Baseball season is upon us and for the first time since 1934, the minor league team taking the field in Syracuse will not be The Chiefs.  

The team, who were bought by the Mets in 2017, will take the field as the Syracuse Mets for the first time ever this season.  While the name change was not met 100% approval fans have already started to see the “Met effect”

The organization is very dedicated to the New York market.  Starting from the top down in New York City with the New York Mets through Syracuse and even in Binghamton and Brooklyn.  The Mets are trying to become a full-on New York sports organization.

The hometown connection has already drawn attention from the public.  The open house this season had almost 1,000 fans in attendance. In years past the open house would be lucky to attract a few hundred fans.  It seems people are excited to have a hometown team playing right here in Syracuse.

The New York Mets have also been an upgrade in support from the last major league team in town, the Washington Nationals.  The Mets have already discussed some much-needed stadium renovations for NBT Bank Stadium set for the near future.

The team is more involved in promoting their minor league squad than the Nationals were.  This became apparent with the creation of the Spring Training event in the Carrier Dome. The New York Mets flew down their entire major league squad to have a workout for the fans here in Syracuse.  The event went over extremely well as New York Mets GM Brodie Van Wagenen thanked over 5,000 fans in attendance at the event. The event was a great way to attract more fans who may feel neutral about the team to hopefully come out to a game.  

As for attendance at NBT Bank Stadium Syracuse Mets GM, Jason Smorol, is more than optimistic for the upcoming season.  Smorol explained that the team has already hit its season ticket goal and its flex plan goals. Just because fans are already buying tickets does not mean that Smorol ditched his motto of the Mets being affordable family fun.  This season there will be over 20 fireworks shows, the return of Dollar Thursday, and the introduction of a few new theme days.

With the Mets name in place, the theme days set, and Tebow Mania ready to run rampant, this baseball season may be the most memorable in a long time for the local market.