NY Mets accused of bragging about A.I. usage ahead of MLB crackdown

Adam Ottavino spent three seasons with the New York Mets and couldn’t have experienced more highs and lows. The high of 2022, the low of 2023, and the team high and personal low of 2024 were all a part of his career. Since his playing days wound down (is he officially retired?), he has been a regularly outspoken player ready to dish out some dirt.

The latest is about the Mets’ use of A.I. earlier this year. Apparently something that numerous teams have been using according to an article in The Athletic, the bigger takeaway from the Mets is how Ottavino claims the club was bragging about it.

“It’s not illegal if you don’t get caught” is a nice t-shirt slogan from a tacky shop from the Jersey shore. In sports, we’ve come to learn that anything that gives you an edge other than hard work and god-given ability will eventually go under the microscope as to the sports-legality of whether it’s a step too far.

Using A.I. wasn’t the problem, but if the Mets were bragging about it, shame on them

The worst kept secret in MLB history might’ve been steroid use in the 1990s. Tubs of PEDs were often spotted in lockers. Sometimes referred to as “vitamins” when they were much more than Flintstones chewables, that outside intervention was never actually illegal for players to use until much later than when it began.

In sports, and maybe all walks of life, people are always looking for an advantage. A.I. has become the go-to answer for everything from “What’s that Mariah Carey song?” to “What did Constantine actually see in the sky?”

Baseball has continued to grow into a nerd’s sport with analytics going from outdating RBI and batting averages to more predictive stats based on things that can only be measured with specific devices. Old-school fans of the sports might have a tough time watching a game where you’re victorious if you hit the ball hard and get an out and you’re just lucky for squibbing the game-winning hit in the 7th.

The usage of A.I. for pitch selection shouldn’t come as a surprise. It seems like a natural progression with data. To what extent it was actually used we won’t know for sure. However, it is getting to the point where if you’re going to have an iPad in the dugout at all, why not let it be a free-for-all?

Gamesmanship only goes so far. Someone with binoculars in the crowd feels off-limits. So does a buzzer on someone’s chest to relay what pitch is coming next. Using some form of A.I. to assist with pitch selection sounds more lazy than a way to break the rules. No punishments for the Mets or anyone else are known to have been handed out aside from the fact Ottavino has outed them as an organization who used it and couldn’t keep their mouths shut.

With only the Colorado Rockies owning a worse record than they have this year, there isn’t much for the Mets to brag about. The details as to how bragadocious they actually were and the extent of its usage is speculatory. Other teams were using it to some degree, at least a third with expanded apps on their team iPads for similar purposes. Just as the 2017 Houston Astros weren’t the only ones breaking the rules then, the Mets weren’t the lone squad to do it this year. 

It’ll be impossible to police every element on every pitch that could give a team an advantage. One executive put it best: “Gotta stop the cheating before there’s cheating now.”

Is it cheating though if it was never actually against the rules? 

As Homer Simpons said, “See? Because of me, now they have a warning.” 

MLB stepped in and nipped this one quick enough before it became a bigger controversy. As for the Mets, they’ve hopefully learned to keep a smaller head the next time they stumble on something genius.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow