Mets turn Steve Cohen press conference around by bringing in adorable puppy

The New York Mets did not expect to be a bad baseball team in 2023. Now, with the calendar getting ready to run over to July, it looks like the Mets are a bad baseball team.

The team’s owner, Steve Cohen, does not want to own a bad baseball team. He poured money into the team to try and make them a legitimate World Series contender, with Fangraphs estimating the Mets are spending $359 million on their 2023 payroll, up from $283 million in 2022.

Despite this, the Mets are eight games under .500, in fourth place in the NL East, and on the verge of letting the season slip away. So, Cohen announced a press conference on Twitter. He said, “I will be doing a press conference tomorrow before the game. You will get it from me straight.”

It was a difficult press conference. Front Office Sports reported that Cohen said the Mets may have to blow up the team with the largest payroll in history if something doesn’t change soon. Meanwhile, The Athletic argued the comments meant this could lead to strife in the front office.

Despite these fairly major concerns, Cohen and the Mets had a trick up their sleeve to distract everyone. They brought out an adorable puppy following the press conference.

Mets are onto something here. Less than ideal press conference immediately followed by adorable puppy https://t.co/XH9wGjfOOL

— Leila Rahimi (@leilarahimi) June 28, 2023

Was this a distraction tactic? Absolutely seems like it was. Did it work? That’s harder to say, as criticism of the Mets is continuing to grow both among fans and nationally.

If you look into the eyes of that puppy, you can tell that it’s also wondering what it’s doing at the press conference. It’s not like one dog was ever going to distract a room of professionals from doing their jobs. After all, saying “Hello” to a dog and writing about the Mets’ failures is something everyone in the room was capable of doing.

The Mets will play the Phillies in London

This season, the St. Louis Cardinals and Chicago Cubs met in London this season for a series of games in London. Those were a success and MLB announced another set between two traditional rivals, the New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies.

MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred explained why the league wanted to send rivals.

“We think our game is at its best when we have traditional rivals playing and we want to show the fans here in London the very best form of baseball,” Manfred said.

The Phillies and Mets will play in London Stadium next June 8-9, 2024.