When the weather forecast derailed Saturday's scheduled game at Citi Field, it handed the New York Mets something they desperately need right now: a second chance. The Mets and Colorado Rockies meet in a single-admission doubleheader on Sunday, April 26, starting at 1:40 p.m. ET — a high-stakes twin bill for a New York team that entered the weekend sitting at a dismal 9-17, already 5.5 games behind the Atlanta Braves in the NL East. For a franchise that spent the offseason making noise and signing big names, this isn't where anyone expected to be at the end of April.
The Doubleheader Setup: What Happened and What's at Stake
Severe weather rolled through New York on Saturday, April 25, forcing the postponement of the second game of the three-game series. The Mets quickly announced the rescheduling, with fans holding Saturday tickets set to receive a voucher loaded directly into their team accounts. Broadcast information and free streaming options are available for fans unable to make it to Citi Field.
What would have been a relatively quiet Sunday afternoon rubber match has now become a pivotal moment. The Mets need to sweep both games just to take the series — a necessity, not a preference, given how badly they need wins in the standings. Colorado, meanwhile, comes in as a beatable opponent on paper, but the Rockies have already shown this weekend that they won't simply roll over.
Friday's Series Opener: A Blueprint for Mets Dysfunction
The Mets dropped the series opener on Friday night, 4-3, in a loss that felt almost too on-brand for this struggling team. New York hit into four double plays — a number that tells you everything about how the offense is grinding to a halt at the worst possible moments. Double plays kill rallies, demoralize dugouts, and put enormous pressure on a pitching staff to be perfect. The Mets' pitching was good enough to win; the offense made sure they didn't.
That loss snapped whatever momentum New York had built by finally ending a grueling 12-game losing skid. The Mets had beaten the Minnesota Twins to take that series and breathe a little life into their season — then immediately stumbled against a Rockies team that entered this series as one of the weaker opponents on the schedule. Context matters here: the Rockies are rebuilding, not contending. Losing Game 1 to them stings precisely because this was supposed to be a "get right" series for New York.
The Injury Crisis: Soto and Lindor's Absence Looms Large
No story about the 2026 Mets can be told without addressing the injury situation, and right now it's bad. Juan Soto is returning from a left calf strain, and while he's expected to be back in the lineup, manager Carlos Mendoza is carefully monitoring his workload throughout the doubleheader. Two seven-inning games in one day is a significant physical ask for a player coming off a soft-tissue injury — the kind that can linger or recur if not managed properly.
More concerning is Francisco Lindor, who suffered a calf strain and was expected to be placed on the injured list as of Saturday. Lindor's timeline extends beyond Soto's, meaning the Mets' shortstop position — and one of their key offensive and defensive lynchpins — will be absent for a stretch that could prove costly. Losing Lindor isn't just an offensive blow; it disrupts infield chemistry and puts extra responsibility on players who may not be ready for that spotlight.
Calf strains are insidious injuries in baseball. They affect a hitter's ability to drive through the ball, a runner's explosiveness on the bases, and a fielder's lateral range. Managing them requires patience that losing teams often don't have the luxury of exercising.
Pitching Matchups: McLean vs. Quintana in Game 1, Senga in Game 2
The Game 1 pitching matchup offers some genuine intrigue. Nolan McLean gets the start for New York, carrying a 1-1 record with an impressive 2.67 ERA and a 0.76 WHIP — numbers that suggest a pitcher commanding his stuff and keeping hitters off-balance. A WHIP under 1.00 is exceptional at any level; McLean has been one of the quiet bright spots in an otherwise dim Mets rotation picture.
Opposing him is former Met Jose Quintana, now with Colorado, who enters at 0-2 with a 6.23 ERA. The familiarity angle is interesting — Quintana knows Mets hitters, and they know him — but his numbers suggest he's been hittable this season. For a Mets lineup that needs to put crooked numbers on the board, facing Quintana should represent an opportunity. The caveat: this Mets offense has made opportunities disappear before, as Friday's four double plays demonstrated.
Game 2 brings Kodai Senga to the mound, which on its own is significant news. Senga's availability and effectiveness has been a question mark, and his presence in the Game 2 slot gives the Mets a genuine ace-caliber arm if he's healthy and dialed in. A Senga start is the kind of pitching insurance that could make the doubleheader sweep feel achievable rather than aspirational.
The Bigger Picture: A Mets Season Unraveling in Plain Sight
A 9-17 record through 26 games is not a death sentence for a playoff run — teams have recovered from worse — but the math is unforgiving. The Atlanta Braves sit at 19-8, meaning the gap isn't just five games in the standings; it's a gap in trajectory and momentum. Atlanta looks like a team playing to its potential. The Mets look like a team fighting its own roster.
The preseason expectations for New York were significant. The Soto signing was supposed to be transformative, Lindor was supposed to anchor the lineup, and the rotation was supposed to be deep enough to withstand adversity. Instead, the two cornerstone position players are nursing calf injuries simultaneously, and the offense has been its own worst enemy with self-inflicted outs like double plays and poor situational hitting.
Breaking the 12-game losing skid against Minnesota was necessary but not sufficient. One good series doesn't change a season's worth of trends. The Rockies doubleheader is a chance to build a two-game winning streak into something that actually feels like momentum — but only if the Mets can execute in both games, manage their injured players smartly, and avoid the baserunning and situational hitting mistakes that have defined their worst stretches.
What This Means: An Honest Assessment of the Mets' Situation
Here's the unvarnished take: the 2026 Mets are underperforming, and the doubleheader against Colorado is both an opportunity and a microcosm of everything that's wrong. The Rockies, sitting near the bottom of the NL West, are precisely the kind of team a contender should beat regularly. That New York needs a doubleheader sweep just to salvage a series from them speaks to how far this team has fallen from expectations.
The injury angle deserves measured skepticism. Calf strains for both Soto and Lindor happening in the same stretch is genuinely bad luck — these things happen. But bad-luck injuries don't explain four double plays in a single game, or a 12-game losing skid, or a 9-17 record against a schedule that wasn't supposed to be this punishing. The Mets have problems that go beyond health.
Manager Carlos Mendoza faces a genuinely difficult tactical challenge in the doubleheader: how do you balance Soto's workload across two seven-inning games while keeping your lineup competitive in both? Sitting Soto in one game is defensible but weakens the offense at a moment when runs are precious. Playing him in both risks aggravating a calf strain on a player who is irreplaceable to this roster's ceiling. There's no clean answer, and whatever Mendoza decides, he'll be second-guessed if it goes wrong.
The standings position isn't hopeless in late April, but the window for this team to turn things around is narrower than it appears. Every game against a beatable opponent that doesn't result in a win makes the road back that much steeper. Today's doubleheader against Colorado is exactly the kind of game this Mets team needs to win — not for playoff math purposes alone, but to demonstrate that they're capable of playing to the level their talent demands.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why was the Mets-Rockies game postponed on Saturday, April 25?
Saturday's game at Citi Field was postponed due to severe weather in New York. The game was rescheduled as the second half of a single-admission doubleheader on Sunday, April 26, starting at 1:40 p.m. ET. Fans who purchased tickets for Saturday's game will receive a voucher loaded into their team account.
What is the Mets' current record and standing in the NL East?
The Mets enter Sunday's doubleheader at 9-17, placing them 5.5 games behind the Atlanta Braves (19-8) in the NL East. New York recently snapped a 12-game losing skid with a series win over the Minnesota Twins but then dropped the Rockies series opener on Friday night, 4-3.
Will Juan Soto and Francisco Lindor play in the doubleheader?
Juan Soto is returning from a left calf strain and is expected to be available, though manager Carlos Mendoza has indicated he will monitor Soto's workload across both games. Francisco Lindor is in worse shape — he suffered a calf strain and was expected to be placed on the injured list as of Saturday, meaning he is unlikely to play in either game of the doubleheader.
Who are the starting pitchers for the Mets-Rockies doubleheader?
In Game 1, the Mets start Nolan McLean (1-1, 2.67 ERA, 0.76 WHIP) against Rockies starter Jose Quintana (0-2, 6.23 ERA), a former Met. Game 2 features Kodai Senga on the mound for New York. Colorado's Game 2 starter had not been announced in the available information ahead of first pitch.
How can fans watch the Mets-Rockies doubleheader?
The doubleheader is available through standard Mets broadcast channels, with free streaming options also available for cord-cutters. Full broadcast details and free MLB live stream information can be found through the Mets' official channels and sports streaming aggregators covering the April 26 doubleheader.
Conclusion: Two Games, One Last Chance to Salvage the Series
Sunday's doubleheader against the Colorado Rockies is, in miniature, what the entire 2026 Mets season has been so far: a team with genuine talent and real expectations finding itself in a position where it needs to overperform just to meet the baseline. Winning both games against a rebuilding Rockies squad isn't a tall order for a team playing to its ceiling — but this Mets team hasn't been doing that consistently.
McLean's strong ratios give New York a real chance in Game 1. Senga's availability in Game 2 is meaningful insurance. And if the Mets can finally get out of their own way — avoid the double plays, manufacture runs against a hittable Quintana, and manage the Soto situation intelligently — a sweep is entirely within reach. Whether they can execute is the question this season has been asking since the first losing skid began, and Sunday afternoon at Citi Field is the latest chance to answer it.
For a team 5.5 back with the calendar about to turn to May, "wins that should have been wins" stop being reassuring and start being a minimum requirement. Today is a minimum-requirement day for New York.
