Why Are New York Mets Fans Dubbing Grimace As The New Mascot?

Goodbye, Mr. Met... Hello, Grimace?

New York Mets fans are calling for a change in mascot for the first time since 1963 -- but why? Well, the sports team has discovered a mid-June spark from a very unexpected icon: Grimace, the McDonald's mascot.

In fact, the New York Mets fan base is thanking Grimace for saving its 2024 season. The team has gone undefeated since the purple McDonald's mascot threw out the first pitch.

Following the six-game win streak, New York Mets fans have "officially" replaced Mr. Met with the iconic McDonald's character, Grimace.

On June 12, Grimace made an iconic appearance at Citi Field in Flushing, Queens. His ceremonial first pitch, however, was far from impressive, falling well short of home plate and missing the mark by a wide margin.

Even though Grimace's pitch missed the strike zone entirely, it turned out to be good luck, as the New York Mets have remained undefeated since the McDonald's character threw the first pitch on his birthday.

After Grimace took the pitcher's mound, the New York baseball team brought home two wins against the Marlins and swept the Padres, keeping them on a five-game winning streak. The Mets scored 31 runs during that streak.

They continued to accumulate runs in their 14-2 victory over the Rangers on Monday, June 17.

The Mets have now won six consecutive games and haven't lost since Grimace delivered the first pitch.

“Right now, we’re riding a good wave. Hitting’s contagious and it seems like we are in one of those stages where everything’s coming our way,” leadoff batter Francisco Lindor said post-game. “We’ve just got to continue to ride as long as we can.”

Lindor had an impressive game alone, having gone 4 for 4 with three singles and a double, three runs scored and two RBIs — all in the first five innings. First baseman Pete Alonso had three singles, two of those driving in runs.

It was truly a team effort, though, as DJ Stewart ripped a three-run home run to right field to break the game open, followed by Brandon Nimmo, who smacked one out to far right for a 2-run homer later in the game.

"We’ve been trying to work on little things each day and you’ve been seeing them leak into the games and it’s been producing much better results," Nimmo told SNY’s Steve Gelbs. "We just had to clean up the swing and miss and there were some bad habits that got into my swing."

"It happens throughout the course of the season. You’re gonna have little things that happen to your body here and there and then you end up developing a bad habit and you have to overcome it," he added.

While the players have held numerous team meetings, changed their team celebration, moved some players around in the batting order, and made other small adjustments in an attempt to get their rhythm back, fans think that all they needed to do was call Grimace for help.

"I don’t know about coincidences," Nimmo said after letting out a huge laugh at Gelbs’ question about Grimace's good luck charm. "He definitely correlates with us going on this run, if that’s what you want to attribute it to, then I’m all for it. Whatever it is, let’s keep it going. I’m all for it."

"We need to come out here, we need to have fun, we need to be accountable to each other, but first and foremost we all grew up with this being a kid’s game. I think that’s a lot of fun adding Grimace to this. So I’m all for it," he added. "We can ride that wave as long as we want, as long as we keep winning, that’s fine by me."

The numbers don't lie -- after seeing how the New York Mets have played since Grimace threw out the first pitch, fans are dubbing him the new Mets mascot. (Sorry, Mr. Met.)

"Grimace has officially replaced Mr. Met," one X user wrote. "The @Mets are now 6-0 since Grimace threw out the first pitch!" another said.

"The Grimace Era has officially reached mainstream sports media," a third expressed.

We will have to see if Grimace's luck continues as the New York Mets take on the Texas Rangers tonight, June 18, at 8:05 p.m.