Pete Alonso’s first trip back to Citi Field as an Oriole landed with all the awkwardness Mets fans probably feared - and then some.
Alonso arrived sitting on 299 career home runs, one swing away from becoming the 191st player in major league history to reach 300. The timing could hardly have been more pointed: the milestone chance came in the ballpark where he spent eight seasons building the kind of resume that made him feel like a Met for life.
That’s the strange part of this whole return. Alonso didn’t just put up numbers in Queens.
He exploded onto the scene in 2019 by smashing the single-season rookie home run record with 53 and winning NL Rookie of the Year. Over his Mets run, he made five All-Star teams, won a Silver Slugger, and left as the franchise’s all-time home run leader.
He also gave the fan base one of its most unforgettable postseason moments.
Before Monday’s game, Alonso spoke to SNY about that 2024 Wild Card round blast in Milwaukee, the one that put the Mets ahead 3-2 in the ninth inning of Game 3 against the Brewers. He said it felt like that group had magic and that they were going to ride it as long as they could.
The Mets wounds haven't fully healed as Pete Alonso returns to Citi Field
Pete Alonso returns to Citi Field tonight as a member of the Baltimore Orioles
Ahead of his return to Queens, Pete reflects on the Mets' 2024 run and his incredibly clutch home run in Milwaukee pic.twitter.com/YqVZbHJOhB
- SNY Mets (@SNY_Mets) September 14, 2026
That memory only sharpens the sting of how things ended. Mets fans wanted far more of those moments.
Instead, Alonso left in free agency one season later after the Mets chose not to offer him a contract. He had already turned down a long-term extension in 2023 and tried to bet on himself, but for a player so deeply tied to the team’s identity to walk away without an offer hit hard.
It hits even harder now with New York 12 games under .500 and sitting as the sixth-worst team in baseball.
The reaction on Monday said plenty. In the series opener against the Orioles, Mets fans cheered Alonso and then let out a loud groan when he came up just a few feet short of his 300th homer.
Pete Alonso was this close to hitting an absolute moonshot for his 300th career homer pic.twitter.com/jRMj3nxpf1
- Talkin' Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) September 14, 2026
And there’s one more layer to the frustration: Francisco Lindor is also parked at 299 career home runs. In another universe, both guys could have been reaching that mark together in orange and blue. That’s the kind of thought that helps explain why “Fire Stearns” chants broke out during the game, aimed at Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns.
Now Mets fans will have to watch Alonso from afar for at least the next four seasons as he climbs the home run list and tries to help the Orioles get where they want to go. He’s already making his mark in Baltimore with his production and his voice, doing the kind of things Mets fans hoped he’d keep doing in Queens for years to come. And if that wasn’t enough, his return came with New York already out of the playoff race, which only makes the whole scene sting a little more.
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