New York Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns is in a unique position this weekend as he returns to American Family Field for the first time since leaving the Milwaukee Brewers.
His current team is trying to secure a playoff spot by facing the annual playoff contender he helped build.
“I think at this point I have enough distance for it,” Stearns said before the Mets’ 8-4 loss to the Brewers on Friday night. “That roster has turned over pretty considerably since I’ve been in the seat here.
I certainly know a lot of the people over there, I know a lot of the players over there, but I think there’s been enough distance at this point.” Stearns joined the Brewers in October 2015 as general manager and became president of baseball operations before the 2019 season.
He stepped down after the 2022 season but stayed with the Brewers in an advisory role while Matt Arnold, his former right-hand man, took over as president of baseball operations. Stearns left Milwaukee last fall to lead baseball operations for the team he supported as a kid in New York City.
He believed this was his first time back at American Family Field since August 2023. The Brewers started the season by sweeping the Mets in New York, but the teams hadn’t played each other since then.
Now they are meeting again with the Mets’ season on the line.
The Mets are competing with the Atlanta Braves and Arizona Diamondbacks for the final two wild-card spots in the NL. After the Mets’ loss and the Braves’ 3-0 victory over the Kansas City Royals on Friday, both teams have identical records of 87-71. The Diamondbacks fell to 88-72 after losing 5-3 to the San Diego Padres.
As Stearns mentioned, the Brewers’ roster has changed a lot since he left. Only four players in Milwaukee’s starting lineup on Friday—second baseman Brice Turang, right fielder Sal Frelick, left fielder Jackson Chourio, and shortstop Willy Adames—were part of the organization when Stearns was in charge.
Even so, Stearns played a key role in helping the Brewers achieve the longest stretch of success in their history. Milwaukee secured the NL Central title last week and will be making its sixth playoff appearance in seven years.
This success began shortly after Stearns made the significant trade to acquire Christian Yelich, the 2018 NL MVP. Before this success, Milwaukee had only made the playoffs twice in a 35-year span from 1983 to 2017.
“It’s fun being back here,” Stearns said. “I’m glad I’m back here when games really matter for us. We’re playing for something that’s really important, so we have to go out and have a good series.”
Now, Stearns is aiming to return to the playoffs with the Mets, which could lead to a trip back to Milwaukee next month. However, that path has become much more complicated.
The Mets might have to play a doubleheader in Atlanta on Monday—the day after the regular season ends—to qualify for a Wild Card Series on Tuesday.
This situation arose because New York’s games on Wednesday and Thursday in Atlanta were canceled due to rain.
“Nobody wants to play a doubleheader on Monday,” Stearns said. “The Braves didn’t want that outcome, MLB didn’t want that outcome, and certainly we didn’t want that outcome. I think it’s easy in retrospect to say that we could have done things differently to get there.
It’s also really tough in the moment to predict exactly what the weather is going to do. Everyone is working through a whole host of considerations in order to make the best decision possible.
“The reality is we may have to play a doubleheader on Monday, and if we do, we’ll do the best that we can.”
Stearns was asked if he thought the start of the Wild Card Series should be delayed by a day if the doubleheader occurs. This doubleheader would only take place if the playoff situations for the Mets and Braves are not settled by then.
“That’s not my decision, and so I’m not really thinking about it,” Stearns said. “Whenever we play, we play.”
