Tom Brennan - Rotation Nation at Willets Point Station

The Team Is No Doubt Focused on Customer Relations

 

Willets Point is the Long Island Railroad station that drops fans off and picks fans up as they traverse to and from Citi Field.  Many fans pay peak fares on the LIRR to get to the park, but then, after an off-peak Mets game performance, appreciate paying off-peak to go home.

So, anyway, what would the starting rotation look like at the beginning of 2026 in Citi Field?

Unless Mr. Stearns come up with some kind of a radical starting rotation plan, I can see a rotation starting the season of Sean Manaea, Kodai “the Mechanic” Senga, David (don’t call me Rick) Peterson, Nolan Ryan McLean, and the sprouting Brandon Sproat. 

I love Jonah Tong, but my sneaking suspicion is that unless he has a “bodacious ruby begonia, honey”, spring training, he’ll be sent down to AAA for just a little more work. And I mean JUST a little. 

I’d like to see him promoted by the middle of May, and promoted to Stay.  Forever. Career Met. Future Hall of Famer, perhaps.  No, he won’t win as many games as Cy Young.  I don’t want to dash your hopes in that regard.

KONG WAS INVINCIBLE - SO WILL TONG BE

The Mighty Tong. Rhymes with the Mighty Kong. 

Tong will be a beast. 

Even if he looks 16, going on 14.

CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE ADDENDUM FOR DAVID STEARNS:

I once took the LIRR from Willets Point to Woodside, where I had to disembark and cross up and over to the other side of the station to catch an eastbound train. The official schedule showed that I had eight minutes between when I was supposed to arrive at Woodside to when I would’ve been catching the train to head east.

Unfortunately, the train running from the park to Woodside was several minutes late, and I tried to sprint down the platform and up the stairs and then across and down the stairs, to make my connecting train.  But Carl Lewis would not have made the train.  

You see, the LIRR dopes running the train eastbound did not hold it, and so I and many, many other frustrated fans ended up waiting almost an hour for the next eastbound train. That made for a miserable game night experience, with “game night experience” meaning to me, from the time I left work to go to the game, to attending the game, to the time that I finally got in the door at home.

David, I contacted the LIRR the next day and complained about it. They wholeheartedly assured me that in the future, they would make sure to hold the eastbound train until the train leaving westbound from the park finally arrived at Woodside, if it was delayed. 

The next time I went to the game, though, I took no chances. I took the 7 line subway train from the park to Woodside instead. I got to the LIRR platform heading eastbound in plenty of time to make my eastbound train. 

The same westbound LIRR train to Woodside that I had taken the prior time was again delayed getting to Woodside by several minutes. I saw fans getting off the train at Woodside and sprinting up and over to the eastbound side to try to catch their train, in vain. 

What train?  The eastbound one I was now sitting on. They naturally ignored the frantic sprinters and closed the doors and left. Pissed fans left in the lurch, instead of the LIRR folks waiting another minute so the fans could connect from their delayed westbounder.

So they did not fix that problem. 

I think, for your “fans’ experience”, you should have regular conversations with Long Island railroad management to ensure that their conductors know when the westbound train is supposed to arrive at Woodside, and to hold the train on the other side if the westbound train is delayed. 

Simply, at night, the time gap between eastbound trains is very significant. And it’s such an easy fix. When I called, they clearly got amnesia thereafter regarding the simple fix. I am, you see, just a nobody to the LIRR. If your office calls, however, I think the outcome would be entirely different. They’d wait for the dozens of Mets fan riders from the park trying to make their eastbound train home. 

Thank you for your consideration, David. 

All that said, let’s make some deals!