The Mets’ closer problem just became impossible to ignore

The Mets had enough problems before Devin Williams walked into the ninth inning Sunday. Then the closer issue jumped right to the front of the line.

Sunday’s 4-0 loss to Miami was brutal because it sat there scoreless for eight innings before everything caved in at once. Williams intentionally walked Xavier Edwards to set up a force, then Heriberto Hernandez ended the afternoon with a walk-off grand slam.

The official line was ugly: 0.1 innings, four earned runs, two walks, and the loss. His ERA sat at 6.35 after the game. For a closer on a team already fighting its own lineup, that is not a small inconvenience.

The bullpen collapse changed the tone

Every closer gives up a bad one now and then. That part is baseball. But this went beyond one bad pitch because Williams let the inning get away before the swing that ended it.

The traffic is the concern. Williams has a 1.65 WHIP with 10 walks across 17 innings, and while the strikeouts are still there, the Mets cannot keep living on the edge in the ninth. A closer can survive a noisy ERA if the process looks clean. Right now, the whole thing feels like holding a lit match near a gas can.

That is especially painful because the offense did nothing again. The Mets have already been wasting Juan Soto in a lifeless lineup, and Sunday only added another layer to the frustration. When the bats give you no margin, the closer has to be close to perfect.

The Mets need a real finishing answer

The Mets were swept by the Marlins, and that should bother everyone involved. Miami is not supposed to be the team making the Mets look this small, yet here they are, dropping three straight and watching the ninth inning turn into the loudest part of the weekend.

Williams still has the resume to get another chance. Nobody needs to pretend he forgot how to pitch. But the Mets also cannot treat this like a one-off if the walks keep piling up and the ninth inning keeps feeling unstable.

There is a difference between patience and denial. The Mets have enough injuries, enough lineup problems, and enough weirdness already. They cannot add a closer problem to the pile and expect the season to magically steady itself.

Williams has to clean it up fast, because the next time the Mets finally get a game to the ninth with a chance to steal one, the dugout needs to feel relief when the bullpen door opens. Right now, it feels more like a warning siren.