PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. -- Legendary Mets radio broadcaster Howie Rose will cut his travel completely during the 2026 season, paring his schedule down from 100 games to just 84: the 81 home games, plus three Subway Series games in the Bronx.
Rose, who has called Mets games on the radio and television since 1995, including as the club’s lead radio play-by-play voice since 2006, began cutting back his workload following a bladder cancer diagnosis in 2021. Initially, he phased out longer flights to the West Coast, before last season eliminating all travel outside of Opening Day, Philadelphia trips and the final road trip of the season.
Now, Rose will refrain from traveling at all until the postseason, when he expects to call every game at home and on the road.
“That’s basically the only way I can keep it going at this point,” Rose said in a telephone interview from South Florida, where he lives full-time during the offseason. “The thing is, I may be 72 now, but I also did baseball and hockey full seasons concurrently for a long time. … It catches up to you. Travel is not my favorite thing. So to be able to eliminate it, at least for the regular season, was something that I needed to do if I was going to work this year.”
In a perfect world, Rose said, he will continue calling Mets games until the team wins a World Series. If that happens, he will retire.
“That’s been my plan, but I don’t have any control over it,” Rose said. “I’m just taking it year by year. And I reserve the right at any time to say, ‘That’s it,’ but I would never do that in-season. So, I’m committed to doing this season, and we’ll see when the games start where my head’s at and how I project ahead.”
Rose recently sold his family’s home on Long Island and will rent during the baseball season. He signed a one-year contract to call Mets games for 2026.
“I’ve literally been in my mind going year-to-year for a few years now,” Rose said. “So this new wrinkle with no travel at all during the regular season enables me to approach this season with a clear and energetic head. And beyond that, who knows?”