The dominant storyline regarding the Mets all offseason was about the roster turnover. If you look up and down yesterday’s Opening Day lineup, about half of the players in it are new faces, most of whom weren’t even in the organization last season. Yesterday’s 11-7 victory over the Pirates in which the Mets got the best of one of the premiere aces in the game was a total team effort that included contributions from nearly all of these new Mets.
For starters, the pitcher that took the mound to ring
in the season in front of the Citi Field faithful was one of those new players. Freddy Peralta’s performance wasn’t perfect, but it was enough to earn him his first win in a Mets uniform. After giving up the two-run homer to Brandon Lowe in the first, he bounced back to strike out the next three batters and ended up racking up seven strikeouts in total. Other than the mistakes Peralta made to Lowe, who either simply had Peralta’s number or is about to enter a new era of dominance as a Pittsburgh Pirate, he had a strong Mets debut.
The Mets were able to erase the deficit created by the Lowe two-run homer yielded by Peralta and then some in the bottom of the first, which became a marathon rally that knocked Paul Skenes out of the game with just two outs in the first. The newcomers in the Mets’ lineup were huge contributors to this rally. Bo Bichette plated the Mets’ first run of 2026 with a sacrifice fly. Jorge Polanco then singled and Luis Robert Jr. worked an 11-pitch walk—one of the key at-bats in the inning because of the bases-clearing triple that followed.
Though of course the sun played a role, Marcus Semien gets credit for a double and an RBI in the inning all the same. Both Robert and Semien would go on to have a multi-hit game. Robert notched RBI knocks in both the fourth and fifth innings, the latter being a slow grounder that he beat out with his speed for an infield hit. In his very first game as a Met, Robert showed why the Mets traded for him (and why they have been trying to do so for years now). His skills on both side of the ball were on full display, as he made a diving catch in center to end the third inning as well. In fact, for all the hemming and hawing about players learning new positions, the Mets played a solid game defensively. The Mets’ new infield contingent made all of the plays—fundies that would have made Keith Hernandez proud if this game had been broadcast on SNY.
It is fitting that Freddy Peralta was followed in the game by Tobias Myers, who came with him in the trade from the Brewers. Myers gave up a solo homer to Ryan O’Hearn and nothing else over three strong innings of work, demonstrating right away the value he provides as a long man in the bullpen—a role the Mets have not had consistently filled for quite some time now.
The only new addition whose day did not quite go as well was Luis Garcia, who was tasked with protecting a six-run lead in the ninth inning. With how Myers was cruising it seemed like he might finish the game, but it seems like the Mets opted to save his bullets and turn to Garcia instead with the more comfortable lead. Garcia was shaky in the ninth, but ultimately got through it with the lead in tact. Overall, yesterday was still a very good day for the new look Mets.
Of course, not all 162 games of this long season are going to look like this—“a near perfectly executed offensive inning,” as Howie Rose described the first-inning rally in what turned out to be a near perfectly executed game all around. There are going to be bad moments where it feels like the team isn’t gelling. But you can see David Stearns’ vision for the Mets within yesterday’s win—a microcosm of what he wants this next Mets era to look like. Some of these new faces, like Bo Bichette, who has an opt-out after this season, may be fleeting pieces as this Mets puzzle comes together. Others, like Freddy Peralta, with whom the Mets are still negotiating on a potential extension, may end up staying awhile. We have a lot of season left to see if this new group has the secret sauce of a championship club. But yesterday was a good start.
