Derek Jeter signed with Fox Sports to be an MLB analyst. And there is certainly no line in his contract that says “Must interact with lovable mascots from bitter crosstown rivals.”
Yet Jeter found himself in that predicament Friday night after the New York Mets beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 12-6 at Citi Field in NLCS Game 5.
During the postgame show, Mr. and Mrs. Met wandered over to the MLB on Fox set.
“My girl’s here. Come over here honey,” David Ortiz said to Mrs. Met. She wandered over and gave Ortiz a big hug and he kissed her back. Mr. Met began gesturing at Ortiz in mock outrage. Things quickly got awkward.
“Is this a love triangle? What’s going on here?” Alex Rodriguez joked.
“I think this is a show for another network,” host Kevin Burkhardt wryly noted.
As the two mascots danced around the set, Mr. Met grabbed Ortiz’s mic.
“We have jumped the shark here,” Burkhardt observed.
Jeter had been playing along with the hijinks up until then, but having the two Mets mascots clown around him was too much for the New York Yankees’ legend. And so when Mr. Met sat down beside him, Jeter got up and walked off. And kept walking.
Papi going full Mr. Steal Yo Girl mode with Mrs. Met 😂💀 pic.twitter.com/YYbLs0RX9e
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) October 19, 2024
The Mets mascots were understandably in a good mood after the team’s victory, following a blowout loss the previous night. It’s also hard to fault Jeter for making his exit; hanging around with the Mets characters would be a bad look for a former Yankee.
Yankees broadcaster Michael Kay, who recently ranted at length about Yankees fans cheering for the Mets this postseason, would have been proud of Jeter.
