Reaching the postseason will be considered the barometer of success, and if the Mets reach the October tournament enough, Cohen is taking the approach that his will eventually be the last team standing. Juan Soto is the top attraction, with Pete Alonso back to provide lineup protection for the Mets’ newest star.

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — Among the areas Steve Cohen badly wants the Mets to improve in 2025: fans showing up. The Mets ranked 18th in the majors in attendance last season with an average of 28,757 people per game. That was worse than the Brewers and Diamondbacks and just ahead of the Orioles and Guardians.

After coming within two games of the World Series and then winning the offseason by landing right fielder Juan Soto to a 15-year, $765 million contract, the Mets have seen a “decent, significant percentage increase” in ticket sales, according to Cohen.

It's important to take Cohen's statements with a grain of salt. While he is (mostly) correct that the Mets finished 17th in average home attendance during the 2024 season (29,484 fans per game), the team was well on its way to the postseason by the series he referenced in his example.

After turning the New York Mets into baseball’s biggest spender, owner Steve Cohen would like to see his team build more economically through its farm system.

Cohen would like to get under that threshold at some point, but not now. Not when the Mets have momentum and not when they have a lineup deep enough to compete with the one out west. The Mets simply aren’t ready to compete with a lower payroll yet. They don’t have a farm system regularly churning out big-league players.

Mets' major-league salaries are at about $325 million, which Cohen said is significantly higher than what he wanted

New York's billionaire owner refuses to overrule his baseball operations staff, who have so far declined to bring Iglesias back.