Bo Knows : 42 Million Reasons
Bo Bichette had 42 million reasons to stay a New York Met.
The beautiful part? The Mets have 42 million reasons to be thrilled that he did.
Bichette didn't even let the confetti settle. The World Series ended Wednesday night in Tampa — the Brewers winning their first title on the road in Game 5 — and before Milwaukee had finished hosing down the visitors' clubhouse, Bo had exercised his $42 million player option for 2027, per The Athletic's Will Sammon. He had five days to decide. He used less than one. When a man making $42 million moves that fast, it isn't indecision. It's a guy who knows exactly where he wants to be.
And after the year he just survived in Flushing, that ought to tell you everything you need to know about Bo.
Let's not sugarcoat it, because Bo never did. His first two months were The Chevy Chase Show — hyped as the second coming of Carson, and five weeks in, people were quietly asking if it could just be cancelled. He hit .091 — point zero nine one — in the March games. He started his Citi Field career 1-for-14, and the boos arrived right on schedule, because this is New York and the boos have a parking pass.
Through May, his OPS was .583, a number usually associated with backup catchers and cry for help. As late as June 10, it was still under .600. This was a two-time All-Star, a man who twice led the American League in hits, playing third base for the first time in his life, in the loudest market in sports, and for two months it was like the pod people had snatched Bo's body and installed the 1962 Don Zimmer model. Zimmer — the original Mets third baseman — went 4-for-52 (.077) that spring. Bo hit .091 in March. The pods weren't even being subtle about it.
And every single night, he stood at his locker and answered for it. No ducking out the side door. No "no comment." No mystery ailment that required a quiet trip to the injured list and a nice rehab assignment in Syracuse. He played 160 of 162 games. He told The Post's Mike Puma at season's end, plainly, that the start tested him. Then he went out and fixed it.
Here's the deep dive, and it's why the Mets should be smiling this morning.
June: .321, five home runs, an .883 OPS. The light didn't flicker on — it kicked the door down. From June 11 through the end of the season, Bichette hit .285/.337/.442. Over the final four months, his OPS was .772. Read that again: the same player who couldn't buy a hit in April was, for two-thirds of the season, exactly the hitter the Mets thought they were buying — the one who hit .311 with an .840 OPS and 94 RBI for Toronto in 2025 and batted .348 in a World Series.
His final line — .260/.312/.390, 18 homers, 78 RBI, 166 hits. This was two seasons in one uniform: two months of a man drowning, four months of a man swimming. The Mets aren't paying for the drowning. They already did that. They're paying for the swimmer.
Junior Caminero had the monster year at third base (.897 OPS, 41 homers), and Bo wasn't Caminero. Nobody was. But look at the neighborhood Bo actually lives in. The average major league third baseman posted a .713 OPS in 2026. Bo finished at .702 — while spending two months in a witness protection program. Manny Machado finished at .710. Matt Chapman finished at .692. These are baseball's brand name third basemen. Bo's "disaster" season is their season, except his came with a built-in excuse and a documented recovery.
And none of them — not one — gives you what else Bo gives you. When Francisco Lindor's season got interrupted, Bo moved back to shortstop and started 44 games there. He made only five errors all year at third, a brand-new position, fielding .977 against a league average of .965. And if second base opens up? This is a man who played second base in the World Series just last October for Toronto and hit .348 doing it. Third, short, second — he's a three-position insurance policy that comes with 166 hits.
Oh, and he spent the summer mentoring Carson Benge and A.J. Ewing, because apparently just surviving New York wasn't enough of a job description for him.
Still not convinced? Consider the alternative. This winter's free-agent infield class is headed by the likes of Luis Arraez, Brandon Lowe and Jazz Chisholm Jr. — fine players, none of whom has Bo's ceiling, and all of whom would be negotiating in the shadow of a lockout, with the collective bargaining agreement expiring December 1. The Mets would have been shopping for a third baseman in a burning building. Instead, they keep a 28-year-old career .288 hitter at a price they were already paying, with zero new commitment — and if Bo is Bo again in 2027, the Mets get him for another year while he plays for his next contract, which is the most motivated employee in sports.
As Todd Zeile put it on SNY: "Nobody should really be that surprised that Bo has decided to opt in, but I'm glad he did it right away."
So are we, Todd. So are we.
Bo Bichette had 42 million reasons to opt in. But here's the thing the cynics are missing: after that June night when it finally clicked, so did we. He got booed in April and chose to stay anyway. He got knocked down in the toughest market in baseball, stood at his locker, answered every question, and hit .285 the rest of the way.
Forty-two million reasons. And now, one more season to give us a few million more.
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