There’s a song by The Strokes called “Ode to the Mets” that doesn’t explicitly reference the Mets or contain a lyric about the Mets but is nonetheless a fitting tribute to the beloved ballclub’s spiritual essence.

“It’s about something that you set your heart to and that you love unconditionally but that continues to disappoint you,” the band’s drummer, Fabrizio Moretti, explained back in 2020.

Even now, on Thursday, Sept. 25, with the Mets in playoff position and just four games left in the regular season, that feeling remains. That’s despite the club’s current 67.8% playoff odds. That’s despite the club’s $340 million payroll and the laundry list of All-Stars to whom that money flows. That’s despite the team’s recent breaking of its all-time attendance record. That’s despite a strong belief within the fan base that the current leadership group generally knows what it’s doing.

A lot, in Queens, is going right.

But the pessimism survives because, well, the actual baseball team kind of stinks.

Since June 13, the Mets are 36-53. That’s the fifth-worst record in baseball over that span, better only than a quartet of doormats: the Rockies, the Twins, the Nationals and the White Sox. The Mets have gone from NL East favorites to wild-card wanna-bes. A pitching rotation that wowed for much of April and May is the most guilty culprit.

The Mets stampeded to October glory a year ago with a staff of reclamation projects gone right. They employed a similar strategy ahead of 2025, bringing back Sean Manaea and adding Frankie Montas and Clay Holmes in free agency. But that approach has gone south, leaving New York’s rotation woefully undermanned and entirely reliant on three rookies — Jonah Tong, Nolan McLean and Brandon Sproat — none of whom was in the big leagues six weeks ago. Since June 13, only the Rockies, Nationals and Angels have worse rotation ERAs than New York.

And so here are the Mets, one measly game up on both the Cincinnati Reds and Arizona Diamondbacks, clubs with smaller payrolls, weaker rosters and lower expectations. Notably, both hold the tiebreaker over the Mets. The margins are nonexistent, the outlook as chilling as it is unexpected. Arizona traded away three of its best players at the deadline. Cincinnati has just two above-average position players. Neither of those clubs expected to be here, and neither is playing particularly well, but because the Mets are in shambles, for them, October remains in sight.

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After a rousing comeback victory Tuesday punctuated by a late, game-tying blast from catcher Francisco Alvarez, the Mets came crashing down to earth Wednesday against the Cubs. Tong surrendered five earned runs and collected just six outs. The overworked bullpen couldn’t keep it close, and the offense couldn’t battle back. The result was a 10-3 clobbering. If not for a pair of extra-innings losses in Cincinnati and Arizona, the Mets would’ve conceded their postseason spot once again.

“You can’t worry about them. You gotta play better,” manager Carlos Mendoza told reporters after the game. “We didn’t play good again today. It doesn’t matter what other teams are doing. It starts on us. And we’re better than that.”

For months now, Mendoza and his players have echoed that sentiment. Time and time again, they have insisted that there is simply too much talent on the roster for their season to finish in September. They’ve expressed a belief in the team’s quality, maintaining that in the end, they’ll get it sorted.

And to an extent, that faith is well placed.

Since purchasing the franchise in November 2020, private equity titan Steve Cohen has sought to legitimize the entire operation. In many respects, he has succeeded. His hiring of David Stearns as president of baseball operations was a heralded move that has paid dividends. The team’s pitching development group is considered one of the best in baseball. Much of the incompetence that ran rampant under the previous ownership group has been purged from the halls of Citi Field. Gone are the outrageous, self-inflicted wounds, the unforced errors and the inexplicable headlines.

In that void, Cohen hoped to foster a newfound sense of faith.

“There’s always been a little bit of skepticism with the Mets and believing that we’re going to be sustainable winners, sustainably be in the playoffs,” he admitted during spring training when asked by Yahoo Sports about the team’s disappointing 2024 attendance. “I think Met fans have had this negative perception of the Mets and their own fandom. And one of my goals is to break that negativity and have them believe that we’re going to be sustainable year in, year out, and they come to the ballpark and enjoy it.”

The fans, this season, responded to that challenge, delivering the Mets the largest year-over-year attendance jump in the sport. And many things have gone well in 2025. After a slow start, Juan Soto is living up to the expectations of his record-breaking, $765 million contract. Francisco Lindor remains one of the best shortstops in baseball. McLean has dominated on the mound since his mid-August debut. Edwin Díaz is still one of the best late-inning relievers on the planet.

But even if the Mets survive and reach the playoffs again, it’s hard to argue that this team has done much to break down the negative perception Cohen referenced. That’s true even if the entire energy of the operation is decidedly less bumbling and the future remains bright.

Losing legitimately, professionally, with good process, is still losing.

In the end, this feels like another one of those seasons The Strokes sang about — loved unconditionally, but ultimately disappointing.

And on that farm he had some… buckets?

As Knicks center Mitchell Robinson prepared this offseason for what will be his eighth NBA season, he didn’t just work on his hoops game.

He also worked on his coops game.

In an effort to eat healthier and drop some weight, the 27-year-old Robinson made an effort to eat healthier by learning the art of farming in Nashville.

“I started my own farm, so all of my stuff is legit fresh, organic, stuff like that, so kind of moving forward with that,” Robinson said. “Chickens, all kinds of stuff.”

Asked how he learned to farm, Robinson replied: ‘You gotta know people, they’ll teach you a lot.”

Farmer Robinson acknowledged that he did lose weight this offseason, saying he’s around the same weight he was last season, which he says is the right range for him to play at his best.

And that should go hand-in-hand with playing under new head coach Mike Brown, who likes to push the pace at a much faster rate than previous head coach Tom Thibodeau.

“I’m excited to play for him,” Robinson said of Brown. “I’ve been here going on eight years now, third coach. Just get in there and give the same energy I gave the other coaches. Hard work and keep it moving.”

“A lot of conditioning, getting up and down the court,” he later added about Brown’s coaching style. “Putting in a lot of new things that I’ve never seen before. It’s going to be a process, but I’m all for it.”

While injuries limited Robinson to just 17 regular season games last year, he made a big impact in the postseason, playing 18 playoff games and eventually moving into the starting lineup.

Robinson said he doesn’t care whether he starts or comes off the bench this season, and that he’s ready to adjust to playing with whomever he’s on the floor with.

“Same approach as last year,” Robinson said. “We had a lot of success last season, so we just come in with that mindset and see how [Brown] likes us to play and adjust to that.”

Robinson has established himself as one of the best offensive rebounders in the NBA, and his relentlessness on the glass makes him a huge asset for a Knicks team in search of an NBA championship.

And while it sounds like Robinson is ready to cook on the floor, don’t expect him to do much cooking in the kitchen.

“No,” Robinson replied when asked if he cooks the food his farm provides.

“Hell no.”

A new NBA season is looming, and we all know what that means: Some players will explode onto the scene, while others will see their star stock drop.

That is how the NBA has worked since the dawn of professional basketball, and that’s not going to change now.

However, in between the rising stars and the players nearing retirement, another group hides in plain sight: the “under” under-the-radar players.

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Yes, these players are obscure and simply don’t fit into the classic under-the-radar description, so they aren’t likely to receive a lot of attention.

That hardly seems fair, so let’s talk about them.

Here are four players who could spend the 2025-26 season proving their worth:

Sandro Mamukelashvili, Toronto Raptors

The 6-foo-11 big man has always been a per-minute production monster, yet he’s rarely been given the opportunity to play consistent minutes to see if he could convert said production into a steady role.

Last season in San Antonio, the 26-year-old averaged 6.3 points and 3.1 rebounds in 11.2 minutes. In 681 total minutes, Mamukelashvili hit 60 3-point shots (37.3% accuracy) and turned into one of the league’s highest-volume long-range-shooting big men.

Now in Toronto, Mamukelashvili is hoping for a role that offers him more stability. With a roster that is certainly in need of complementary spacing, the big man could see a lot of minutes alongside Scottie Barnes, a player who is by no means a natural shooter and who needs optimized floor spacing to get to the rim.

Will this be the year Mamukelashvili finally earns a full-fledged rotation role? Given his age, 3-point prowess, new team and ability to hit the glass, it would make a lot of sense for the Georgian to become a bigger name.

Brice Sensabaugh, Utah Jazz

It’s almost unfair to include a guy who averaged almost 11 points last season, but given that very few people actually watched the Jazz, we think his name is a worthy inclusion.

Sensabaugh appears primed to take another step forward, particularly due to his high 3-point rate (9.4 attempts per 36 minutes) and overall scoring capabilities. The 21-year-old played 20 minutes per game last season, making his presence felt consistently.

While Sensabaugh isn’t projected to become some all-around star, there is value in being supremely good at one thing, which in his case is the ability to flat-out get buckets.

For a team in drastic need of, well, everything, having a guy who could sleepwalk his way to a solid scoring average is nothing to sneeze at.

Ryan Rollins, Milwaukee Bucks

Bucks fans will rightfully scoff at his inclusion, as they’re already painfully aware of his value.

For the rest of the league, though, it’s about to realize how crucial of a role he’s going to play for Milwaukee this season.

While not a traditional point guard, Rollins is capable of locating his own shot, playing off the ball and functioning as a proper spacing fit around Giannis Antetokounmpo. His 40.8% accuracy from long range last season is highly encouraging, as the Bucks are going to need as much floor spacing as possible after the loss of Damian Lillard to an Achilles injury.

The big question for Rollins will be playmaking and whether he can prevent the Bucks from drowning when Antetokounmpo isn’t on the floor. If he solves that conundrum, he should be a household name by April.

Neemias Queta, Boston Celtics

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to understand a depleted Celtics frontcourt will offer opportunities to those ready to seize them.

The 26-year-old Queta isn’t going to break the mold and offer unicorn production. He’s not a shooter, and is in fact far more of a traditional center as we knew them from the ’80s and ’90s. But that doesn’t mean he won’t get every opportunity to soak up center minutes and provide the Celtics with an interior presence.

Queta is likely to see a significant minutes bump, and should he be able to replicate his per-minute production, odds are good he’ll find himself in a situation where his statistical output is going to be noteworthy.

Of course, Boston will likely maintain its focus on the 3-point shot, meaning we aren’t locked in to see more touches go Queta’s way. In any event, his rebounding and shot-blocking are bound to make some noise.