NY Mets News: Pete Alonso wants fans to have faith in the team

Positive energy can do a lot of wonderful things in our life. During hard times, it pulls us through. Without staying positive even when we want to sulk, the world would be a much more horrible place than it already is. So when New York Mets first baseman Pete Alonso requests fans to stay positive, I completely get it.

I’m always curious as to how much players actually feed off of the fans. This team, Alonso maybe more than others, seems to need the roaring crowd behind him. We saw a great example of this with the difference in how the team performed in 2019 compared to 2020 when there was no thunderous applause.

Lately, the Mets haven’t done much to earn cheers from their loyal fans. Their recent 1-6 road trip has already pushed fans to the edge of booing before the next homestand even begins.

Pete Alonso delivered a message to Mets fans asking for all to continue to believe

I think we’re all a lot more cynical than we were when Tug McGraw uttered the three famous words “Ya Gotta Believe!” A phrase Mets fans and even Philadelphia Phillies loyalists continue to use decades later, it was a message of hope.

Alonso has done a fine job at delivering quotes like this. His latest, following Sunday’s game, asks for some confidence from the fans. He assures all that they’ve “got this.”

I won’t delve into the negative side of things. That’s way too easy. I get enough negativity on my commute to and from work. There’s plenty of it in the form of bills I receive in the mail. Don’t get me started on what we see on Twitter each day, Mets-related or otherwise.

No. I care to not really comment on Alonso’s latest words at all. That’s because much like a lot of things he says, they’re just words of encouragement meant more for the players and papers than the actual fans.

Fans are going to feel however it is they do. It’s not always a choice. We all see different things in the game of baseball. Where some see Luis Rojas as a Manager of the Year candidate, others see a guy who has a pink slip with his name on it sitting in the owner’s desk already.

I will say one thing about Alonso. He needs to be more consistent. Not just at the plate but also in his message to the team and fans.

Is he the goofy, lovable, and slightly arrogant slugging first baseman who claims he’s the best home run hitter in the game? Or is he the guy many thought could become the next captain with his great sense of the fanbase’s pulse and messaging like this latest he delivered?

It’s possible to be somewhere in between, but it’s difficult for me to take anything he says seriously when only a few weeks ago I saw him riding a fake horse in the dugout. Gimmicks like the home run horse, Donnie Stevenson, the Twitch streaming, the merchandise promotions, and everything else the team promotes is easy to get away with when you’re in first place. The moment you fall out of it, you better hope you have a recent championship for fans to clutch to their hearts whenever losses pile up.

A moment like this has the potential to be Pete’s “Ya Gotta Believe.” If the team fails to perform, it’ll be a forgotten press conference in a year people won’t remember so fondly.

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At the end of the day, where the Mets finish in the standings affect the players much more than any of the fans. Fans can escape it. The players add it to their legacy: good or bad.