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There’s something about a reliever’s journey that feels a little like a cross country road trip in a car with questionable brakes. You start out in one place, pick up a few miles, lose a few along the way, maybe break down in the middle of nowhere, and if you are lucky and stubborn, you eventually find yourself back on a big league mound wondering how you got there and why your GPS sounds like it is judging you. That brings us to Joey Gerber. On a day when the Mets shuffled t

Tim Leiper has been around baseball so long that somewhere there’s probably a rotary phone still waiting for him to call it back. Olympics. Winter ball in Mexico and the Dominican. Minor league bus rides that smelled like exhaust, sunflower seeds, and regret. Coaching staffs that changed more often than cast members on SNL. And now, of course, third base at Citi Field, where he spends his nights making split-second decisions that will be second-guessed for the next three days

There is something wonderfully strange about the day before Opening Day. It’s like a rehearsal dinner where the speeches are polished, the mood is perfect, and everyone knows tomorrow is when it actually gets real. And somewhere between the stretching, the smiling, and the ceremonial pretending not to be nervous, Mets manager Carlos Mendoza stepped to the microphone and did what all managers do this time of year—he told the truth, but in a way that makes you feel like you’re

Through no fault of his own, Jorge Polanco will be under an inordinate amount of pressure because of who he will be replacing at first base. There are a number of Met fans who have already moved on from Pete Alonso but there are also a number of Met fans who have not yet moved on from the franchise's all time home run leader. There is already an enormous amount of pressure on a new player who comes to New York for the first time, but Polanco will be getting an increased dose

Every great baseball season has that guy. Not the guy you bought the jersey for in March. Not the guy on the billboard. Not even the guy your fantasy team overdrafted while you were distracted by a chicken parm hero. I’m talking about that guy the one who shows up somewhere between Memorial Day and your first sunburn, shrugs, and somehow becomes part baseball player, part good luck charm, and part “how did we ever win without him?” In the 2024 season, for the Mets, that guy w

There are some voices in life that don’t just narrate moments they become the moments. Today, when Howie Rose took to social media to announce that the 2026 season will be his last in the Mets radio booth, and then, a few hours later, sat down for a press availability it didn’t feel like just another media day. It felt like someone gently turning down the volume on a part of our lives we never imagined would go quiet. And in true Howie fashion, he didn’t make it about legacy

Aside from Opening Day, playoff games, and a handful of can’t-miss giveaway days, there’s one date on the Mets calendar that doesn’t show up in the standings but still gets circled in red ink by those of us who cover the team. It’s the annual “What’s New at Citi Field” media event—baseball’s version of Christmas morning, if Santa traded his sleigh for a carving station and smelled faintly of smoked brisket. Because while the wins and losses will come later, this is the day th

As the calendar creeps closer to March 26 and the start of another baseball season, the annual ritual begins. Not the first pitch ritual. Not the hot dog ritual. Not even the ritual of fans convincing themselves this is finally the year they won’t overreact to every April loss. No, the real ritual is the spring press conference where everyone tries to read tea leaves while the general manager calmly reminds us that baseball seasons are marathons, not sprints, even though the

By the time I pulled into the complex at Clover Park for my sixth and final day of covering Mets Spring Training, the place felt almost civilized. No 6:00 a.m. cattle call. No players stumbling in before sunrise for picture day obligations. The press room didn’t open until 9:45. The clubhouse doors welcomed us at 10. It felt like baseball had hit the snooze button. And honestly, after a week of controlled chaos, it was kind of perfect. The room itself was quiet. Not tense qui

Spring Training has a rhythm to it. The crack of the bat. The thud of a fastball into leather. The hum of golf carts. And apparently… the gentle click of chess pieces. Day 5 began in the clubhouse, and what jumped out immediately had nothing to do with radar guns or exit velocity. It was Sean Manaea holding court with Jonah Tong, teaching him chess as if he were channeling Bobby Fischer rather than former Mets pitcher Jack Fisher. Manaea wasn’t just explaining moves. He was e

By the time the Florida humidity announced itself before breakfast, Clover Park was already humming. Clover Park was already humming. Spring Training coverage Day 4 began early — locker room doors open at 8 a.m. — and if you’ve been around this game long enough you know that’s when the real stories tend to wander in, usually wearing spikes and carrying a cup of bad clubhouse coffee. I made the rounds, hopping from locker to locker — speed dating for reporters, where the goal

There’s a certain kind of player you notice when you wander through a spring training clubhouse long enough. Not the guy surrounded by cameras. Not the kid with a Top 100 ranking and a radar gun following him around like paparazzi. I’m talking about the player with miles on the odometer and stories tucked into the seams of his glove. The kind of guy whose résumé reads less like a stat sheet and more like a road atlas. That’s where you find Carl Edwards Jr. this spring. You re

There are certain moments in spring training when you stumble across a story you weren’t expecting. Maybe it’s a kid throwing 97 free and easy like he found it in the bottom of a Cracker Jack box, or maybe it’s just wandering past a locker when a glove catches your eye, covered in pop culture references that would make a film studies professor spill his latte.. That’s how I wound up talking pitching and psychological satire with Mets prospect Ryan Lambert, which is how you k

Day three in Port St. Lucie and by now you start noticing the things you miss when you first arrive — the small details, the subtle changes, the little hints that baseball continues to evolve even if the smell of sunscreen and pine tar still feels exactly the same. I’ve reached the midpoint of my six days here covering camp, and what stood out most today wasn’t a home run or a diving catch. It was intent. There’s a little more purpose to everything, from the way players stret

If Day 1 is about handshakes and fresh spikes in the clubhouse, Day 2 is where the tone starts to reveal itself. And the tone on this morning was set in the dugout. Steve Cohen met the media for 22 minutes, and if there was one word he kept circling back to, it was “excited.” But don’t confuse that with satisfied. “I feel like there’s a different energy here this year than last year,” Cohen said. “I don’t know what it is. It just feels really optimistic.” That optimism lives

There are very few two word phrases in the English language that, when spoken together, instantly bring a smile to your face. I do. Game 7. Spring Training. Opening Day. So yes, I am smiling.( You maybe able to see it in the picture above, but take my word for it) Everything worked out. The 6:45 a.m. flight from Islip to West Palm lifted off on time. Wheels down at 9:45. I was in the rental car by 10:05 and on the back fields by 11:15. Not bad for a February morning that bega

The day is almost upon us. Players can finally 'argue' balls and strikes without getting tossed and making a shameful appearance on every highlight show later that night. It's called the 'Automated Ball-Strike Challenge System' (ABS), and players will be able to use it during the entire 2026 season. They teased us last year during spring training, making us wait an entire season, while screaming all kinds of creative language at our televisions. But will this be a 'be careful

There are certain sites and sounds in spring training that signal baseball is officially alive again, the pop of a fastball in a catcher’s mitt, the sound of a fungo bat, and the unmistakable cadence of a manager standing at a podium explaining, in calm baseball speak, why everything is both encouraging and cautiously monitored. On Friday, Carlos Mendoza stepped into that role, delivering a wide-ranging briefing that touched on pitching health, roster development, defensive p

There are a handful of rites of spring that never change. The sun comes up over the back fields, someone insists this is the best shape of their life, and reporters ask a newly arrived star how it feels to be somewhere new. On Thursday afternoon, that star was Bo Bichette the Mets’ freshly imported infielder with the family pedigree and an All-Star résumé, and now, a new glove destined for third base. And if you were expecting grand pronouncements, chest-thumping or a Power

If you’re anything like me and my wife insists there is no one like me (I’m still not sure if she meant that as a compliment), you can remember exactly when and where you bought your very first pack of baseball cards. Just reading this probably has your sense of smell kicking into gear right now. (Is that… that smell?) That unmistakable aroma of cardboard, ink, and gum, or what passed for gum in the 1960s, especially when you peeled back that last card in the pack, hoping for