks imagined before the season.
Mets need to pony up for Padres ace Dylan Cease
Dylan Cease's career has followed a remarkably consistent pattern over the last four years. He put up a 2.20 ERA and finished second in AL Cy Young voting in 2022. In 2023, his ERA ballooned to 4.58 and his value tanked. He turned around in 2024 with the San Diego Padres and put up a 3.47 ERA with 224 strikeouts, throwing a no-hitter and finishing fourth in NL Cy Young voting. This season? The ERA spiked to 4.55 and the Padres couldn't really find ideal trade value at the deadline.
Cease tends to oscillate violently between ace-level production and crippling struggles, with very little middle ground in between. He's remarkably durable — 32-plus starts in five straight seasons since the COVID-shortened 2020 campaign — but Cease can't seem to keep up the ace charade for 24 months in a row. He offers incredible highs and frustrating lows.
But, if we are going by that trend, he's due for a special 2026 season, which the Mets would be wise to take advantage of. While Cease's inconsistency is maddening, his ceiling rivals the very best pitchers in MLB. He packs elite strikeout stuff, with a fastball that bites hard and a 90 MPH slider that comes off the same plan and keeps hitters in limbo. He can mix in a nasty, looping curveball when needed and extend his arsenal out to five pitches.
Even in a down year, Cease was in the 95th percentile for whiff rate and the 89th percentile for strikeouts, with an expected ERA (3.47) that suggests quite a bit of bad luck behind his more muted "real" stats. He's a bonafide No. 1 ace on a good day and the sort of investment this Mets team desperately needs.
David Stearns effectively ignored the rotation after shelling out $745 million for Soto last winter. He can not afford to make the same mistake twice. Kodai Senga, Sean Manaea and David Peterson are all solid when healthy, and there's plenty of be excited about with the next generation of aces in the Mets rotation. Nolan McLean, Brandon Sproat and Jonah Tong all flashed big-time stuff late in the year. But the Mets need depth and, frankly, they need top-shelf talent to combat other contenders in the NL. That is where Cease comes in handy.