“I’m done! I’m so done!”
Thousands of Mets fans are saying that right now. Losing Pete Alonso was the last straw. They’ve been pushed over the edge and there’s no indication they will ever climb back up.
How do I know this? It’s not like I took a poll or something. It’s not like I stood in Times Square or camped outside Citi Field and solicited opinions. But I know a lot of Mets fans. I’ve been following the team since 1962. Yes, from the very beginning. Even before the beginning, when the franchise was announced as pending in 1961. And they’re telling me. They’re texting me. They’re Facebooking me. And the overall collective message is: they’re done!
And they’ve got me on the precipice of joining them.
After 63 years of rooting for the Metropolitans.
“Uncle” Stevie Cohen complained about a year ago that he was spending a lot of money but the fans weren’t turning out in a commensurate ratio. The fans heard that message and turned out in droves in 2025, buying 3,182,052 tickets (39,775 avg, good for 5th in MLB) hoping for another run to at least an NLCS appearance, or as predicted by the experts, their next World Series title.
Gee, I must have missed it. Did they make it to the World Series?
Nope!
Instead, they thanked their fans by not even making it to the postseason at 83-79.
Well, “Casino” Cohen is going to be griping once again as many fans will be voicing their displeasure in the best way they know how, by not showing up.
In 2024, the fans voiced their disappointments buying just 2,329,291 tickets, placing them 17th in MLB with a 29,484 average fannies in the seats.
The surge last season was a direct result of signing Juan Soto to a record-setting $765M, 15-year deal. Well, the Centurion had a good season, but the end results were not what was expected.
That disappointment will be reflected in the 2026 attendance figures, no doubt, and even if they sign two or three big names, and trade for Aces, Mets fans have been significantly injured.
Oh, sure, various broadcasters are saying that if the Mets sign Cody Bellinger, Kyle Tucker, Robert Suarez and trade for Tarik Skubal, plus others (which, by the way, I predict will NOT happen), all will be forgiven.
But no, that may not be the case. Once you rip the heart out of a patient, the patient dies.
We thought David Stearns was a Mets fan, grew up in New York, grew up a Mets fan. Well, he’s proving he’s not a Mets fan, because any true Mets fan would have had a better understanding of what Edwin Diaz and Pete Alonso meant to Mets fans, and would not have let them walk away.
It was bad enough Stearns traded Brandon Nimmo, a true fan favorite who was one of the primary catalysts several years ago when the team won 101 games, and contributed 25 homers and 92 RBIs this past season.
That one hurt as well, but you could almost, maybe, possibly understand it as an old-fashioned baseball trade, one for one. But the guy Stearns obtained, Marcus Semien, is three years older, not quite as productive offensively – albeit a Gold Glover at second base, the one position the Mets already had a glut of candidates. It’s not like Stearns cast off Nimmo for an ace pitcher or what could have been perceived as a younger, better outfielder.
You’ve already read and heard about Alonso’s offensive impact on the team, and maybe someday, when Alonso’s career is over, he might even get his day in the Mets Hall of Fame, arguably, even in Cooperstown.
My favorite Alonso stat is if you subtract the RBIs a player drives himself in (meaning by home runs), The Polar Bear led all of baseball last year with 88 RBIs. All of baseball! More than Aaron Judge. More than Cal Raleigh. More than all of them.
And now those RBIs are gone. Stearns has let 63 home runs and 218 RBIs leave the team between Nimmo and Alonso, and those numbers are not easily replaced.
Alonso will now be forever ranked in Mets stats as first in home runs (264 – how many years will it be before someone else challenges that mark?).
How many home runs will Alonso hit as an Oriole? He has a chance to equal the amount – and likely surpass – as many home runs as the deal he is signing – 155M for five years.
Over 150 homers in five years is a safe bet. He plays every day, and we do mean, EVERY DAY, and he’s motivated to be the big bopper. He might not admit it regularly, because he really is a team-first, aim-to-win kind of guy, but you know he’s got his eyes on the number 500.
We keep hearing that Stearns is letting Alonso go because he’s planning on slotting in Soto as the DH in a few years. Well, if you’re so worried his skills will diminish that greatly in a few years, why did you bother to sign him in the first place?
For Mets GM Steve Phillips, who has evaluated thousands of ballplayers, said on his Leadoff Spot MLB show, “I think Alonso will age well.”
Perhaps the best comp to Alonso is Jim Thome. A big hulking power-hitting first baseman who did have to convert to DH in his later years, Thome kept himself in good enough shape to end up with over 600 home runs (612 to be exact), and is in the Hall of the Fame.
Alonso is on that path, and that is one of the very strong reasons why Mets fans are so upset.
Consider this Hall of Fame roster…George Brett. Tony Gwynn. Cal Ripken, Jr. Johnny Bench. Chipper Jones. Kirby Puckett. Mike Schmidt. Jeff Bagwell. Craig Biggio. Todd Helton. Barry Larkin. Edgar Martinez. Jim Rice. Joe Mauer. Alan Trammell. Robin Yount. And a guy from Michigan named Derek Jeter.
Yes, all Hall of Famers. But do you know what else all of these great Hall of Famers have in common? They all played their entire careers for just one team, and all of their careers began after the New York Mets were born as a National League franchise in 1962.
So let’s see. How many Mets are in the National Baseball Hall of Fame after playing their entire career as a NY Met? I’m thinking. Still thinking.
Yes, of course, you know the answer. None. Nada. Zilch. Goose eggs.
Oh, sure, there could have been a few. But Tom Seaver was sent away in some of baseball’s worst decisions ever made. Twice.
There was a pair in the ‘80s, Doc Gooden and Darryl Strawberry. But they also were allowed to leave, and had their fates not been marred by addictions and injuries they might have been the ones.
David Wright was on a Hall of Fame path, but spinal stenosis curtailed the end of his career.
There were some thoughts Jacob deGrom could have been headed there as well. But he’s wearing different threads now, too.
Alonso was the one. He’s headed in that direction. And he could have been the one that Mets fans could have embraced as theirs exclusively. And now that future has been squashed.
Good luck winning back the fan base, Steve. But no matter who shows up, they will be imports, not home grown.
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