Your 2025 New York Mets: We’ll get hot.

“We’ll get hot, and it’s gonna be exciting when that happens.” -Pete Alonso [MLB]

If you said the Mets would split a 4 game series with the Dodgers at LA with a +4 Run Differential, obviously I’d sign up, still the way it happens changes how you feel…

“We ended up splitting the series, but it felt like we gave that one away. We were sloppy today. We didn’t play well.” -Carlos Mendoza [New York Times]

…but a reminder the Mets went 5-2 for the week with a +14 Run Differential and the lineup continues to tease what it would look like with everyone on hitting on full cylinders.

“Just signs of good things to come.” -Brandon Nimmo [MLB]

“There’s three really good hitters at the top [of our lineup], and it’s fun to see them going deep in the same game. We envisioned that. When you’ve got those three at the top, it’s pretty special.” -Carlos Mendoza [MLB]

“There’s gonna be a time when they’re all clicking and it’s going to be crazy to watch Especially as pitchers, if we just keep giving them a chance, they’re going to carry things for a little bit. So it was nice to see them all come together in one game and do that.” -Clay Holmes [MLB]

Nice to know that Juan Soto started a OF ritual to meet up at the top of the dugout after every defensive inning.

“That’s a Juan thing.” Tyrone Taylor [New York Times]

“It was something he brought in. I thought it was great. Every team has their own things that they bring in and try to do, and Juan made it a point right away that, that was something he wanted to do. It just brings that teamwork, that team chemistry of trying to get everyone to pull on the same end of the rope. It’s another tool for doing that.” -Brandon Nimmo [New York Times]

Stupid sexy Schwarber.

[Kyle Schwarber used to tell Soto all the time] “As outfielders, we all are back there and we should all have each other’s backs.” -Juan Soto [New York Times]

“I know we are a whole team but as outfielders, we have a lot of responsibilities back there, so if we can stick together more and more, even when guys do make an error or something, just pick them up, have a talk before going in to hit. It’s huge for me. After Schwarber taught me that, I started doing it, and I feel like a lot of my teammates appreciate it.” -Juan Soto [New York Times]

This Week in looking on the bright side of a player with ‘only’ a 126 wRC+.

“He is only going to continue to climb. Everybody from the outside keeps saying, ‘Where’s Soto? Where’s Soto?’ We have seen it. He has had good at-bats weekly. I think today, the ball fell for him.” -Francisco Lindor [MLB]

“Every day, I sit here and look at the numbers, [Soto’s] going to get going here pretty soon. He’s just gotta stay the course. If he keeps doing that, the numbers are going to be there at the end of the year.” -Carlos Mendoza [Fox Sports]

“I think it speaks to, one, [Soto] has had a lot of players on base ahead of him, and he’s hit a lot of ground balls. And if you add that misfortune of hitting them right at other people, it’s going to be a double play. So we’re a third of the way through the season. He has 10 double plays. I would hammer the under on 30 double plays over the course of the season.” -David Stearns [Fox Sports]

“For me, it was harder to stop struggling mentally [during the 2021 season]. It was definitely a different challenge in my life. I ended up with a mental coach. I relied a lot more on my family. And that helped me a lot.” -Francisco Lindor [Fox Sports]

Full interview by Steve Serby and Luis Torrens is worth the read.

“After you were hit in the groin by a foul tip on May 11, what did your wife tell you?” –Steve Serby [New York Post]

“(Laugh) First thing she told me was, “We already have two kids.” We’re safe in that part. That one was not the first one, so we’re used to when that happens.” -Luis Torrens [New York Post]

“You said you were going to change your protective cup.” –Steve Serby [New York Post]

“It’s just a cup that the MMA guys use. It’s way better. This one has more of a mold and it kind of like forms for me personally to hold everything in.” -Luis Torrens [New York Post]

As I have been saying my whole life; NY > LA.

“You see it with a lot of guys, just a change of scenery. I was in Southern California my whole life. It’s nice to get out and experience something new.” -Griffin Canning [New York Times]

“We had [KinaTrax], but I never saw it. I think the Angels have all the similar things. I don’t think it’s a bad thing — sometimes they don’t want guys to go down that rabbit hole, and worry about those kinds of things.” -Griffin Canning [New York Times]

“Much different. Obviously, [Canning’s] healthy. The stuff is playing up. The velocity is up. There’s a cutter, the slider is good, there’s a changeup. He’s a much better pitcher, more weapons than he’s had in the past.” -Dave Roberts [New York Times]

If you needed more reason to root for Chris Suero.

“Born and raised. I take [the idea of being a ‘project baby’ from the Bronx] with pride. I’m putting the city on my back for sure.” -Chris Suero [MLB]

“It took quite some time [to make the decision to move to the Dominican Republic] being that I was going to leave my mom, I was going to leave my whole family, and I was still 15 years old. I was still a little kid. I hadn’t really been exposed to anything like that, being away from home. So it was a tough decision for me and my family, but at the end of the day, we just wanted to do what was best for me and my career.” -Chris Suero [MLB]

If you needed more reason to root for Paul Blackburn.

“People I went to said they’d never seen this in a baseball player and they didn’t know how I’d come back from it. I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to pitch again. That [thought] was there. That was real. So when I went through the rehab process, I tried to be as positive as I could and focus on the day.” -Paul Blackburn [New York Post]

If you needed more reason to root for Ronny Mauricio.

RIP to everyone killed by the gods for their hubris but im different. and better. maybe even better than the gods

“As a whole, I feel like we’ve pitched [Ohtani] really well.” -Paul Blackburn [MLB]

“I don’t want to give in. [Ohtani] put a good swing on a fastball earlier in the game. He’s a great fastball hitter, so I was leaning on my slider to get there and then just kind of showed him something different with the changeup 3-2.” -Griffin Canning [MLB]

“There is a secret sauce. There’s a secret sauce to every hitter.” -Tylor Megill [MLB]

“Every team is going to have a plan, right? But it comes down to the players going out there and executing, and I feel like we’ve done that. [Ohtani’s] still a great hitter. It’s not comfortable watching him over there at the plate. But so far, knock on wood, I feel like we’ve done a good job.” -Carlos Mendoza [MLB]

Gary Cohen: Consummate Professional