NEW YORK _ For the 2018 Mets, mercy came in the form of a line drive to right field.
Peter O'Brien shot Noah Syndergaard's sinker to Michael Conforto, who caught it without issue. With that, Noah Syndergaard completed the first shutout of his career _ and another underwhelming season for the Mets.
The Mets and first-year manager Mickey Callaway finished 77-85, fourth place in the NL East. After June, they went 45-37, best in the division.
Nobody with the Mets is happy with where the season went. But nobody with the Mets is sad that it's over, following a 1-0 victory over the Marlins.
Now, it's time for hopes to start slowly rising again.
"Everybody in that room, everybody in the front office, everybody on the coaching staff has to have the best offseason they've ever had for us to win a championship," Callaway said. "I think that's going to be everybody's goal this winter."
Syndergaard scattered five hits, struck out six and walked none, throwing only 101 pitches to get through nine innings.
Todd Frazier's fourth-inning double scored Jeff McNeil (2-for-4).
It didn't nearly match the emotion of David Wright's farewell Saturday night, but Jose Reyes had a similar moment Sunday. He started at shortstop and, per Callaway's plan, had one at-bat, grounding out to second base to lead off the first. He returned to the dugout to hugs from teammates, and prior to the second inning, appeared on the Citi Field video board, had his name chanted by the crowd and popped out of the dugout for a curtain call.
Said Callaway: "The way he's gone about his business this year and throughout his career, and what he's done for the Mets, that for him to be out there today, I thought it would be neat."
