Pete Alonso’s Citi Field return is carrying a strange little subplot that fits the 2026 Mets all too well: he and Francisco Lindor both enter the series with 299 career home runs.
That number is the hook here, and it’s a wild one. Alonso, now with the Baltimore Orioles, is the obvious headliner because No. 300 would almost certainly come with plenty of noise from the crowd and a whole lot of attention back on the Mets’ power history.
Most of those blasts came in orange and blue. Lindor’s total is split between 161 with the Mets and 138 with Cleveland, but the bigger point is how their careers have somehow lined up in the same place at the same time.
It’s a fitting twist for two players whose time together in New York was defined more by individual production than by team success. Over five seasons with Lindor and seven with Alonso as the constant presence, the Mets reached the playoffs twice.
They got only one year with Juan Soto in the mix, and that remains a sore point for plenty of fans. Alonso’s departure and the Mets’ inability to replace his bat have become a daily talking point for anyone still grinding through the 2026 season.
The reunion also comes with the added oddity that Lindor and Alonso are on opposite sides of the field in a major league game for the first time since August 22, 2019. And, of course, it’s happening in September, when the stakes are thin and the spotlight shifts toward the individual moments that still manage to break through.
New York carries a tragic number of 1. One Mets loss, or one San Diego Padres win, and the elimination becomes official.
Baltimore isn’t exactly surging either; the Orioles are 4 games out of the AL Wild Card, sitting at 72-78 and 3-7 in their last 10. Two teams better than them are out of the race as well, which tells you where this thing stands.
Alonso’s homecoming has also raised the possibility that he could be the one to officially end the Mets’ postseason hopes. The Mets have a Wild Card Elimination number of 9, so even if they hang around mathematically for a little longer, the situation is close to done.
That’s part of why fans were checking the schedule the moment Alonso signed with the Orioles. The date of his return mattered because it felt like it could line up with a meaningful stretch run. Instead, it’s turned into another reminder that this Mets season is drifting toward the same place so many of their recent storylines have gone: individual milestones taking center stage while the team slips away.
Alonso’s 300th homer would land right in the middle of that. He set the Mets’ home run record on August 12, 2025, and did it while trying not to make the moment about himself as the team was spiraling.
It was only the second Mets win of that month. That’s been the pattern far too often - big personal achievements wrapped inside a mess the team never quite solved.
In Other News...
Carson Benge Is Giving Mets Fans A Bigger Reason To Believe
Carson Benge has given Mets fans a fresh reason to lean in during a season when every little spark matters, and his showing in the Subway Series only added to the buzz. The right fielder turned in a little bit of everything against the Yankees, cutting down a runner with a key outfield assist, leaving the yard for a home run and flashing leather on a diving catch, the kind of all-around stretch that makes a young player look less like a nice story and more like a real building block.
Benges season has backed up the eye test, too, with a .273/.337/.414 line, 17 home runs and 22 stolen bases to his name. Add in the way teammates and the manager have spoken about his defense and overall value, and it is no surprise he has started to sound like a legitimate National League Rookie of the Year contender, even if the bigger question is how high his ceiling might be once he settles in for good. [Read more 🡒]
Mets May Have A Zac Thornton Problem They Cant Ignore
Zac Thornton has given the Mets something they can use down the stretch, but his numbers also point to a wrinkle the club probably cant ignore. Through 13 starts, he has a 3.44 ERA, and the split by catcher has been even more noticeable, with Luis Torrens behind the plate in 11 of those games and Thornton posting a 2.53 ERA in that pairing. For a rotation trying to find stability, that kind of connection matters, especially when catcher defense and game-calling can shape how a starter gets through a lineup.
The rest of the picture is less tidy. Thorntons results have been far less consistent with Francisco Alvarez and Hayden Senger, who have each caught him in smaller samples, and the Mets have leaned on Torrens often because of what he brings behind the plate. It leaves the team with a familiar kind of roster question: how much of Thorntons success is about Thornton, and how much is about the catcher who happens to be receiving him? [Read more 🡒]
Mets Winter Plan After Bo Bichette Could Spark A Big Debate
The Mets offseason is shaping up to be more about fine-tuning than tearing things down, especially with fewer major free agents available to chase than they had a year ago. One name already driving the conversation is Bo Bichette, whose potential return would shape everything else around him, from how the infield is arranged to how aggressively the front office can spend its other capital.
From there, the winter plan gets even more complicated. The Mets are being linked to a wish list that includes pitchers Tarik Skubal and Adrian Morejon, infielder Luis Arraez, and even a trade designed to shed a bad contract in exchange for a right-handed first baseman. It is the kind of roster-building puzzle that could spark a real debate inside the organization, because each move would help in one area while forcing the club to make another choice it might not be eager to confront. [Read more 🡒]