One last toast to the ¡®OMG¡¯ Mets

This story was excerpted from Anthony DiComo¡¯s Mets Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

NEW YORK -- It¡¯s time to close the book on the ¡°OMG¡± Mets.

Saturday at the Baseball Writers¡¯ Association of America¡¯s New York Chapter dinner, the 2024 Mets stole one last show. In addition to starting pitcher Sean Manaea, who received the chapter¡¯s Good Guy Award for his friendliness to the media, and manager Carlos Mendoza, who sat on the dais as a representative of the team, a trio of Mets arrived in a clamor from Madison Square Garden, where owner Steve Cohen had purchased a suite for them to watch the Knicks game. That group included Brandon Nimmo, Jesse Winker and Reed Garrett, all of whom had spent the afternoon at Citi Field repping the club during its Amazin¡¯ Day fanfest. It was a long day. At the end of it, the Mets were feted once more.

This was the last time the 2024 Mets -- the ¡°OMG¡± Mets -- will be recognized in such a formal way; even Grimace showed up for the occasion. Time stops for no one and in two weeks, the 2025 Mets -- doubtless a promising group, but one without such a clearly earned identity -- will begin to gather in Port St. Lucie, Fla.

A common sentiment among players, which Nimmo shared Saturday, is that every baseball season is different. Players come and go. The fun moments that defined the ¡°OMG¡± Mets, Winker added, were special because they were organic. Trying to force something like an ¡°OMG¡± sign or special eye black for pitchers tends not to work. The most memorable moments occur naturally over the course of a successful summer.

Those requiring further proof that times are changing need look no further than Cohen, who spent time Saturday throwing cold water on the proposition of Pete Alonso¡¯s return to Flushing.

Even if Alonso does make an unexpected 11th-hour return, 2025 will be different. Almost certainly gone is Jose Iglesias, who gave the Mets their ¡°OMG¡± identity but doesn¡¯t appear to be in their 2025 plans. Juan Soto is here and will command an outsized share of attention no matter how he fares on the diamond. The pitching staff is full of new faces.

That doesn¡¯t mean 2025 will be better or worse, just that it will be different. Cohen¡¯s comments on Saturday underscored all that, before the BBWAA dinner gave fans one last chance to pay their respects to the ¡°OMG¡± Mets.

¡°I said at the end of the year that if you wrote it as a movie, you wouldn¡¯t believe it,¡± Nimmo said. ¡°I think that explains it best. This team saw special moment after special moment, came together, and ¡­ played the game like a group of 12-year-olds. We got back to having fun. ¡­ I¡¯m just glad that you enjoyed it as much as we did, because we had an absolute blast with it.¡±