Ruby Thomas was 9 when the Mets last won the World Series. It was 1986, the year she fastened her unyielding devotion to the team. In the decades since, Ms. Thomas never lost hope that the Mets would win another championship, not even this year, when they were 11 games under .500 at the end of May.
“It’s part of being a Mets fan,” Ms. Thomas, a health care executive from New York, said on Monday at Citi Field, the team’s home in Queens. “You can’t lose hope, no matter how bad things look. You still believe it can happen.”
Ms. Thomas may be different from legions of more fatalistic Mets fans, who brace for disaster on any given pitch. But maybe her time is finally here again.
In the 62nd anniversary of the team’s inception in 1962, the Mets are engaged in a surprising and entertaining playoff race, just as they could become unburdened by the franchise’s most ignominious record. In Chicago, the White Sox are threatening to break the ’62 Mets mark of 120 losses, a fitting parallel to the 2024 Mets resurgence.
Since it is the Mets — and many Mets fans would be the first to point this out — it comes with a warning label.
“We haven’t accomplished anything yet,” outfielder Harrison Bader cautioned before the Mets won for the 14th time in 18 games on Tuesday. “We’re not happy yet because we still have a long way to go.”
Mets history is awash in the arcane symbols and nicknames of hope and disappointment, always in the shadow of their big brother, the Yankees. They won the World Series in 1969 and in 1986, but also suffered numerous horrible seasons, collapses and other indignities on the field and off. They were even victimized by Bernie Madoff, of all things.
But since Steve Cohen became the team’s owner in 2020, some hope has been restored, even though the Mets have reached the playoffs only once in his tenure, in 2022, when they lost in the first round at home. This year looked doomed from the beginning until a stunning turnaround.
On May 29, the Mets had the third-worst record in the National League. Since then, they have won 62 games (that number again) and lost only 35. It is the best record in baseball over that substantial time frame.
The recipe to get back into contention has produced another collection of mysterious totems: an airborne mitt, a purple fast-food mascot, a journeyman infielder with a No. 1 single on the Latin charts. The team has also played some really clutch baseball.
“This is not just a spurt,” said Howie Rose, the longtime AM radio announcer, who says the team logo is metaphorically tattooed on his heart. “Now — can they finish the job?”
As of Thursday, the Mets were 84-68 over all, and in position for one of three wild card spots in the National League. If that holds (it could all fall apart still, in supremely Metsian fashion), they would become one of 12 teams in the playoffs with a chance to win the World Series. And wouldn’t it be enticing for it all to culminate in a subway series against the Yankees, who clinched a playoff berth on Wednesday?
“Wild-card teams do win the World Series, and that’s where the hunger stems from,” said Brandon Nimmo, a Mets outfielder, “knowing we are one of the better teams in baseball for the last four months. If we get in, we are dangerous.”
Early on, they were just in danger. The low point was a blowout loss at home to the Dodgers on May 29 as the Mets fell to 22-33. In that game, relief pitcher Jorge López was ejected and then chucked his glove into the stands in frustration. Afterward, he declared the Mets “the worst team” in all of baseball.
Technically, they were the fifth worst, but the Mets fired him anyway. After the game, the players held a team meeting, led by Francisco Lindor, their All-Star shortstop whom many fans believe should win the National League’s Most Valuable Player Award.
Several players spoke, calling for accountability. J.D. Martinez, the veteran designated hitter, who won the World Series with the Boston Red Sox in 2018, said players should relax. There was no pressure on them, as he told reporters later, because people “already think we are the worst in baseball.”
Nimmo said everyone was aware of “the elephant in the room,” which was that they were not playing to their abilities. He said Martinez’s message was especially well received, and he pointed to a couple of team dinners on the road, particularly one in June at Nobu in Dallas. The players devoured sushi, laughed and bonded, reinforcing the notion that they were a brotherhood.
“We spend more time around each other than we do with our families, so the more that you can know each other and get along, the more you are pulling on the same end of the rope,” Nimmo said on Tuesday, before the Mets pummeled the Washington Nationals, 10-1.
Beyond coming together as a team, two more critical things have happened to the Mets.
First, the team called up a veteran infielder, Jose Iglesias, from the minor leagues. Since arriving on May 31, Iglesias has been an energetic and positive figure who has galvanized the clubhouse. But equally important is what else he brought along: a song.
With a voice as fluid as his throws to first base, Iglesias, who is originally from Cuba, wrote and recorded (as Candelita), an uplifting Latin pop tune called “OMG.” He even performed it on the infield at Citi Field after a win on June 28 — in uniform with his Mets hat turned backward.
For most of their history, the Mets were more of an LOL-type outfit, but soon OMG signs, painted in Mets colors, appeared in the dugout and in the stands. The signs are still flashed by various players at big moments and after wins, and the song has become the team’s post-victory theme music.
In the musical standings, “OMG” reached No. 1 on Billboard’s Latin Digital chart in July.
Finally, there is the purple monster in the room. That would be Grimace, the McDonald’s mascot, who threw out the first pitch on June 12, following a loss. The Mets won the next seven games and voilà, they had a lucky charm. Fans began showing up at games in fuzzy purple get-ups — even when the Mets were playing in different cities. On Monday, the Mets brought Grimace back and honored him with his own purple seat in the outfield, and of course they won.
“Grimace hasn’t had much effect in this locker room,” Nimmo said with a laugh. “For us, we really rallied around ‘OMG.’ But it’s a nice thing to rally the fans around.”
Citi Field was pulsing on Monday night despite some empty seats. Grimace was there, and so was Jerry Seinfeld and Matthew Broderick, both long-suffering Mets supporters, high-fiving each other and celebrating the new vibe.
Now, after sweeping the Nationals, the Mets host the first-place Phillies for a four-game series starting Thursday, followed by another huge series in Atlanta. Lindor has not played all week because of a back injury.
“He’s their most indispensable player,” Rose, the radio announcer, said. “I wouldn’t want to go into the biggest series of the year without him.” But there was good news: Lindor’s M.R.I. showed that his injury wasn’t serious. The Mets say he has “started baseball activities” and is expected to return soon.
But if the Mets find a way and actually make the playoffs 62 years after the ’62 Mets? OMG!
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