Tuesday, May 26

Welcome back to the Mets Beat newsletter! Anthony DiComo has covered the Mets for MLB.com since 2007, including the past 17 seasons full-time on the beat.

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. -- The Grapefruit League schedule is in the past now, and while the Mets still have a couple of roster decisions to make before Thursday, Spring Training is effectively over. Bring on the regular season, which will begin Thursday against the Pirates at 1:15 p.m. at Citi Field. (Important programming note: That game will air on NBC and Peacock, not SNY.) 

It should be another fascinating season for the Mets, who turned over around a third of their roster in hopes of curing the issues that resulted in them missing the playoffs last season. 

So much of this is impossible to forecast. But because it’s what we do this time of year, here are some predictions on what will happen during the 2026 season. 

What Needs To Go Right?  
The rotation must be better than a year ago, when the Mets featured one of the league’s top starting staffs in April and May before collapsing in June (and never coming close to recovering). Freddy Peralta is here now to stabilize things, but Sean Manaea and Kodai Senga still represent major what-ifs for the Mets. The team will also look for Nolan McLean to continue developing into a superstar, and for Clay Holmes and David Peterson to provide steady veteran production. 

Great Unknown 
Spring Training is one thing. Senga needed to re-establish himself following injury-plagued down years in 2024 and ‘25, and he absolutely did so with a 1.86 ERA over three Grapefruit League outings. He hit 99 mph on the radar gun and looked every bit the frontline starter he was back in 2023. But the regular season is quite another animal, and Senga still must prove he can withstand the rigors of a long year. If he continues down this path, the Mets will have another top-of-the-rotation arm to pair with Peralta and McLean. But if he falters? Well, we’ve seen that movie before. 

Team MVP Will Be ...  
Juan Soto. Because he’s one of the five best players in baseball. Because as solid as Francisco Lindor has been, Soto was even better in his Mets debut despite a change-of-scenery slump to start the year. Because Soto has none of the lingering injury concerns that Lindor does. Because he’s still just 27. Because he decided he wanted to be better at stealing bases last year and wound up leading the league. Because he is motivated to win an NL MVP. Because he’s plenty good enough to do it. 

Team Cy Young Will Be ...  
McLean. That’s no slight on Peralta, who will start Opening Day and has all the pedigree to be New York’s ace. But McLean features some of the best pure stuff in baseball, which gives him a higher ceiling if he’s able to harness it. The best version of this Mets team has McLean starting Game 1 of a playoff series. The potential is there for him to blossom into a Cy Young-caliber pitcher. 

Bold Prediction 
There will be no NL East drama this year. No Game 162 theatrics to determine whether the Mets will make the playoffs. As the Phillies slowly age out of relevance and the Braves deal with myriad pitching injuries, the Mets will lock up the division by mid-September. 

Tom Seaver holds the Mets’ record with 11 Opening Day starts. Who has the second-most? 

A) Jacob deGrom 
B) Tom Glavine 
C) Dwight Gooden 
D) Johan Santana 

You’ve probably heard by now that longtime Mets broadcaster Howie Rose has decided to retire after this season. For someone like me who covers the team on a daily basis, it’s a bittersweet moment; thrilled for Rose that he gets to go out on his own terms, sad that I won’t be seeing him around the ballpark anymore. 

Since my days as an MLB.com intern, Rose has consistently been one of the kindest, most helpful people I’ve encountered in the Mets universe. He’s also been the soundtrack to summer for millions. Since Rose announced his impending retirement, plenty of folks have released little vignettes and tributes in honor of him. They’re all valid. And although Rose has too much humility to say it, I’ll do so here: There will never be another Mets broadcaster quite like Howie. Congratulations on an epic career. 

The Mets on Sunday unveiled a new mural outside the Queens Center Mall in Elmhurst “to celebrate the Queens community and homage to one of the most important parts of the New York Mets -- the fans.” The mural, created by Colombian artist Orlando González, includes an interactive space designed to allow fans to see themselves as parts of the team. 

The design includes depictions of Soto, Lindor and Peralta, as well as the 7 Line subway, Citi Field and other imagery from the Mets universe. 

• One of the game’s most electrifying Opening Day matchups is set: Peralta vs. Paul Skenes. Dawn Klemish and I ran down that matchup as part of our season preview package. 

• As for the rest of the rotation, it’s about what you’d expect … minus Manaea. The Mets announced this week that Manaea will open the season in the bullpen -- an assignment that disappoints him, though he respects the decision. 

• Mike Tauchman’s knee injury seems to have cleared the path for Carson Benge to make the Opening Day roster, even if the Mets haven’t made that official yet. 

• The Mets told Craig Kimbrel he won’t be in their Opening Day bullpen. The only question is whether the likely future Hall of Famer wants to stay in the organization. 

• Spring Breakout, Major League Baseball’s annual prospect showcase, took place Thursday at Clover Park. Among the highlights were pitchers Jack Wenninger and Jonathan Santucci, who combined to strike out 11 batters over 7 1/3 innings. Before the game, I caught up with two of the best base stealers in the organization, A.J. Ewing and Nick Morabito, to ask a simple question. Who’s faster? 

C) Dwight Gooden

Gooden made eight Opening Day starts from 1985-94, only missing two over that stretch. Glavine and Santana both started four Opening Days. deGrom started three. 

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