Mendoza, whose 2027 club option has not been picked up, has one card left to play. Juan Soto is expected to come off the injured list this week. If the Mets fail to capitalize on Soto’s return, Mendoza must go.

He’s a sharp, articulate baseball man, but no manager in New York can oversee an 11-game losing streak without being held accountable.SUBSCRIBE NOW: ‘SPEAKING OF THE METS’ BRINGS YOU INSIDE THE CLUBHOUSEThat would be especially true if the Mets, even with Soto, can’t go on a winning streak against the Twins, Rockies and Nationals in the upcoming homestand. All three teams are weak enough to make the Mets look good, which is saying something. With a National League-worst 7-15 record, it’s been a long time since the collective mood in Flushing was this gloomy.No, it’s actually worse.

Mets fans loathe everyone these days, starting with Francisco Lindor. David Stearns, the president of baseball operations and the brains of the organization, is running a close second. No one seems to hate Mendoza, but that doesn’t matter.

He’ll take the fall for what’s happened to the worst team money could buy.It’s been 34 years since John Harper and I wrote about the original “The Worst Team Money Could Buy” in 1992. Both of us have been hearing from fans on social media who are asking if the time is right for a sequel. It’s been a running question since 2024, but the similarities between the 2026 Mets and the 1992 ancestors are too eerie to ignore.The short answer is: No, we’re not writing Volume Two.

I cover the Yankees for NJ.com. And Harper, although closer to the Mets than I am, is busy on SNY.The longer answer is that what made “The Worst Team” unique was that it took readers behind the curtain. Covering MLB was fun in the 1980s and 1990s.

The clubhouse was a fascinating place where players weren’t afraid to speak their minds — pre-Twitter, pre-cell phones, pre-internet, pre-everything. Manager Carlos Mendoza has been unable to reverse the Mets' worst losing streak in two decades.APThe tabloids (I was at the New York Daily News; Harper was at the New York Post) were the only way for fans to embed with Doc Gooden and Darryl Strawberry; Keith Hernandez and Gary Carter; Lenny Dykstra and Wally Backman. All that’s changed.

Today’s players are more cautious with the press. Most of the time, they’re hanging out, hiding in the clubhouse’s most restricted area, where the media are not allowed. One more thing: Yesteryear’s best stories were generated by the stars who loved the back-page headlines.

Today, with limited access and players taking to Instagram, baseball writing focuses on transactions, roster construction and analytics. Different world.Those are the primary reasons why “The Worst Team” will never be reprised.But if Harper and I did restart the engine, it would be to excoriate the 2026 Mets and its direct link to 1992. We’d start with Stearns, who is turning out to be as tone-deaf as then-general manager Al Harazin in ’92.

Despite his Ivy League education, or maybe because of it, Stearns has made one miscalculation after another in assembling the roster.He had no business trading Brandon Nimmo, at least not for Marcus Semien. Letting fan-favorite Pete Alonso walk was another red flag. Try telling me that any of his replacements have been an upgrade.

Stearns has, up to this point, guessed wrong on Luke Weaver (6.23 ERA) and Devin Williams (7.11 ERA). The biggest gamble has been on Mendoza, who was never Stearns’ first choice. That would’ve been Craig Counsell, who managed under Stearns in Milwaukee.

They were supposed to reunite in Flushing, except Counsell bailed at the last moment to manage the Cubs. Stearns didn’t have a Plan B in place and hurriedly lured Mendoza away from the Yankees. Mendoza was a fine bench coach in the Bronx, but he’s learning the hard way that a manager is only as good as his lieutenants in the clubhouse.

Terry Collins had David Wright. Joe Torre had Derek Jeter. Aaron Boone has Aaron Judge.Who does Mendoza have? Lindor has one RBI in 88 at-bats and Soto has been out most of the month.

The two superstars barely speak. The Mets have no leaders, which means Mendoza is on his own in this crisis. He shouldn’t be surprised.

Stearns fired all of Mendoza’s coaches over the winter, effectively turning Mendoza into a lame duck. Players are not dumb. They sense when a manager has been weakened by the front office.

The trickle-down effect has devastated the Mets, who’ve been outscored 62-10 over the 11 straight defeats. The damage may be irreparable. The same disconnect took place under Jeff Torborg in ’92. He was an outsider who failed to inspire either Gooden or David Cone, Bobby Bonilla or