NEW YORK -- Despite the names on the backs of their jerseys and the numbers on the backs of their baseball cards, the 2025 Mets were not an elite offense. They finished ninth in the Majors in runs per game, eighth in slugging and ninth in total bases. After the season, team leaders opted not to retain either of their primary hitting coaches.
They spent the rest of the winter transforming their offense behind new players, new coaches and a new outlook. Then they set about trying to prove that things might be different.
Throughout an 11-7 win on Opening Day on Thursday, Mets hitters began to do exactly that, grinding out at-bats and taking advantage of multiple Pirates mistakes to knock reigning National League Cy Young Award winner Paul Skenes out of the game in the first inning. From there, they maintained relentless pressure at Citi Field, drawing nine walks and forcing the Pirates to throw 152 pitches over the first five innings alone.
Along the way, Carson Benge homered for his first career hit, Francisco Alvarez also went deep and reached base safely three times, Francisco Lindor scored three runs, Luis Robert Jr. drove home two, and so on and so forth, on and on and on. This was not a victory so much as a clinic. The Mets simply leaned on the Pirates until they broke.
“It’s the first game, but I think it could give us a glimpse into what we want to be as a team,” said Bo Bichette, who played crucial roles in multiple Mets rallies despite finishing hitless. “Getting down early, coming back against maybe the best in the game? That’s good stuff, so we’ll try to keep it going.”
Opening Day provided the first evidence that these Mets can be a championship-caliber team even if their pitching needs some time to catch up. Starter Freddy Peralta, one of eight players making his Mets debut (the most in a single game since 1995), was good but not great over five innings. It didn’t come close to mattering.
The Mets knocked Skenes out in the first inning in part because of their pressurized offense, and in part because of multiple mistakes from converted Pirates center fielder Oneil Cruz, who broke inward on a Brett Baty sharp line drive that landed over his head for a bases-clearing triple. Marcus Semien followed with the first of his two hits -- a ball that Cruz appeared to lose in the sun -- and the Mets were off to the races.
But to focus on the Cruz mistakes would be to ignore what the Mets accomplished in between them. Take Bichette, for example. In the first inning, he spoiled a 98 mph two-strike fastball before finally lofting a fly ball deep enough to plate the Mets’ first run. That plate appearance helped pile Skenes’ pitch count so high that eventually, Pirates manager Don Kelly had little choice but to remove his ace from the game.
Bichette struck out in his next three at-bats, yet not before seeing 13 pitches against reliever Isaac Mattson in the last of them. The next batter, Jorge Polanco, drew a bases-loaded walk as the Mets rallied for three crucial insurance runs. They wound up forcing the Pirates to use six relievers and throw 192 total pitches on the afternoon.
“Just to see it out of the gate against one of the best pitchers in the league,” manager Carlos Mendoza said, “it goes to show you we’ve got some dangerous guys.”
Not every day, Mendoza cautioned, will be like this one. Just because the Mets manhandled Skenes does not mean they will always do the same against lesser pitchers. But baseball people talk all the time about process over results. Some days, those things don’t match up -- a screaming line drive right at the shortstop, for example, or a wicked slider that a batter somehow hits.
On Opening Day, the Mets’ new process clearly lined up with their results.
“I don’t think you can predict a day like today against a pitcher like Skenes,” said director of Major League hitting Jeff Albert, one of the two new hitting instructors who replaced departed coaches Eric Chavez and Jeremy Barnes.
“We’re human, so I’m sure we’ll have our days,” added Bichette. “But for the most part, you should be able to control your effort every day, your competitiveness every day. We’ll have our days for sure, but we’ll hold ourselves to this standard.”