Hits Different

This week on Hits Different, we're recapping yet another 3-3 road trip for the New York Mets. Two of the three wins, of course, came after Brett Baty rejoined the team in Arizona. Nobody knows why, but it's the truth: They can't win without him. Brett is becoming a meme on Mets Twitter, which is another way in which he is very similar to Juan Soto, who was diagnosed as non-binary and autistic by a bizarre person who had no idea they were about to instigate so much hilarity on Baseball Internet. Brett, for his part, was called a middle-aged lesbian. But I'm also calling him a meme in reference to the weird phenomenon by which everybody online is suddenly totally in the tank for him after years of wishing him dead. I genuinely think we at Hits Different may have caused this. I know I said we were going to stop talking about Brett so much in every episode and we ARE going to. SOON. Maybe NEXT TIME. Although, we recorded this on Friday morning, so of course we didn't get a chance to talk about Brett's Friday night home run. We'll have to talk about that next week. Maybe in TWO WEEKS we stop talking about Brett. Let's go Mets!

Apologies for the profound delay in uploading this episode—Producer Nathan was out of the state over the weekend doing something really important. Producer's Assistant Kaitlyn was in the heart of darkness (Philadelphia) attending a wedding and worrying over whether Brett Baty would be traded. He was disappeared for about four days. The girls online hunted him like a sasquatch. This episode was recorded BEFORE we learned that Brett only had a sore toe and, of course, before the Monday lunchtime alert that he was actually FINE and rejoining the Big Mets IMMEDIATELY, after a mere 10 at-bats in Lovely But Dreaded Syracuse. Thank god. Maybe now we can talk about him an amount that is proportional to his importance to the team (respectfully), rather than for 45 minutes to an hour every week.Anyway, last time you heard from us, we did name the Washington Nationals and the Arizona Diamondbacks among the teams with the scariest mascots. Figures! The rest of what happened between April 25 and May 1, we could not have foretold. And also, honestly, as I type this? I cannot really remember. Why did the Nationals hit the Mets with so many pitches? That's one part I remember. That was so fucked up. We lost a game at the hands of franchise icon Jorge Lopez... I'm remembering that now, too. Enjoy! Send questions to hitsdiffpodcast@gmail.com and make them easy.Let's go Mets!!!

Let's get this out of the way: Yes, the Mets spoiled their perfect week at home by telling Brett Baty—the very same who hit a two-run home run off of perennial Cy Young favorite Zach Wheeler, the only reason that the Mets were able to walk off the Phillies and complete the sweep—to get lost back to Syracuse. This decision was reported on David's birthday, which in my opinion was fucking insane. We were having the BEST time!!! The following day, the Mets re-signed noted homophobe Brooks Raley.Also in this episode, we're talking about whether the Mets are Havana Syndrome-ing visiting teams and which baseball mascots are the scariest. Honestly, talking about Brett Baty for half an hour during every episode started out as a bit but now it's just the show. I'm looking up Amtrak tickets to go see the REAL Mets play in beautiful Upstate New York. The silver lining here is that Baty's extended time in the forgotten Eastern half of the Rust Belt can only improve his knowledge of and insight into the discography of one Bruce Springsteen, perhaps inspiring a change in walk-up song to something more appropriate and less depressing than his current baffling choice of "Glory Days."One random person on X/Twitter changed their bio to "boycotting the **** until Brett Baty comes back." Could be something.Let's go Mets! (Said with slightly less sincere feeling than usual—not even Francisco Lindor mentioned Baty's homerun in the Wednesday post-game! What the hell!)Let's go METS <3

Please note this podcast episode was recorded early in the day on THURSDAY APRIL 17 and we had no idea what was coming (Brett Baty five-game hit streak, Keith saying "cue the music," Francisco Lindor first-ever walk-off homerun as a New York Met ahahahahahahaha). If you're still willing to think about last week's hugely mid and chilly road trip, have we got a show for you.The Mets had another 3-3 stint during which they sometimes looked like they had completely forgotten how to play baseball. But it's okay, because nobody saw it, as they were playing in almost empty ballparks every day. And now they're home! Don't cry because it happened, smile because it's over. "N-Y-C! Just got here this morning! Three bucks, two bags, one me!" (That's the Mets getting off their luxury coach in the Citi Field parking lot.)Before a 7-game home stand, David, Ellen, and Kait talk about a generally cursed week in Major League Baseball, starting with the Blue Jays' cotton candy french fries and the Phillies' obsession with doing gender reveals. We also saw Tyrone Taylor almost kill a man and we learned that Brent Rooker is using "Hotel California" as his walk-up song. Save him!!We've been THRILLED by the mailbag questions, please send us some more: hitsdiffpodcast@gmail.comLGM!!!

This week on Hits Different, we're processing a glorious 5-1 home stand in which it was way too chilly and Jesse Winker's hair looked way too good. We're also talking about the schism dividing the Mets fandom—is it okay to boo Brett Baty, a 25-year-old who never did anything to you and tries really hard? On mic, we forgot to address the actual insanity of Brett choosing "Glory Days"—a song about being excellent at something in high school and then terrible at it as an adult—for his walk-up song. That's for the best. We need to lay off, just like everyone else. Mets are winning, so what's the problem?In other news, Pete Alonso is unstoppable. He will break the all-time RBI record if our calculations are correct (and obviously we love math). David converted a Brit to full-time Mets fandom, Listener Kerry hosted a divine birthday party in the Citi Field parking lot, and we're so bought-in on Brett at this point that we've even got Producer Nathan positing some conspiracy theories about Baty haters. If you know anything about the infamous ketchup culprit at Citi Field, please let us know. Send tips as well as your questions, comments, corrections, and Mets trivia to hitsdiffpodcast@gmail.com Let's go Mets!!

WINTER IS OVER IF YOU WANT IT As ever, we return to the question, "How many people can Pete Alonso carry out of a burning building?" NOW WE KNOW. The answer is: "At least 25 full-grown, professional athlete-sized men."PETE has the Mets on his back, yet they do not seem to be wearing heavy on him. In fact, he loves it!!! And so do we here at Hits Different. In this week's episode, we're talking about Pete Alonso's reverse-apology tour (he tours, everyone says sorry to him), our plans for the first home stand of the season at Citi Field (Jell-O shots, humidity), and some old freak who David really likes and wanted to tell us about. We love and support him in his nerdy little interests. We're also laugh laugh laughing at the Evil Atlanta Braves 0-7 at the time of recording hahahahahahahaha and NO, you can't jinx anybody or invite karmic backlash by laughing at the Evil Atlanta Braves because they are EVIL. And they really deserve it.Let us know if you own a movie theater and would like to screen Field of Dreams for Ellen. This is very important!Please send us mailbag questions at hitsdiffpodcast@gmail.com—you can also send corrections but just keep in mind that we do get a little snotty about it.LGM!

This week on Hits Different: David, Ellen, and Kaitlyn prepare for the 2025 MLB season by talking about almost everything else they can think of for 90 minutes! Almost certainly the words "Dakota Fanning" are uttered more times than the words "New York Mets." Sorry! We're not going to examine this too closely. We're nervous, but definitely not about Brett Baty. We're anxious, but not because AJ Minter is a Braves sleeper agent who has murdered countless ducks. We're agitated, but not so much by our fellow fans who went RETVRN mode over the first two games of the season being in Japan. We're just antsy!!!! We can't wait to get going!!! (Does anybody else always hear that phrase in Carlos Mendoza's voice now?)LGM!!!!!

This week on Hits Different, Ellen and Kaitlyn are talking about the next 15 years of their lives. Juan Soto is going to be part of our households. We'll be middle-aged when Juan Soto retires from being a Met. Ellen's son Bobby will be driving a car! Dave is away but he has the same next question as the rest of us: What about Pete? When will the Mets say "Pete—Met for life"? Where is Pete? Why is Pete posting on Instagram about "chlorophyll water"? Pete?This episode was recorded BEFORE we learned that Juan Soto got the use of the uniform number 22 guaranteed in his contract. Kind of messed up, no? He should have to text Brett Baty and send him an Uber Eats gift card at the very least, no? Brett is so abused. It's actually crazy.Nevertheless... a big Hits Different welcome to our new guy Juan and LGM!