I went to my first Mets game of the 2026 season Friday night, and honestly I should have known that was a bad idea.
“No April baseball” is a sensible rule, one I chose to ignore. I layered — boy howdy were there a lot of layers — and it was still cold. Feet like blocks of ice cold. Cheering makes no sound because you have gloves on cold. Don’t want a beer because I’d have to hold it cold. Gets in your bones cold.
(I’ll tell you why I did this foolish thing in a bit.)
It was cold, and the Mets didn’t supply much heat unless you count the steam coming out of the fanbase’s collective ears, winding up on the wrong end of a quirky, queasy seesaw of a game against the Rockies.
The Rockies hit balls off bases and off gloves and scored runs on little swinging bunts. The Mets, meanwhile, could do very little against Michael Lorenzen, who entered the game sporting an ERA above 7 … and when they did do something, they immediately made you wish they hadn’t.
(The highlight of the game? Carson Benge‘s tumbling catch. Which I couldn’t see at all from my seat in field level, down the left field line about where the net ends. The ball descended at a perilous angle, with no way to tell if it was fair or foul or if anyone was in the vicinity, and my section only knew good things had happened by the reactions of those who could see it.)
But back to the unfortunate events.
Second inning, runners on first and third with nobody out, Marcus Semien grounds into a 4-6-3 double play. It scores Brett Baty with the first run of the game, but oh just wait.
Fifth inning, first and third with one out, Mets looking to regain the lead with Bo Bichette up. Bam, 6-4-3, inning over.
Sixth inning, leadoff single by Juan Soto, up comes Francisco Alvarez … and here comes a 5-4-3 double play.
With everyone standing for the seventh-inning stretch, I did what slightly younger me would have considered heresy: I stood up and did the thing where standing turns into walking, not stopping until I was on a 7 train taking me homeward. I was cold and dispirited and have a very early plane tomorrow, but yeah, I know: fake fan.
I was watching MLB.tv on my phone as the 7 local puttered through Queens, and saw the Mets greet Jaden Hill rudely, with singles by Ronny Mauricio and Bichette. Up came Juan Soto, who hit a rocket into the mitt of first baseman TJ Rumfield. Double play? No, if only by a whisker — Bichette was able to crumple back onto the base.
Alvarez singled to load the bases, Baty singled to plate two, the Mets were within a run with runners on first and second, and I was thinking I would happily eat crow if I had to write about having left my seat empty for a comeback.
Not to worry: Mark Vientos hit a laser beam right at second baseman Tyler Freeman, for a 107 MPH unassisted, inning-ending double play.
So, if you were keeping score at home, you got to record a 4-6-3, a 6-4-3, a 5-4-3 and a 4-4 or a 4* or however you want to score that last one. Variety really is the spice of life, I suppose.
So, me and the foolish thing.
Last year, having apparently decided I didn’t have enough weird OCD collector pursuits, I opted to start playing what I call Cap Bingo. During each month of the baseball season you have to find all 30 MLB caps (or jerseys or t-shirts or tattoos or what have you) in the wild. On an actual ballplayer doesn’t count. Neither does on TV, or something on a rack in a sporting-goods store. You’ve got to lay eyes on it in the actual world, worn by a civilian.
Beyond those rules, though, you can look to maximize your opportunities. Airports are great for Cap Bingo, and I’ve developed a habit of strolling over to gates where planes are arriving from or departing for cities whose MLB caps I haven’t found in a given month. But ballparks are even better — you’re guaranteed to find caps of the visiting team in the stands, and all sorts of random caps pop up besides the two obvious ones, worn by visitors or people wanting to represent or folks who are just habitually contrary.
In a year-plus of playing Cap Bingo, I’ve gotten a sense of the relative difficulty of targets in New York.
Lead-Pipe Cinch: Mets, Yankees, Dodgers, Red Sox
Not a Daily Sighting But Pretty Easy: White Sox, Phillies, Giants
Keep Your Eyes Open, You’ll See One: Braves, Marlins, Nationals, Cubs, Cardinals, Padres, Blue Jays, Tigers, Mariners, Astros, Angels
Difficult But Not Impossible: Pirates, Orioles, Guardians, Twins, Royals, A’s
Legitimately Hard: Reds, Brewers, Diamondbacks, Rays
Basically Impossible: Rockies, Rangers
Now you know why I went to a Mets-Rockies game, even though it was cold and the Mets were not warming my heart. For the record, I spotted my first Rockies cap of two dozen or so on the night while walking into the rotunda.
Oh, and did I mention that on Sunday I’ll be in Dallas? And going to a Rangers game?
