Letting Pete Alonso leave, 3 other NY Mets stories we hope get vanquished after 2026

Pete Alonso’s return to Citi Field this week caught a lot of the buzz surrounding the team. With nothing to play for in the standings other than fight off a mathematical elimination for the time being, the Polar Bear’s return to face the New York Mets gave everyone the reasons to air their grievances about the decision to let him walk.

Was it all a part of David Stearns’ masterplan? Did Steve Cohen fail by not stepping in? By year three in Baltimore, will we be thankful?

The Alonso complaints were justified this year. So were a few more. With any luck, letting him walk in free agency and these other Mets stories are ones we hope no one is talking about any more in 2026.

Mets storylines that need to go away after the 2026 season

1) Francisco Lindor vs. Juan Soto

There was definitely something there between Francisco Lindor and Juan Soto. Whatever caused the rift between the two teammates has never been publicly disclosed. Confirmed by Steve Cohen just as it was no longer a focal point of the season, we can only hope there is no added chapter to how these two aren’t bunking together.

In any lost season for the Mets, the narrative has flipped into a bad locker room situation. This was the case in 2021, 2023, and 2025. It carried into 2026 from the previous year with the rumored poor relationship between Lindor and Soto as one of the main culprits. It’s a conversation we no longer need to hear anything more about.

2) Holding onto all of the wrong players for too long

For as much grief as the Mets got for letting Alonso go and to a lesser yet still loud extent on the trade of Brandon Nimmo, the team held onto a lot of the same players from 2025. Unfortunately, it was largely a mistake. Mark Vientos hasn’t done anything to help his trade value. Ronny Mauricio is a non-tender candidate. Sean Manaea, Kodai Senga, and David Peterson all returned as starting pitcher options only for each to take a turn in the bullpen. It wasn’t until the last attempt of moving Senga into a closer role when things finally kind of turned out well.

The Mets may be stuck selling a lot of players at their lowest value. It’s probably the right thing to do because 1) you never know what could happen with the return and 2) the offseason is your chance to replace those players in free agency or separate trades. Don’t keep someone around and miss out on other fish in the sea.

3) The words “run prevention”

Run prevention is a goal of every team. Unfortunately, David Stearns spoke about it early in the team’s offseason and it became a notable theme throughout the winter. This ended up backfiring in a major way. It was the narrative as to why they did everything. Alonso walked because of his defense. Nimmo was swapped for Marcus Semien for a similar rationalization. No doubt the goal of the Mets again in 2026, Stearns just has to be more careful about setting himself and the team up for failure when this isn’t the case.

For a good part of the year, the Mets haven’t been superb run preventers. The defense has improved, mostly through internal options and a change in playing time with more Luis Torrens behind the plate, Carson Benge less in center field, and Jared Young at first base. The run prevention mantra won’t go away, but referencing it as a recoil that gave Stearns a black eye is a story we’re ready to be done with.

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