Former New York Mets ace Noah Syndergaard unloaded on his old team and on New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani during an appearance on OutKick's "Tomi Lahren Is Fearless," tying the franchise's on-field struggles to a broader collapse he sees in the city itself.
Syndergaard, who spent eight seasons in Queens and pitched in the 2015 World Series, did not hold back. He called the 34-year-old Democratic Socialist mayor unfit for the job, questioned who the Mets are welcoming into their clubhouse, and said the team's massive payroll has produced nothing worth celebrating.
The comments land at a moment when the Mets sit at the bottom of the National League East despite one of baseball's largest payrolls, and when Mamdani's tenure at City Hall has drawn fire from across the political spectrum.
Syndergaard told Lahren he still cares about the franchise but can no longer ignore what he's watching. As OutKick reported, the former pitcher addressed both the loss of fan favorites Brandon Nimmo and Pete Alonso and the team's inability to win despite heavy spending.
"I hate saying it, but at the end of the day, the Mets are going to Met."
He said he had earned the right to deliver that verdict.
"I think I'm allowed to kind of say that because I bled orange and blue for eight years. Made it to the World Series with them."
Syndergaard then widened the lens. He said he was disappointed in both the team's results and the company the organization keeps.
"Just kind of disappointed to see A) who they're inviting into their clubhouse and B) the lack of success they're having. It doesn't make a whole lot of sense. We have a huge payroll, and it's not creating great dividends for them."
That line, "who they're inviting into their clubhouse", pointed directly at the political direction the franchise has leaned. And Syndergaard was happy to name names.
The sharpest part of the interview targeted Mamdani. Syndergaard, who is 33, marveled at the idea that someone a year older than him is running the largest city in the country, and suggested the mayor lacks the experience to do it.
"Well, he's like 34 years old and never really held an actual job beforehand."
Mamdani, the self-described Democratic Socialist, has drawn sustained criticism since taking office. His first 100 days were marked by broken promises on housing and homelessness, and his political positioning has alienated large portions of the electorate.
Syndergaard did not stop at Mamdani's résumé. He offered blunt advice for the Mets organization itself.
"Stop hanging out with socialist mayors, I guess, probably."
The former pitcher also noted what he called an irony: that some of the most prominent players from his era in Queens, including Jacob deGrom, were among the most conservative people he'd worked with, even as the city around them lurched leftward.
"It's kind of also ironic. Those two guys are some of the biggest conservatives I've played for as well as with, with Jacob deGrom. The craziness that's going on in New York."
Syndergaard's framing was deliberate. He wasn't just griping about wins and losses. He was drawing a line between the Mets' dysfunction and the governance failures he sees across New York City.
Mamdani has repeatedly made headlines for confrontational stances on immigration enforcement. He called for ICE to be abolished following the arrest of an illegal immigrant, a position that has put him at odds with federal authorities and with a significant share of his own constituents.
Even so, Syndergaard acknowledged the pull of New York. He said that if he were still playing for the Mets or Yankees, the city's appeal would be hard to resist, even with the politics.
"But I mean, if I still played for the Mets or the Yankees, I'd be like, oh, this is freaking awesome. Like I could block the crazy part out and still focus on, I get to play a kid's game in one of the greatest cities in the world."
Then came the qualifier, a line that captured the tension between loving the city and watching it governed by people he considers unqualified.
"Albeit, ran by a lunatic or, I don't know. He's 34 years old... like I'm 33 and I can't imagine being a mayor."
Syndergaard is far from the only voice raising questions about the mayor's fitness for office. A recent poll found that fewer than one in three Jewish New York City voters approve of Mamdani's performance, a sign of deepening fractures within the city's diverse electorate.
The mayor's inner circle has generated its own controversies. His political ambitions, too, have raised eyebrows. Mamdani publicly said he would never run for president, then hinted his politics could go national, a contradiction that did little to inspire confidence in his candor.
For Syndergaard, the rot isn't confined to City Hall or to Citi Field. It's the same rot, showing up in different uniforms. A team that spends lavishly and loses. A city that elects a 34-year-old Democratic Socialist with a thin résumé and then wonders why the basics aren't working. The locker room changes he noticed weren't just about baseball, they reflected, in his telling, something bigger happening across the five boroughs.
Athletes rarely talk politics this openly. The risk is real, endorsement deals, fan backlash, media pile-ons. Syndergaard did it anyway, and he did it with specifics. He named the mayor. He named the ideology. He named the players he respected and the direction he thinks the franchise has gone wrong.
Tomi Lahren, for her part, pushed the criticism further during the segment. The full exchange painted a picture of a former player who still loves his old team but can no longer separate its failures from the failures of the city it represents.
There are open questions. What specific clubhouse visit or event prompted Syndergaard's frustration? The interview didn't spell it out. And the Mets' front office has not publicly responded to his remarks.
But the broader point doesn't require a box score to land. New York City is governed by a man who wants to abolish ICE, who took office with grand promises and delivered little, and who presides over a metropolis where even the baseball teams can't seem to get it together despite spending fortunes.
When a guy who pitched in a World Series for your city tells you the problem isn't just the bullpen, it's the mayor, maybe it's time to listen.
