Back in January of 2024, the Texas Rangers and Arizona Diamondbacks were their respective league’s champions. MLB.com put out early predictions for the next ten World Series, going 0 for 2 for their 2024 prediction. Instead of the New York Mets climbing out from the mess they were in at the end of 2023, they had the division rival Atlanta Braves defeating the Baltimore Orioles. Although each made the playoffs in 2024, both took a huge step back and missed the playoffs by a mile in 2025.
MLB’s 2025 prediction was actually spot on. They had the Los Angeles Dodgers beating the Toronto Blue Jays. In 2026, it’s a matchup between the Mets and New York Yankees with the team from Queens coming out on top.
When Juan Soto was still just a dream, the Mets were picked as the team to win the 2026 World Series
It was assumed at the time Juan Soto would be a strong fit for the Mets, but the story didn’t get too deep into particular players who’d help them overtake the Yankees. An assumption their rebuilt farm system would be closer to helping them compete and free agents would have been added to the roster along the way, the best reason of all was finally ending the championship drought on the 40th anniversary of the 1986 season.
While still too early to tell exactly what the Mets will look like, we can draw some new conclusions. The Mets are fully expected to be major buyers both in free agency and the trade market. Their failure to get back to the playoffs in 2025 puts an urgency on the front office, coaching staff, and players to go above and beyond.
All of these reasons guarantee nothing. The Mets can easily fall flat on their faces.
Several of the predictions in the story put together by MLB.com have already become outdated. Michael Busch was going to be a big contributor on the 2025 Dodgers. In 2027, when the Orioles win it all, Adley Rutschman is mentioned ahead of his walk year. He’s very likely getting traded this offseason.
It’s not unreasonable to believe we get another Subway Series as soon as 2026. It has been an easy call in recent seasons. Unfortunately, the Mets have been the ones to fall shortest of this prediction.
