Cohen Pleased with Mets’ Postseason Run
search
SportsMLB

Cohen Pleased with Mets’ Postseason Run

The New York Mets, whose front office is strongly represented by Jews, came within two wins of the World Series.

The New York Mets, a team with many strong ties to the Jewish community, came within a couple games of winning the National League pennant in the fourth year of Steve Cohen’s run as principal owner // Photo Credit: New York Mets
The New York Mets, a team with many strong ties to the Jewish community, came within a couple games of winning the National League pennant in the fourth year of Steve Cohen’s run as principal owner // Photo Credit: New York Mets

The press box at the New York Mets’ home ballpark, Citi Field, is named after Jay Horwitz, the team’s beloved longtime PR director, who now oversees alumni relations. David Stearns is the club’s first-year president of baseball operations.

The Mets’ two most prominent media personalities are Howie Rose and Gary Cohen, who have long served as the team’s radio and television play-by-play announcers, respectively. Their best defensive outfielder is Harrison Bader, who has sartorially supported Israeli hostages all season. And the principal owner is none other than hedge fund manager Steve Cohen.

Indeed, the Mets, the team that engineered the most improbable of comebacks, shaking off a 24-35 start to come within two wins of the World Series, are also one of the most Jewish teams in baseball, if not all of sports, right now.

The Mets’ historic 2024 turnaround that accounted for the most intriguing baseball story this October was anchored by Cohen, the Long Island native who purchased the Mets in 2020 for $2.4 billion, the largest-ever price for an MLB team, and a year later acquired now-franchise cornerstone Francisco Lindor. After the Mets trudged through years of mediocre results and off-field mishaps under the Wilpon family’s stewardship, Cohen’s fan-friendly, free-spending approach has been refreshing for a championship-starved fanbase.

“I will say this, I think he’s [Cohen] a true Mets fan and he knows what the fans liked,” said former Mets All-Star second baseman Edgardo Alfonzo before he participated in pregame ceremonies leading up to Game 4 of the National League Championship Series. “And I think he’s been doing a great job with this organization. In terms of bringing people, old timers to let the fans come and see them, whatever the favorite player was, I think is great for the Mets organization, for the fans, for everybody.”

The Mets, who still in many ways take a backseat to the Yankees in New York, are not participating in the much-ballyhooed World Series playing out this week as they fell to the star-studded Los Angeles Dodgers, 4-2, in an NLCS that drew much higher-than-expected TV ratings. That the Mets – who won 89 games to the Dodgers’ 98 and reached their first NLCS since 2015 – couldn’t overcome a shaky bullpen and the Ruthian feats of superstar Shohei Ohtani didn’t diminish the team’s miraculous revival, one enlivened by the McDonald’s character Grimace mascot and “OMG” song, (orchestrated by infielder Jose Iglesias) serving as the official soundtrack.

“They never quit,” Cohen noted about his never-say-die team shortly after it clinched a playoff berth in early October when it split an end-of-season doubleheader against the Braves. “I’ve never seen a more resilient group. They believe in themselves, and a lot of people didn’t.”

Cohen was quick to heap praise on Stearns, the 39-year-old Harvard grad who previously shepherded a small-market Milwaukee Brewers team to annual postseason contention, for having the flexibility and foresight to tweak the roster as the roller coaster season went along.

“When you think about the roster at the beginning of the season vs. where we are now, totally different roster,” Cohen said. “That just shows the tenaciousness.”

Just as the Mets were the surprise entry to the playoffs, their third baseman, Mark Vientos, was their unexpected hero come October. After starting his season at Triple-A Syracuse, Vientos earned Stearns’ trust and was subsequently recalled to the big leagues in mid-May; over the course of the Mets’ October run, Vientos was the hottest hitter on baseball’s biggest stage, belting five homers and driving in 14.

“He’s [Stearns] done a great job,” acknowledged Vientos prior to Game 5 of the NLCS, a 12-6 Mets’ win — their final one of 2024 — in front of a booming Citi Field crowd that was on its feet for every two-strike pitch as planes from LaGuardia Airport soared overhead. “He’s put together a team his first year that’s made it to the NLCS so far. I mean, kudos to him, he’s done a good job. I’m excited to see what else we can do for this organization, for sure.”

The future of the organization largely hinges on whether Cohen wants to fork over enough money to soon-to-be free agent slugger Pete Alonso, who along with Max Fried and Alex Bregman, headlines an enticing free agent class. For the Mets, another wildly popular, albeit less impactful, impending free agent is, in fact, Bader, who, aside from an NLCS Game 4 start, played primarily in a reserve role down the stretch for New York. Surely, from a clubhouse chemistry perspective, Bader, a born and raised New Yorker who often sports an Elmhurst Eagles FDNY shirt when he comes out for batting practice, would be missed.

“Bader, he was one of my favorite teammates,” Dodgers shortstop Tommy Edman, who last decade played with Bader in St. Louis, recalled when speaking to the press during the NLCS. “Always has great energy. Always comes to the field ready to work, really hard worker. And just has a ton of fun out there on the field. And is a really talented player. One of the best defensive center fielders I’ve seen. And just he was a joy to play with.”

In many ways, Horwitz, now in his fifth decade with the Mets, is the face of the franchise – more so than any player, executive, or commentator such as Gary Cohen, whose image is plastered across a banner outside Citi Field, or Rose, who was the master of ceremonies for NLCS Game 3 introductions. Having started with the Mets in 1980, Horwitz, the fun-loving, at times eccentric PR guru has been a fixture in Queens throughout so many iterations of Mets teams – all but one of which (1986) came up short of a World Series title.

“It’s a fun group of guys to watch,” said Horwitz, whose moniker is “Mr. Met” and continues to interact with Mets alums from each decade since the team came into existence in the early 1960s. “A lot of good storylines, the Vientos kid, [Jose] Iglesias, the stars got better. The way they came back, one big hit after another. As a Met fan, 38 years is a long time.”

Ultimately, there was no Hollywood ending for the 2024 Mets as their season ended against the backdrop of Hollywood with a 10-5 loss to the Dodgers (a team with strong Atlanta connections between first baseman Freddie Freeman and executive Stan Kasten) in Game 6 of the NLCS. Afterwards, first-year Mets skipper Carlos Mendoza stayed true to form by maintaining his rosy outlook on the state of his club.

“I’ve been part of really good games with really good people,” acknowledged Mendoza. “And this is right there with some of those teams. The quality of the people.

“It starts with Steve [Cohen] and Alex [Steve’s wife, Alex Cohen] and David [Stearns], and it trickles all the way down. And that’s our goal to be a first-class organization, on and off the field. I thought we did that.”

read more:
comments