It's Been Too Long

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It happened all too long ago. On this day 39 years ago, the New York Mets won their second and most recent world championship. 

I was asleep when it happened, because I was three years old. I didn’t get into sports in general until I was five (according to sources), and my first memories of watching Mets baseball didn’t involve any of the 1986 principles, so it was probably 1992-1993, aka the “Worst Team Money Can Buy” years. The World Series title might as well have happened 100 years ago. 

Of course, I know all of the fun details of the ‘86 Fall Classic. I’ve studied it more than any other subject. I know that the Boston Red Sox and the Mets played each other at Fenway Park in an exhibition game for charity that September. Around that time, Bill Buckner, incredibly, told reporters that the dream is to get the game-winning hit in the World Series, and the nightmare would be letting a game-winning error go through your legs. The Mets lost the first two games at home, won the next two on the road with ease and lost Game 5 to set up the Game 6 drama. A fan somehow flew onto the field during the first inning of that one. Ron Darling in the dugout gave him a high five as police took him away. 

I rewatched Game 7 yesterday. I watch it every year and always find new things about it, or aspects of the game I had forgotten. Buckner got a standing ovation before his first at-bat (ouch). I did remember that Sid Fernandez saved the day with multiple scoreless innings in relief of Darling. I didn’t realize how much his pitching energized the Shea Stadium crowd. The Red Sox lead 3-0 from the second up until the bottom of the sixth, and Met fans weren’t sweating it because of what had happened at the end of Game 6, yes, but also because El Sid was mowing them down. Red Sox starter Bruce Hurst, who was going to be the World Series MVP had Boston held on to win two nights before, retired 11 in a row before pinch hitter Lee Mazzilli singled with one out in the sixth. Then the floodgates opened. By the end of the half inning the game was tied. Ray Knight led off the seventh against Calvin Schiraldi (who was a Met the year before) with a home run. The Mets would not relinquish the lead. After he struck out Marty Barrett to end the game, Jesse Orosco flung his glove up in the air in triumph. To this day, nobody has seen it land. Some have waxed poetic that maybe it never did. 

I wish that when I write about those moments that it was more trivial, but the fact remains it’s the most recent New York Mets title. It’ll soon get to the point where I’ll have to rewatch Games 6 and 7 to remind myself that it’s real, that they really did win it all once upon a time. I wish that wasn’t the case. 

SNY did the dirty work, and good for them for doing so. They calculated how the Mets did in each of their different uniforms in 2025. 

I can’t imagine anyone reading that graphic and not coming to two conclusions: 

1) Man, the Mets stunk on the road last year

2) They should wear the blue alternates much more often

The blue alternate jerseys with “New York” in cursive were worn almost exclusively* for away games, which makes their winning record in that fit all the more amazing. I knew from the first time I laid eyes on the jersey last offseason that they were winners. Please bring them back and use them more often. 

* The Mets wore the blue alts once at home. They won the game, but Griffin Canning blew out his Achilles that night. 

Francelis Montas Luna has an overall bWAR of 6.9 and a lifetime ERA of 4.20, but his Mets tenure has been anything but nice.

The Dominican born Montas signed as an international free agent with the Boston Red Sox in 2009 when he was 16 years old. His signing bonus was for $75,000. Montas was traded by the Red Sox before he made the big leagues in a complicated 2013 deadline deal that involved Jake Peavy going to the Red Sox and Jose Iglesias to the Tigers. In 2015 he made the All-Star Futures Game and made his major league debut on September 2nd as a reliever.

He was traded again in the offseason, this time as part of a package to the Los Angeles Dodgers for Todd Frazier. His 2016 was mostly spent on the injured list after undergoing rib resection surgery. On August 1st he was traded to the Oakland A’s with two others for Josh Reddick and the ageless Rich Hill. 

Montas wouldn’t be traded for another six years, which did wonders for his career. After starting the 2018 season in Triple-A, he went 5-4 with a 3.88 ERA as a starter in 13 games for Oakland. His 2019 started off great with a 2.70 ERA after 15 starts. Then he got popped for testing positive for a banned substance (ostarine). Even though he came back in 2020 as the A’s Opening Day starter, Montas didn’t have a good bounceback campaign - in 11 starts he had a 5.60 ERA. The good news is that during the COVID-19 pandemic, Montas learned how to smoke brisket and ribs. 2021 was the true comeback year. In 187 innings pitched, Montas went 13-9 with a 3.37 ERA, good enough to finish sixth in American League Cy Young voting. 

He was traded again on August 1, 2022, this time to the New York Yankees. His tenure there was just as bad as the one for the other New York MLB team. Montas stunk for them in the final two months of the ‘22 season, then missed virtually all of 2023 after needing arthroscopic surgery on his right shoulder. He signed a one-year deal with the Cincinnati Reds in January of 2024 and ended up being Cincinnati’s Opening Day starter. Montas added a sweeper to his repertoire - according to Statcast he now threw six pitches. Frankie went 4-8 with a 5.01 ERA, but the Brewers apparently liked what they saw because they traded for him at the deadline. In 11 starts for Milwaukee he had a 4.55 earned run average. Montas started Game 2 of the Wild Card Series against the Mets, where he lasted just three and two thirds innings but only allowed one earned run. 

David Stearns, President of Baseball Operations for the Mets, relied too much on lottery tickets when he put together a starting rotation during the 2024-25 offseason. One of the ways in which he did this was by signing Montas to a two-year, $34 million deal with a player option for 2026, which he most certainly will exercise because he’s going to be unavailable for all of it.

Montas didn’t make his Met debut until June 24th due to a lat strain. His first start for the team was actually pretty good - he threw five scoreless innings against Atlanta. But five days later, the Pirates, the Pittsburgh Pirates, beat him senseless. A few days after that bad performance, Montas claimed he was tipping his pitches and that he fixed it. On July 5th against one of his old teams the Yankees, Montas allowed four earned runs in five and two thirds innings, but he had a decent time pitching in his next two performances. On July 28th in San Diego, he got racky-tacked, and after an August 3rd start where he permitted seven runs in four innings, the Mets finally had enough of Frankie Montas: starter. He made two relief appearances before he was placed on the injured list with a particularly rough UCL injury in his elbow. He’ll miss all of 2026 after undergoing Tommy John surgery in September. Montas symbolizes the failed offseason and trade deadline strategy of the New York Mets front office this past season. What a mess. 

Assistant pitching coach Desi Druschel was given permission to talk to other teams, and he took advantage of that. Jeff Passan reported that Druschel is returning to the Yankees. Druschel was brought on board the Met train last season by the recently fired Jeremy Hefner, so this isn’t shocking. 

The Scottsdale Scorpions defeated the Mesa Solar Sox 7-4. LF Chris Suero went 0 for 4 with four strikeouts. RHP Ernesto Mercedes allowed two earned runs in one inning of work. He permitted two hits and walked one batter.