NEW YORK -- A few hours before the Mets¡¯ 10-5 win over the Marlins on Tuesday, outfielder Tyrone Taylor emerged from the clubhouse wearing a T-shirt and baseball pants rolled up to his knees. He looked out onto the field, where several players were taking early batting practice swaddled in various, thicker layers of clothing. One of them, Francisco Alvarez, wore a black sweatsuit with a balaclava covering everything but his eyes.
¡°Damn,¡± Taylor said. ¡°I¡¯m a little underdressed.¡±
This was not the coldest game in Citi Field history, nor the windiest. But the combination of those elements -- 43 degrees at first pitch, winds whipping from the west at 19 mph and gusting significantly higher than that -- had only been this extreme on one occasion since the ballpark¡¯s opening in 2009. According to the National Weather Service, wind chills in Queens sat in the mid-30s at first pitch and declined throughout the afternoon. That¡¯s why the Mets shifted the game from its originally scheduled 7:10 p.m. ET start time to a 4:10 first pitch.
Theoretically, that was supposed to make things easier¡ which isn¡¯t the same thing as making them easy. The wind played a factor all afternoon, allowing Xavier Edwards to open the proceedings with a pop-up that, based on batted-ball characteristics, had a 2 percent hit probability. Juan Soto likely disagreed with that assessment as the ball blew out of his reach for a single.
Two innings later, the Mets tied things on a Pete Alonso pop that similarly dropped in for an RBI double. So it went all afternoon in a back-and-forth affair, which the Mets eventually broke open with seven runs in the fifth and sixth innings. Brandon Nimmo hit a two-run double. Starling Marte added a two-run single. And after the Marlins intentionally walked Soto to load the bases, Alonso offered some ice-cold revenge with a three-run double to secure the Mets¡¯ sixth straight victory.
Then everyone piled back inside to get warm.
¡°We didn¡¯t have any excuses,¡± Alonso said. ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s cold. Yeah, it¡¯s windy. So what? We¡¯ve got to go out there, we¡¯ve got to put our uniform on, and we¡¯ve got to go win a ballgame.¡±
On this day, there were no heroes toughing it out in short sleeves. Most players wore thermals, some with face coverings to complete the look. Francisco Lindor slipped a hoodie under his uniform top, at one point even covering his baseball cap with the hood. Mark Vientos spent the afternoon continuously reaching for a quarterback-style handwarmer affixed to the back of his jersey. During a pitching change, Soto wandered into the covered section of the bullpen.
¡°I like those guys,¡± Soto said, laughing. ¡°I like to talk to them.¡±
Back in the dugout, reserve players wore boxy jackets that covered their uniforms. Fans in the stands donned parkas and blankets, fighting against the wind to keep their hoods on their heads. During the fourth inning, SNY field reporter Steve Gelbs roamed through the stands handing out hot chocolate.
Weather, naturally, was the day¡¯s most popular topic of conversation. In the comfort of their heated clubhouse before the game, players watched the Yankees and Tigers play in frigid conditions in Detroit, knowing their turn was about to come.
¡°It¡¯s more mental than anything,¡± reliever Ryne Stanek said. ¡°The physical conditions are what they are. ¡ I think so much of it is, like, lying to yourself that it¡¯s not cold.¡±
Stanek grew up in Kansas, where his high school team frequently had to play through cold, wind and even snow. Weather like this, he said, tends to energize him.
¡°Once you start moving,¡± Stanek said, ¡°it doesn¡¯t feel nearly that bad.¡±
Starting pitcher Clay Holmes, by contrast, is an Alabaman who only rarely played in cold conditions before turning pro. The weather didn¡¯t seem to affect Holmes much on Tuesday, however, as he struck out double-digit batters for the first time in his career.
By the sixth inning, Holmes was in line for the win and out of the game, back in the clubhouse, where he could watch in comfort as Soto and Alonso did their thing.
¡°This could have been a really easy game to kind of just go through the motions, make excuses, but we didn¡¯t do that,¡± Alonso said. ¡°I think that was a huge statement game for us.¡±