Future looks bright for Mets — with or without Pete Alonso

After the New York Mets won 101 regular-season games in 2022 and then exactly one playoff game, the sentiment around the team was “We’ll be back.” While they technically did come back in 2023 — after shelling out millions in the offseason — the season was a trainwreck. Going in to 2024, expectations were low and after another bad start, the Mets were quickly written off.

Then a funny thing happened: The team started winning and winning a lot. Over the second-half of the season, they had the best record in baseball. The Mets stormed into the playoffs and got within two wins of a trip to the World Series. And even though the season ended the same way the past 38 have, the feeling is different than it was two years ago. While 2022 now looks like a fluke, components seem to be in place that will allow this team to compete for years to come.

In order for this to happen, however, the brains behind the scenes — namely president of baseball operations David Stearns — have to be smart. While the Mets still have a strong core — headlined by Franciso Lindor — they also have a number of impending free agents, including starting pitchers Sean Manea and Luis Severino, along with key role players Jose Iglesias, J.D. Martinez and Jesse Winker. And, of course, the elephant in the room (or, more appropriately, polar bear) is Pete Alonso, who after an up-and-down season, proved his worth in the playoffs. While most fans certainly want him back, it’s not clear if the guys writing the checks share their feelings.

The Mets will have nearly $200 million coming off their books soon, and it has to be used wisely. The organization and fans alike would gladly give a chunk of that to lure Juan Soto from the Bronx to Queens, but the Yankees seem primed to re-sign him. This means that the Mets’ brass may have to get creative and they also need to avoid their recent history of throwing a lot of money at older players for a quick fix.

Whether the Mets sign Alonso or Soto (maybe both?) or neither is wearing orange and blue come March, the aura around the organization has changed quite a bit. Jeff Passan of ESPN sums the team up nicely.

“From LOL to OMG," Passan writes, "the Mets today strut about with a different mindset. Gone is the wobbliness of past seasons, replaced by the actualization of this year and these playoffs. No longer are the Mets a team constantly cycling through general managers and managers. They are here. And even if 2025 cannot match the miracle that was 2024, what happened this October has readied New York to take the next step.”