Sean Manaea blasts NY Mets fans for cheering Pete Alonso during series loss to Orioles

When a team severely underperforms like the New York Mets have this season, fan frustration is bound to boil over. Mets fans made their displeasure abundantly clear in Tuesday’s series game against the Baltimore Orioles, directing their frustration toward a familiar face: Pete Alonso.

Mets starter Sean Manaea didn’t hide his shock when he heard the Citi Field crowd cheer as Alonso launched a game-tying ninth-inning homer for Baltimore. “I got nothing but respect for him, I love him to death,” Manaea told SNY. “I know we have definitely underperformed, but the guys in here work their ass off every single day, and to have that reaction to an opposing player is crazy to me.”

Manaea’s reaction highlighted the growing divide between a locker room trying to navigate a nightmare season and a fanbase fed up with high expectations yielding disastrous results.

Alonso, for his part, maintained that he still holds deep affection for the Mets franchise. Yet watching his production in an Orioles uniform only deepens the sting for New York fans left wondering what could have been.

Is there a good reason for Mets fans to be frustrated?

This year’s collapse is hardly an isolated incident; it’s the tipping point of years of underachievement. Over the last five seasons, New York has made the postseason just twice—falling to the San Diego Padres in the 2022 NL Wild Card Series and losing to the Los Angeles Dodgers in six games in the 2024 NLCS.

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Francisco Lindor reflects on Pete Alonso’s absence after NY Mets’ season ends in playoff elimination

It has now been 11 years since the Mets last reached the World Series. Fans reasonably expected a deep October run this year, especially with the league’s highest payroll and the blockbuster 2024 signing of Juan Soto away from the cross-town Yankees.

Instead, the Mets crashed out of contention early, prompting fans to chant for the firing of President of Baseball Operations David Stearns. Now, the front office faces immense pressure to rebuild trust in 2027, as a starved fanbase demands an end to a 40-year World Series championship drought.