To those who celebrate, which I assume is all of you, I would like to wish you a very happy Opening Day. If you celebrated yesterday as Opening Day just because it featured the first game of the season; sorry mate, you celebrated a day early.
A Legendary Jersey
The 2026 New York Metsies are looking COMPLETELY different this year. I can’t remember an offseason facelift as transformative as this in my baseball-watching life. Pete Alonso, Brandon Nimmo, and Jeff McNeil are gone, leaving David Peterson as the longest-tenured Met on the roster (sheesh). Tenure doesn’t necessarily equate to impact, but it surely allows a fanbase to fall in love with a guy.
I try to wear a different jersey on each Opening Day. For 2026, I’ve managed to track down a long sought after piece and one that represents a player who, despite a relatively short tenure, made a lasting impression on the franchise and fanbase.
R.A. Dickey may have only been with the Mets for three years, but I’m not sure if I’ve ever had more fun watching a pitcher. Yes, deGrom may have been more dominant, Johan Santana claimed the only no-hitter in franchise history, but there was magic in the air for every one of Dickey’s starts.
| Year | W-L | ERA | IP | SO | WHIP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 11-9 | 2.84 | 174.1 | 104 | 1.19 |
| 2011 | 8-13 | 3.28 | 208.2 | 134 | 1.23 |
| 2012* | 20-6 | 2.73 | 233.2 | 230 | 1.05 |
| NYM TOTAL | 39-28 | 2.95 | 616.1 | 468 | 1.15 |
| *2012 NL Cy Young Award Winner | All-Star | |||||
To say that his career was the stuff of legend is putting it lightly. Dickey chronicled his heroic journey in his harrowing autobiography, Wherever I Wind Up: My Quest for Truth, Authenticity and the Perfect Knuckleball.
Heading into the 2012 season, Dickey, along with Mets bullpen catcher Dave Racaniello and Cleveland starter Kevin Slowey, climbed Mount Kilimanjaro in support of ending human trafficking in India via an organization called Bombay Teen Challenge. Where do you go from the peak of the tallest mountain on Earth? To the peak of your career, being immortalized in baseball history as the only knuckleballer to win the Cy Young Award.
Dickey, known as a lover of fantasy novels, even naming his baseball bats after mythical swords like Hrunting (Beowulf) and warming up to the Game of Thrones theme song, authored his own baseball destiny with determination, faith, and venturing into uncharted paths.
Walk-Up Songs
Earlier this week I put a very important question out into the internet: If you cracked the Mets’ Opening Day lineup, what would your walk-up song be? The Mets have a pretty dope history of walk-up songs, including “OMG”, written by our former second baseman and Latin pop star, Jose Iglesias. Let’s check out who I’m starting today.
| Order | Walk-Up Song | Contributor |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | “Struck By Lightning” by The Chats | Me! |
| 2 | “Still Crazy After All These Years” by Paul Simon | Charley (@qflea) via Bluesky |
| 3 | “Fast and Slow” by The Elovaters | Tracey (@SpaceyTraycee) via Bluesky |
| 4 | “Voltron Theme Song” | Colin Cosell (Mets PA Announcer) |
| 5 | “Perfect Day” by Hoku | April (@AprilGlick) via Bluesky |
| 6 | “Hurt” by Johnny Cash | Billy Jensen (@BillyJensen) via Instagram |
| 7 | “Scourge of Iron” by Cannibal Corpse | Tee Jay (@T0ngy) via Instagram |
| 8 | “Can I Kick It?” by A Tribe Called Quest | Kyle Bandujo (Big Screen Sports) |
| 9 | “Golden” by Huntr/x | Penny (My 4-year-old daughter) |
Shout out to the Mets community for all the great submissions! I’m thinking of running this back as a monthly segment. Keep a lookout for your next chance to join the lineup!
Enjoy Opening Day and we’ll see you back here on Sunday for the first edition of Mets Laundry of the 2026 season!
