Optimists looking for a way to have hope as the 2026 Mets season unfolds look back no further than 2024, when the team overcame a horrendous start and propelled themselves into the National league Championship Series. The season was David Stearns' first as the team’s head of baseball operations, and his first major task was finding a manager to replace Buck Showalter, whom owner Steve Cohen fired, ostensibly to give the about-to-be-named top baseball executive

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