Mets postpone Opening Day to Friday in anticipation of rain Thursday
Brett Baty (R) and Francisco Alvarez of the Mets talk during a workout at Citi Field on Wednesday, March 27, 2024. Credit: Jim McIsaac
The players are excited. The new manager is excited. Mets fans — especially after the team signed heavy hitter J.D. Martinez in the waning days of spring training — are excited.
But everybody’s going to have to wait an extra day.
The Mets announced at 2:30 p.m. on Wednesday that they had postponed Thursday’s scheduled season opener against the Brewers because of a super wet forecast.
Instead, the teams will play the Opening Day game on Friday at Citi Field beginning at 1:40 p.m.
It’s the second straight year the Mets’ first home game has been delayed a day because of rain.
For rookie manager Carlos Mendoza, the former Yankees bench coach, it means his first game as skipper will have to wait.
“Just try to stay calm,” Mendoza said on Wednesday after a Citi Field workout when asked how he would deal with a postponement. “As far as myself, I'll try to keep it one day at a time. We have a lot to do, a lot of preparation, a lot of conversations, and I'm pretty sure when that day [comes] there will be a lot of emotions, and I'm really looking forward to it.”
Owner Steve Cohen, asked jokingly during spring training about the status of putting a roof on Citi Field (which he actually looked into), said: “Yeah, the roof. The roof that’s never going to happen. That ship has sailed. Too expensive. I think it’s like $800 million.”
Another big piece of Opening Day who will have to wait is lefthander Jose Quintana, who will throw the first pitch in his second season-opening assignment and first for the Mets.
The Opening Day nod is doubly special for Quintana for two reasons. First, Mendoza was a mentor of his in the low minor leagues with the Yankees. And second, Quintana’s 2023 Mets debut didn’t happen until July 20 because of a fractured rib he suffered in spring training and a benign lesion that was discovered on the rib during routine testing.
“It means a lot,” Quintana said. “Last year was a little hard at the beginning. To get the support to be back and take the ball for Opening Day means a lot for me.”
Another Mets pitcher who is excited about Opening Day is Edwin Diaz, who missed last season after suffering a torn patellar tendon celebrating a victory for Team Puerto Rico in the World Baseball Classic.
Unlike Quintana, Diaz is not guaranteed to pitch on Friday. The rainout means the Mets will open the season with six games in a row, so Mendoza will have to use his star closer judiciously in the early going.
The Mets have added lights and other special effects to the trumpet-blaring “Narco” song by Timmy Trumpet that will greet Diaz whenever he gets into games at Citi Field. Diaz is looking forward to experiencing it.
“I haven't seen how the lights would work, but I heard it’s pretty nice,” Diaz said. “Can’t wait to see it. I think it will be really, really good for the fans. They deserve that. So let's see how that looks when I enter to pitch.”
Diaz said he would have returned from his injury last September if the Mets had been in a pennant race. They weren’t, as you might have heard, and moving past the disappointment of 2023 is part of what is fueling the 2024 squad.
“It’s really different than the last year,” Quintana said. “We are together. We want to show how good we are and day-by-day [be] ready to compete. That’s most important – to make our best effort. We’re really good. We believe in that.”
Anthony Rieber covers baseball, as well as the NFL, NBA and NHL. He has worked at Newsday since Aug. 31, 1998, and has been in his current position since July 5, 2004.
