Sep 11, 2021; New York City, New York, USA; Major League Baseball former player and manager Bobby Valentine at Citi Field. Mandatory Credit: Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images

Former Mets manager Bobby Valentine has high hopes for team this season

Originally posted on New York Mets on SI
By Logan VanDine | Last updated Apr 8, 2025 10:00 AM ET

Just over a week into the MLB season, former New York Mets manager Bobby Valentine already has high hopes for the team in 2025.

Valentine, who managed the Mets from 1996 to 2002, spoke exclusively with DJ Siddiqi of Forbes and predicted that the Amazins' will go on another deep playoff run this year. This time, he believes they can take down the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NLCS.

"I think this has been coming since Steve Cohen bought the team," Valentine said. "He said that they'll bring a championship and it was close last year and the signings and the deals that they made are to make it even closer this year.

"I think there's a real good team on the other coast in the Dodgers and they have a team that hasn't been assembled like this in a long time. It should be an interesting season, and I think the Mets and Dodgers are going to face each other to determine who goes to the World Series -- and I hope it's the Mets."

Valentine, known as one of the game's most colorful managers, is fondly remembered by Mets fans for leading the team to back-to-back NLCS appearances in 1999 and 2000, winning the NL pennant in the latter year. After seeing the team reach the NLCS last year, Valentine certainly has high expectations this season; those expectations were heightened after the Mets made the franchise-altering signing of superstar outfielder Juan Soto on a record-setting 15-year, $765 million contract.

That time Bobby Valentine returned to the dugout in disguise after getting ejected pic.twitter.com/vUiGsgix5j
— MLB Vault (@MLBVault) February 14, 2021

Despite Valentine also highlighting that the Dodgers have a very good team and aspirations to repeat as World Series champions, the former Mets skipper certainly believes that it's World Series or bust for a Mets team that has a robust payroll of $321 million, the second-highest in MLB, behind Los Angeles.

The Dodgers clearly look like the lone team in the National League that is standing in the way of other NL clubs to play in the Fall Classic. But Valentine still believes that with the moves the Mets' front office has made, they could possibly avenge last year's loss to the Dodgers in a potential NLCS rematch.

This article first appeared on New York Mets on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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