Mets' Opening Day roster takes shape

About 10 days ago, it was very much in doubt what the squad that the Mets were going to start the season with would look like. And now, around 23 of the 26 players on the Opening Day roster seem set. And the last week has seen the club add a big righty bat, a star defensive outfielder with a 38 HR season under his belt, the NL leader in wins and two relief pitchers.

Batting orders are mostly overrated, so long as you put high on-base percentage guys in the top few spots. But they’re fun to think about and here’s mine:

Francisco Lindor
Bo Bichette
Juan Soto
Jorge Polanco
Francisco Alvarez
Brett Baty
Mark Vientos
Luis Robert Jr.
Marcus Semien

This assumes that Baty is the left fielder and Vientos is the DH and neither of those are written in stone. But if things do shake out that way, that leaves the bench with Luis Torrens, Tyrone Taylor and two players to materialize in Spring Training. At first blush, you’d say the Mets needed a backup middle infielder and an outfielder. But they’re not locked into carrying another infielder. Bichette and Semien are capable of playing short and even Polanco could manage it for a game or two.

And while the hitters are mostly in place, the pitchers might be even more set.

Freddy Peralta
Kodai Senga
Sean Manaea
Nolan McLean
Clay Holmes
David Peterson

Devin Williams
Luke Weaver
A.J. Minter
Brooks Raley
Huascar Brazoban
Tobias Myers
Luis Garcia

Peralta allows each pitcher to move down in the pecking order. Before the Peralta deal, there was a worry that the Mets might be placing too much on McLean’s shoulders, with the uncertainty of how 2025 ended for Manaea, Peterson and Senga and what they could be counted on to give in 2026. While we still look for good results from that trio in Grapefruit League games, this is clearly a staff led by Peralta. McLean will be able to progress at his pace, without any concern about needing to be an ace.

Among the relievers, the biggest uncertainty here is the availability of Minter for Opening Day. Brazoban and Myers give two relievers capable of going multiple innings each outing. My preference would be to have a third multi-inning reliever but with Senga likely getting an extra day of rest as often as possible, it just may not be possible.

Unlike last year, the early schedule has a bunch of games without a day off. The Mets open on a Thursday, have Friday off and then are scheduled for 18 games in the next 19 days. There are also another six straight games in April and nine games in nine days spanning April and May. And May has a stretch of 16 straight games without a day off. In total, the Mets have just three scheduled days off in May. A six-man rotation from the jump seems likely.

It seems impossible to imagine that this is the offseason anyone saw happening for the Mets. Is it enough to make Joe Sixpack not so distressed about losing Pete Alonso and Edwin Diaz? That’s impossible to say, other than there are probably fewer people brandishing torches here on January 22 than there were on December 10, when Alonso signed with the Orioles.

As for me, this team seems likely to exceed last year’s 83 wins. There’s maybe a bit more risk than you would prefer but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. While our trio of starters mentioned earlier all carry various levels of risk – that also means there’s upside there, too. Ditto for Semien and Robert, along with whoever is the left fielder.

Now, may three pitchers and two infielders not experience injuries in Spring Training, like what happened in 2025.