Mar 27, 2025; Houston, Texas, USA; New York Mets left fielder Brandon Nimmo (9) hugs manager Carlos Mendoza (64) after being introduced before playing against the Houston Astros at Daikin Park. Mar 27, 2025; Houston, Texas, USA; New York Mets left fielder Brandon Nimmo (9) hugs manager Carlos Mendoza (64) after being introduced before playing against the Houston Astros at Daikin Park. Mandatory Credit: Thomas Shea-Imagn Images
By Sam Neumann on

Being a Mets fan means a lot of things: hope, heartbreak, and sometimes just trying to survive a season. But one of the best parts is knowing that, night after night, Gary Cohen, Keith Hernande,z and Ron Darling will be there to guide us through it all.

We understand why the Mets, who were one of the four best teams in Major League Baseball last season — and added Juan Soto — would be on national TV the second-most out of any teams in the majors in 2025. That part doesn’t need an explanation. But perhaps what does need explaining is why 10 percent of those nationally televised games are crammed into the season’s first week.

The issue isn’t accessibility. MLB and its media partners obviously want as many eyeballs as possible. That’s not the argument. The problem is for Mets fans who have waited since September to hear Gary, Keith, and Ron, only to have that reunion cut short almost immediately.

Two of the Mets’ first three games won’t be on SNY.

That’s not just a scheduling quirk. It’s an issue that fundamentally disrupts the way Mets fans experience their team.

While SNY will have the call for the Mets’ season opener, fans must wait until Monday in Miami to hear them again. Friday’s Mets-Astros game belongs to Apple TV+, and on Saturday, Fox takes over.

This isn’t just about national broadcasts. It’s about what Mets fans are losing.

Baseball is a sport built on routine, and nowhere is that more apparent than in the connection between teams and their local broadcasters.

Mets fans don’t just like SNY — they love it.

Other fanbases aren’t out here making T-shirts and signs about their announcers. Mets fans are.

There’s a level of chemistry, authenticity, and storytelling that comes with GKR that national broadcasts simply can’t match. Cohen is a master at weaving in franchise history, player insights and even the occasional brutal honesty that Mets fans appreciate. Hernandez’s mid-game tangents and brutally candid analysis make him a one-of-a-kind voice in baseball. And Ron Darling’s pitching breakdowns give fans a level of depth they don’t get anywhere else.

And Mets fans don’t just prefer them. They tune in for them.

SNY consistently ranks among the best-rated RSNs in baseball, and it’s not just because of the team’s performance. Watching the game on SNY feels like home.

But for Opening Weekend? That experience is getting ripped away almost immediately.

This isn’t just an Opening Weekend issue. It’s part of a larger trend.

Last September, when the Mets took three of four from the Phillies in a crucial series, three of those games weren’t on SNY. Fans couldn’t hear the voices they trust during a defining stretch of the season. Now, in 2025, it’s happening again right out of the gate.

And then there’s the added frustration of MLB’s archaic blackout policies.

Even with MLB.tv, Mets fans in New York and surrounding areas are blacked out from streaming their team’s games live. If you’re a cord-cutter without a traditional cable package that includes SNY, you’re out of luck. Yes, SNY now has a direct-to-consumer streaming option, but it only applies to games actually on SNY.

If a game is on Apple TV+ or Fox, that option disappears.

It’s even worse for fans in overlapping blackout zones — like parts of Connecticut and New Jersey — who can be blocked from watching multiple teams but have no RSN option to fall back on. Some areas are blacked out from six teams at once, meaning they pay for MLB.tv but can’t actually watch the teams they care about.

In theory, MLB.tv should be a one-stop solution for cord-cutters and out-of-market fans. In practice, it’s an unnecessarily frustrating experience due to a byzantine set of territorial restrictions that make watching a local team feel like a legal battle.

So yes, the Mets will be one of the most visible teams in baseball this season. But for their most loyal fans, it won’t feel that way when they can’t watch the games the way they want.

That makes this a scheduling failure.

MLB already had egg on its face by refusing to make Tuesday or Wednesday Opening Day. Now, there’s this.

If you’re not a Mets fan, you might not care. But there’s no reason Mets fans should have to wait four days into the season to get a full slate of games called by their own broadcast team. National TV slots should be spread out, not jammed into the first three games of the year.

By the time SNY returns on Monday, the first weekend of the season — one of the most exciting stretches of the year — will have come and gone.

And for Mets fans, it will have happened without the booth they love.

Mets fans want to watch their team. They want to hear Gary, Keith and Ron. And for Opening Weekend, they’re barely getting that. In a sport constantly trying to improve fan engagement, this is exactly the kind of decision that makes it more challenging.

About Sam Neumann

Since the beginning of 2023, Sam has been a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. A 2021 graduate of Temple University, Sam is a Charlotte native, who currently calls Greenville, South Carolina his home. He also has a love/hate relationship with the New York Mets and Jets.

View all posts by Sam Neumann