Mets’ Devin Williams sticks up for Carlos Mendoza after blown save against Cubs

Mets’ Devin Williams sticks up for Carlos Mendoza after blown save against Cubs originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

The New York Mets had an opportunity to win a game on Sunday against the Chicago Cubs, but in what has been a dreadful season, it ended in the same fashion many fans expected. In the bottom of the 9th, the Cubs had a chance to tie the game with a runner on first base and one out.

Good teams find a way to win that game, but Devin Williams gave up a double to Michael Conforto, scoring the tying run. The game went into extra innings, and Nico Hoerner hit a sacrifice fly to win it.

Amid all of the questions now about what the front office is going to do with Carlos Mendoza, Williams, who has struggled during his time with the Mets and the New York Yankees, stood up for his manager.

“It’s absolutely on us,” said Williams, per MLB.com. “[Mendoza] doesn’t swing the bat and he doesn’t throw a baseball. We’ve been in a lot of these games. It’s been close. Him or somebody else is not affecting that. If we’re not getting the job done, somebody else isn’t just magically gonna flip a switch and we’re gonna get it done. He’s putting guys in good positions. We’re not performing.”

Williams is one of those guys the Mets were expecting to be an elite player during the 2026 campaign. Signing him to a free agency deal during the offseason, the hope was that he would regain his form after struggling a bit with the Yankees two seasons ago. Instead, we haven't seen the same arm we once saw with the , which has raised a lot of questions about the Mets' future because he isn’t closing out games when he needs to.