On May 29, the Mets were routed by the Dodgers in a 10-3 loss, dropping to 11 games below .500 and 16 games back in the NL East. Reliever Jorge Lopez tossed his glove into the stands in frustration after allowing two runs and recording just one out, Francisco Lindor managed just one hit to drop his season OPS to .652, and the season seemed to be slipping away despite being less than a third of the way through.
The disastrous start to the season came on the heels of arguably the most disappointing campaign in franchise history a year prior, when the 2023 squad and its historic payroll missed the playoffs and became sellers at the deadline. The big-money contracts of Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer were turned into efforts to replenish the farm system, while new president of baseball operations David Stearns arrived from Milwaukee, leading some fans to wonder if Steve Cohen would spurn his big spending to try a more small-market approach.
Fast forward six and a half months, and the Mets have continued one of the more drastic turnarounds we’ve seen in this city in such a short amount of time.
After Lopez hurled his glove into the stands at Citi Field, the Mets held a players-only meeting, Lopez was cut, and New York went 65-42 the rest of the way, reaching the playoffs and making it all the way to game six of the NLCS in arguably the biggest surprise of the MLB season. Lindor turned his brutally slow start into an MVP-caliber season, Pete Alonso washed away a season of frustration by belting some of the biggest home runs in Mets history, and youngsters like Mark Vientos gave reason to hope for the future.
Turns out, that was just the start of it.
Those concerns that Stearns’ arrival would spark a new approach from Cohen in terms of curtailing his spending? Nonsense. Turns out, he was simply saving it for the biggest free agent the game has ever seen, landing Juan Soto on a record $765 million deal that could eclipse $800 million if he opts out after five years and the Mets veto it. Cohen, after overseeing a monumental disaster in 2023 and the start of 2024, is suddenly the owner of one of the more exciting teams in baseball on the upswing, and now leads a franchise many see as a premier destination for free agents, despite sharing a city with arguably the most recognizable brand in sports in the Yankees.
How did things turn so quickly?
It wasn’t just Lindor catching fire or Alonso’s heroics in Milwaukee or Jose Iglesias’ “OMG” becoming the anthem of a feel-good season. It was Cohen learning on the fly as an owner, focusing on what it would take to make Queens a desirable landing spot, and waiting for the perfect time to pounce on a historic free agent that has continued to change the tide for the Mets. Six months ago, they were a laughingstock. Now, they are a perennial contender with seemingly no limit on what they will spend or what they will do to distance themselves from the pack.
What a difference a few months can make.