On Tuesday night at Citi Field, the 2026 Mets season reached either a rather humiliating new low or a moment of catharsis, depending upon your point of view. With one out in the top of the ninth inning and the Mets clinging to a 3-2 lead over the Orioles, closer Kodai Senga left an 82.5-mph forkball over the plate, and Pete Alonso absolutely hit the fork out of it for a game-tying solo shot, the 300th home run of his career. The 31-year-old slugger punctuated the shot with an emphatic bat toss as the ball caromed off the face of the second deck in left-center field. While most opponent homers in such situations would elicit groans and boos, Alonso — who made his long-awaited return to Queens this week after signing a five-year, $155 million deal with the Orioles last December — instead received a standing ovation and made a curtain call.
Though unorthodox, the response from the crowd was understandable. Alonso hit 264 home runs during his seven seasons with the Mets, the most homers in franchise history, making five All-Star teams and two trips to the postseason while earning a spot in the hearts of fans as their beloved Polar Bear. Tuesday night’s game was just his second at Citi Field as a visitor, and as they’d done the night before, Mets fans brought their homemade cardboard signs displaying sentiments such as: “Thank You Pete — Forever a Met,” “Mets Fans Still Love Pete,” and “Should’ve Paid Pete.” The last of those also featured a Mets logo in front of the phrase “Fans Rooting For” before an Orioles logo.
Prior to Monday night’s first pitch, the Mets presented a tribute video, and shortstop Francisco Lindor joined the crowd of 35,880 in an ovation before Alonso’s first plate appearance. Alonso went 0-for-3 with a walk in Baltimore’s 2-1 win that night, a victory that officially eliminated the Mets from playoff contention. Tuesday’s homer, his 36th of the season, was his lone hit in five plate appearances, though it loomed large in an 11-inning, 7-5 win that sent the Mets to their 82nd loss, guaranteeing them their first sub-.500 season since 2023, before David Stearns took over as president of baseball operations.
In the wake of Alonso’s homer, the scene at Citi Field took a surreal turn, as chants of “Fire Stearns!” followed Alonso’s cameo, ringing out around the ballpark. The crowd — officially 28,097 but in actuality much more sparse, befitting a home team playing out the string — vented its anger and disappointment regarding Stearns’ offseason overhaul of the roster.
Pete Alonso grins as Mets fans chant “fire Stearns” after Alonso hit his 300th home run in his old ballpark pic.twitter.com/XbNLhDE7yn
— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) September 16, 2026
I witnessed all of this from high above home plate, watching Tuesday’s game with a couple of friends in Section 515, surrounded by Citi Field regulars in Mets regalia; Alonso jerseys were everywhere we turned. This return-of-the-conquering-hero moment brought to mind another Mets game I attended 20 years ago. On August 9, 2006, in his second game back at Shea Stadium as a member of the visiting Padres, 37-year-old Mike Piazza clubbed two solo home runs off Pedro Martinez, and nearly added a third on a warning-track fly off Aaron Heilman in the eighth inning — one hauled in by Carlos Beltrán, with yet another future Hall of Famer, Billy Wagner, coming on in the ninth inning to close out a 4-3 win. Like Alonso, Piazza received huge ovations at every turn, but the difference was that the choice to let the aging catcher depart had been much less fraught. Those Mets’ fortunes improved once they turned the page, as they captured the NL East with 97 wins and advanced as far as Game 7 of the NLCS.
For the New York Post’s Joel Sherman, Alonso’s homer was reminiscent of one hit by Reggie Jackson in his 1982 return to Yankee Stadium following owner George Steinbrenner’s decision to let him leave for the Angels as a free agent.
Forgive a long tweet to remind that the Yankees in 1982 had a situation similar to what the Mets and their fans experienced with Pete Alonso on Tuesday night. Reggie Jackson left the Yankees bitterly after five years, two championships and gaining the Mr. October nickname. The…
— Joel Sherman (@Joelsherman1) September 16, 2026
For these Mets and their fans, it’s all over but the shouting, and the fans at Citi Field have a lot to complain about when it comes to Stearns’ decision not only to let Alonso depart — reportedly without even receiving a formal offer from the Mets — but with regards to most of his other offseason moves. The team may have dodged a bullet by letting closer Edwin Díaz leave to sign a three-year, $69 million deal with the Dodgers. Between surgery to remove bone chips in his elbow and a second trip to the injured list for inflammation in neck, he’s been limited to 13 2/3 innings and an 11.85 ERA, and his current rehab assignment has gone so poorly that he’s in danger of being left off the postseason roster.
But while one can defend that and the decisions to trade away aging veterans Brandon Nimmo (at the time team’s longest-tenured player), and Jeff McNeil, the players Stearns brought in via trades and free agency — Bo Bichette, Freddy Peralta, Jorge Polanco, Luis Robert Jr., Marcus Semien, Luke Weaver, and Devin Williams — have, with the exception of Weaver, significantly underperformed, with several adding injuries to the insult. Manager Carlos Mendoza paid the price for Stearns’ faulty blueprint in June, fired after two and a half seasons on the job, and in late July, the team’s dismal play forced Stearns into salvage mode. He traded away Peralta, Weaver, and holdovers Huascar Brazobán, Clay Holmes, A.J. Minter, and Brooks Raley ahead of the August 3 deadline, then let Roberts get claimed off waivers on August 31. The Orioles picked him up, but he played just three games before landing on the IL again due to a left hamstring strain.
Coming against Senga, the Alonso home run felt like one of those record-scratch-and-freeze-frame moments, with both players saying in voiceover, “You’re probably wondering how I got here.” For both, we might dial back to June 12 of last season, when Senga spent the afternoon carving up the Nationals, holding them to one hit and one walk over 5 1/3 scoreless innings. With one out in the sixth, he ran to cover first base after inducing CJ Abrams to hit a sharp grounder to Alonso, whose throw to the pitcher was high. Senga leapt to catch the ball, but in extending his leg far enough to graze the corner of the bag in time to beat Abrams, he strained his right hamstring.
Senga led the league with a 1.47 ERA at the time, while the Mets, who held on to win that day, owned the majors’ best record at 45-24. But from there it was all downhill for both the pitcher and the team. Senga missed a month and put up a 5.90 ERA and a 5.76 FIP the rest of the way while failing to make a single quality start in nine turns. The Mets, who were beset by pitching injuries, went 38-55 over the remainder of the season, worse than all but two NL teams. After coming within two wins of a trip to the World Series in 2024, they lost out on the third NL Wild Card berth because they lost their season series to the Reds, who had also finished 83-79. When Alonso opted out after the first year of his two-year, $54 million contract, Stearns and company decided that an aging right-handed first baseman with lousy defense (-9 DRS, -7 FRV) and a penchant for putting pitchers in harm’s way with his errant throws was a liability they couldn’t afford, particularly with Juan Soto likely to transition to regular DH duty at some point down the road.
So Alonso moved on, and he’s done his best to make Mets fans miss him, batting .267/.361/.503 with 37 homers — he added another solo shot in the first inning on Wednesday night off Xzavion Curry — and 102 RBI this season, the last of which is one obstacle in Yordan Alvarez’s quest to win a Triple Crown. (The Astros slugger has “only” 98 RBI.) Alonso’s 142 wRC+ and 4.3 WAR are both his highest marks since his rookie season, though the former is just two points ahead of what he posted last year. He’s set career highs in walk rate (11.6%), exit velocity (93.9 mph), hard-hit rate (56%), and xwOBA (.395) while also showing off improved defense (-2 FRV and 0 DRS). In the 10th inning of Tuesday’s game, he made a diving stop on a 99.7-mph grounder by Jared Young, momentarily preventing a run; Semien ripped a game-tying RBI double on Alex Hoppe’s next pitch.
More on those extra innings shortly. As for Alonso’s replacements in Queens, they’ve netted a major league-low -1.1 WAR while combining for an 89 wRC+. Polanco, after playing the season’s first two games at first base, was limited to DH duty thereafter due to soreness in his left Achilles tendon and bursitis in that ankle; he played 37 games and produced a 20 wRC+ with -1.4 WAR before undergoing season-ending surgery in late August. Mark Vientos took over as the regular but couldn’t even replicate his numbers from a disappointing 2025 season, hitting for a 72 wRC+ in 60 games at first base and batting .214/.262/.405 (82 wRC+) with -1.0 WAR overall. Young, who became the regular in early June, has at least stabilized the spot, hitting for a 111 wRC+ in 80 games at first, and a 112 wRC+ (.268/.332/.431) with 1.0 WAR in 102 games overall.
As for Senga, the combination of the pre-deadline trades of the aforementioned relievers and a shoulder strain suffered by Williams shortly afterwards led interim manager Andy Green to turn to the 33-year-old righty as his closer, an odd choice given that Senga still hadn’t returned to form following last year’s injury. He was torched for an 8.66 ERA and a 6.50 FIP in eight starts and five relief appearances through the end of July, interrupted by a seven-week IL stint for lumbar spine inflammation starting in late April. The Mets reasoned that simplifying Senga’s repertoire to his two best pitches, his forkball and a four-seamer that averages 96.4 mph, might bring him more success. Prior to Tuesday, he had converted his first seven save chances while lowering his ERA to 7.02, though he did take a loss on August 23, when he entered a tied game and served up a walk-off homer to White Sox center fielder Tristan Peters. Across 15 appearances from the beginning of August through Monday, Senga ran a 1.88 ERA and a 2.96 FIP in 14 1/3 innings.
He couldn’t get the job done on Tuesday night, but that was just one of a handful of things that went wrong for the Mets, who scored a run in each of the first three innings against Orioles starter Shane Baz but squandered numerous opportunities and made several mistakes. In all, they left 13 men on base and went 3-for-16 with runners in scoring position, with two of those hits coming with the Manfred Man already in place in the 10th and 11th innings. As has been the case all season, their ability to build and sustain rallies left plenty to be desired.
Skipping over the play-by-play between these two godforsaken teams, the Mets didn’t lack for lowlights. Bichette was picked off of first base in the fifth inning, right after hitting a 105.1-mph comebacker off Baz’s right elbow, forcing him from the game. (Fortunately, X-rays were negative). The team missed an opportunity to win the game in the ninth following a one-out double by Lindor and an intentional walk of Soto. The Orioles scored a run in the top of the 10th after reliever Daniel Duarte gave up a single to Gunnar Henderson, then threw a wild pitch to bring home Christian Encarnacion-Strand. With one out in the bottom of the 10th, Semien at second after the aforementioned double, and A.J. Ewing at first following an intentional walk, Christopher Morel short-circuited another chance to win by grounding out on a 3-0 pitch. Francisco Alvarez followed by striking out looking at a sinker down the middle.
The 11th inning brought the coup de grâce, one that combined what was briefly a scary moment with a result that was Maximum Mets. With two outs and runners on first (Dylan Beavers, who had walked) and second (Leody Taveras, the Manfred Man), Coby Mayo hit a towering fly ball to deep center field. Ewing, a beat behind the ball, twisted and leapt in a desperate attempt to catch it, but the ball deflected off his glove and rolled out of reach as he crashed into the wall. Mayo circled the bases for an inside-the-park three-run homer.
Though Ewing was slow getting up, he didn’t suffer any serious injuries. The Mets scored once in the bottom of the 11th on a Bichette single, but that was all they could muster.
After the game, Mets starter Sean Manaea — who allowed two runs in 5 1/3 innings on second-inning solo homers by Encarnacion-Strand and Jeremiah Jackson — sounded a note of frustration with regards to the crowd’s reaction to Alonso’s blast. “It’s just crazy how things unfolded,” said the 34-year-old lefty. “I have nothing but respect for (Alonso) and love him to death. As the 2026 Mets, we’ve definitely underperformed. But the guys in here work their ass off every single day, and to have that kind of reaction to an opposing player is crazy to me. I’ve just never seen anything like that before.”
“It did feel like a little bit of a flip to see them embrace Pete at the level that they’ve chosen to, which is totally understandable, as well. But unique is a fair descriptor of the last couple of days,” said Green, who added, “We’ve all shown appreciation and deference for what Pete has done for this organization. At this time, I think everybody in a Mets uniform just wants to go play baseball and win baseball games and move on. But, respect everybody’s right to handle it how they feel fit.”
Both comments went even further than Lindor’s words after Monday’s game. The shortstop felt Mets fans didn’t show enough support for rookie starter Jonah Tong, who allowed just one run (unearned) in 6 1/3 innings, but drew boos from Citi Field fans after walking Alonso in the third inning. “I think next time, they’ve got to give the pitcher a little more love, too,” Lindor said.
Senga, for his part, took the cheers for Alonso in stride. “Because it was him, it didn’t bother me,” he said through interpreter Hiro Fujiwara. “It just shows how much he was loved, it just shows how great of a hitter he is and how much he meant to this organization.”
“I appreciate all the support,” Alonso said, regarding his reception from the fans, “especially for all the years I’m here, all the life I’ve lived here. Obviously they’re recognizing that, and they’re appreciating that. It’s a two-way street, I really appreciate it.”
Alonso met with a trio of Mets fans outside the visitors clubhouse after the game, including one who caught his home run ball. In exchange, the slugger signed each of their no. 20 jerseys, presented them with signed bats and balls, beers, and an invitation for VIP passes to Camden Yards to see a game.
Pete met up with the fans who caught his historic 300th home run ball and gave the trio a memory of a lifetime ? pic.twitter.com/YaWBNdfu2y
— Baltimore Orioles (@Orioles) September 16, 2026
The cheers for Alonso kept coming on Wednesday, when his first-inning solo shot provided the first run in Baltimore’s 7-1 win.
With the three-game sweep of the Mets, the Orioles lifted their record to 75-78, keeping their desperate bid for a postseason berth alive. They’re 2.5 games out in the race for the third AL Wild Card spot, and need to surpass the Blue Jays (76-77), Rangers (76-76), Astros (76-76), and White Sox (77-75), the last of whom ceded first place to the Guardians for the first time since July 3 after losing for the seventh time in nine games. The Orioles have a 6.1% chance of making the playoffs according to our reckoning. Right now, those odds seem much higher than the possibility of Mets fans forgiving David Stearns for letting Pete Alonso depart.
* This article was originally published here
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