The Syracuse Mets are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A affiliate of the New York Mets. They are located in Syracuse, New York, and play their home games at NBT Bank Stadium, which opened in 1997 and has a seating capacity of 10,815.
The Mets are named for their major league affiliate and former owner, the New York Mets. In August 2025 they announced that they would be rebranding for the 2027 season. A "re-name the team" contest would be held to come up with name ideas, followed by fan voting and a reveal of the new team identity in fall 2026.
From 1934 to 1957, 1961 to 1996, and from 2007 to 2018, the team was named the Syracuse Chiefs, while from 1997 to 2006 it was named the Syracuse SkyChiefs. When the club was purchased by the New York Mets in October 2018, it was renamed the Syracuse Mets.
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History
Syracuse Chiefs
The Syracuse Chiefs baseball team was established in 1934, when the Jersey City Skeeters moved to Syracuse and were renamed the Chiefs. The team played in the International League (IL) through 1955. They won five Governors' Cup championships during this stretch, including back-to-back championships in 1942 and 1943. The team was then sold and moved to Miami as the Marlins for the 1956 campaign. Another team known as the Syracuse Chiefs competed in the Class A Eastern League (then two levels below the IL) in 1956 and 1957, but moved to Allentown, Pennsylvania, on July 13, 1957. The Chiefs played at MacArthur Stadium from 1934 to 1996, moving to new then-P&C Stadium (1997–2005) in 1997.
Syracuse was without professional baseball from 1957 until 1961, when the Montreal Royals franchise was abandoned by its owners (the Los Angeles Dodgers) and relocated to Syracuse as the top affiliate of the Minnesota Twins, becoming the Syracuse Chiefs. After that, the team had affiliations with the New York Mets and Washington Senators (1962), the Detroit Tigers (1963) and the New York Yankees (1967–1977). Baseball has been played in Syracuse without interruption since the rebirth of the Chiefs in 1961.
From 1978 to 2008, the Chiefs were the Triple-A affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays. The three-decade Toronto–Syracuse affiliation is the longest of the 11 major league affiliations the team has had since 1936. While the Chiefs reached three Governors Cup finals during this time, many of the players who helped lead the Blue Jays to consecutive World Series titles in 1992 and 1993 passed through Syracuse. In 1994, outfielder Shawn Green hit .344 for the Chiefs, winning the International League batting title and the International League Rookie of the Year Award. In 1997, due to the team having a Native American nickname and using Native American imagery, it was renamed the SkyChiefs. The name was reverted to "Chiefs" in December 2006, and the team's logo featured a steam locomotive.
On September 20, 2008, the Chiefs signed a two-year affiliation agreement with the Washington Nationals, ending their relationship with the Blue Jays. That first season, the players wore a decal on their uniforms with the letters "HB" to commemorate Harold Berman, former member of the team's board of directors, who died after the 2007 season. In 2009, the Chiefs wore a decal on their uniforms with the letters "HM" to commemorate Hy Miller, former state assemblyman and former member of the team's board of directors, who died after the 2008 season.
Syracuse Mets
The chief operating officer of the New York Mets, Jeff Wilpon, joined Governor Andrew Cuomo and Joanie Mahoney, Onondaga County Executive, at NBT Bank Stadium on October 11, 2017, to announce that the Mets would purchase the Chiefs from the Community Baseball Club of Central New York in early 2018. Under the deal, the Chiefs' affiliation with the Washington Nationals continued through the end of the 2018 season, with the Chiefs becoming the Mets' Triple-A affiliate beginning with the 2019 season. The team was rebranded as the Syracuse Mets, adopting the New York Mets' blue, orange, and white color scheme along with new logos and uniforms on October 16, 2018.
The Syracuse Mets started their 2019 inaugural season with one of the most experienced rosters in the minor leagues. Of the 25 players on the roster, 21 of them had previously played in the majors. They had combined for 7,006 total games. The Opening Day roster consisted of veteran outfielders Carlos Gómez and Rajai Davis, former Syracuse Chief Danny Espinosa, catcher René Rivera, and cult-star outfielder Tim Tebow. The Mets played their first game on April 4, against the Pawtucket Red Sox in front of an Opening Day home crowd of 8,823 fans. Syracuse took a 3–2 lead in the bottom of the sixth inning, but Pawtucket tied the game in the top of the eighth. The PawSox scored three more runs in the top of the tenth, defeating the home team, 6–3. The Mets' first win came in game one of a doubleheader on April 6 in which they defeated Pawtucket, 6–3 in 7 innings.
In that same first Mets win, with one out in the bottom of the fourth inning, Dilson Herrera hit the Syracuse Mets first home run.
On May 31, 2019, Travis Taijeron hit the first cycle in Syracuse Mets history in a 13–4 win over the PawSox. It was the first in franchise history since 1987. Rubén Tejada also hit for the cycle on June 19, 2019, against the Charlotte Knights. Despite his efforts, the Mets lost 9–7.
At the 2019 All-star break, the Mets were 42–47, good for 5th place in the IL North Division. After August 7, they made up 6.5 games in the standings to put themselves in a share of the division lead with the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders after sweeping a doubleheader versus the Lehigh Valley IronPigs on August 26. They also had a winning season for the first time since 2014. Syracuse went into the final weekend of the 2019 season tied with Scranton/Wilkes-Barre for the division lead. Both teams split both of their respective series' to stay tied for the division lead. The two teams played a one-game tie breaker in order to decide who would win the division, and ultimately make the playoffs. The Mets would lose the one-game tiebreaker by a score of 14–13. Syracuse had led 13–6 going into the bottom of the eighth inning, but Scranton/Wilkes-Barre would come back and score eight runs in the bottom half of the inning to eventually win the game, effectively eliminating the Mets from qualifying for the playoffs.
Corporate structure
New York Mets
In October 2017, the New York Mets, headed by then-Mets owner Jeff Wilpon, agreed to purchase the Chiefs for approximately $18 million pending approval by team shareholders. A vote was held on November 17, 2017, in which 88 percent of shareholders voted in favor of selling the team, thus meeting the required two-thirds vote needed for approval. The Mets organization assumed ownership in early 2018.
Community Baseball Club, Inc.
Prior to the Mets' purchase, the franchise was owned by the Community Baseball Club of Central New York, Inc., "a community-owned club, controlled by a [13-person] board of directors," acting on behalf of approximately 4,000 shareholders, who together held 15,857 shares from 1961 to 2017.
According to Dick Ryan, a former club chairman of the board and treasurer, a majority of the Community Baseball Club shares were "owned by people who own one or two shares." Shares in the club were first sold in 1961, at a price of $10 each; as of 2011, shares had a resale value of approximately $126, but were not publicly traded. A provision in the Chief's certificate of corporation stated that "no one may vote more than 500 shares." This provision was intended to make it difficult for the club to be sold and moved to another location, as happened earlier in its history.
Officers of the Community Baseball Club of Central New York, Inc., included:
Robert F. Julian, Chairman of the Board
William Dutch, President
Jason Smorol, General Manager
Among those serving on the organization's Board of Directors were Stephen A. Rogers, Chairman, Syracuse Media Group; and Crandall Melvin III, "a software executive from Syracuse and the team's largest single shareholder with 502 shares."
Dutch was a partner in Chiefs First LLC, an investment company established in September 2013, which loaned the Chiefs $500,000 in return for 600 shares and controlled the team's 13-member board.
The Chiefs operated at a loss from 2006, except for the 2010 season when they ended the season $100,000 in the black. The team lost $973,516 in the 2013 season, on operating expenses of $3.1 million. Under general manager Jason Smorol, their losses were reduced to $241,584 in 2014, and $169,011 in 2015.
Titles and pennants
Syracuse Chiefs
The Chiefs won the Governors' Cup (the IL championship) 8 times, and played in the championship series 17 times.
The Chiefs won the International League pennant — finishing the regular season with the best record in the league — eight times.
The Chiefs played in the Junior World Series five times, winning it once, in 1970 against the Omaha Royals, 4–1.
Season standings
All-time records
Note: One playoff series is missing from the original Syracuse Chiefs. It will be added to the records when found.
Notable people
Broadcasters
Marv Albert (1962)
Hank Greenwald (1962)
Greg Papa (1982–83)
Sean McDonough (1982–84), current ESPN play-by-play man for Major League Baseball, NCAA Men's Basketball, NCAA Football, National Football League and the National Hockey League
Dan Hoard (1985–95), former Cincinnati Reds fill in broadcaster, now voice of the Cincinnati Bengals
Ken Levine (1988), film and television writer who also broadcast for the Baltimore Orioles, 1991, Seattle Mariners, 1992–94, 2011–12, San Diego Padres, 1995–1997, Los Angeles Dodgers, 2008–2010
Matt Vasgersian (1995)
Bob McElligott (2000–2009), radio broadcaster for the Columbus Blue Jackets
Jason Benetti (2009–2014), broadcaster for NBC's 'Sunday Night Baseball' & the Detroit Tigers
Kevin Brown (2010–2017), broadcaster for the Baltimore Orioles
Evan Stockton (2022–2024)
Michael Tricarico (2018–2025)
Jack Gordon (2025–Present)
Game broadcasts
Locally games are broadcast on the Mets' flagship radio station, WSKO "The Score" 1260 AM, and globally online via SyracuseMets.com. In addition, all games are broadcast on MiLB.TV, an internet video subscription service. Select games were broadcast live on Spectrum Sports, provided on Spectrum Cable services throughout the Central and Northern New York area until Spectrum ceased operations of its sports channels in the state sometime around 2017. The games on Spectrum Sports were called by Steve Grilli, Syracuse Wall of Fame member and former major leaguer. All games against thruway rivals Rochester or Buffalo were broadcast on Spectrum Sports and fed between the cities, with the host city providing the presentation and announcers.
In popular culture
Writer Ken Levine based the Springfield Isotopes minor league team in The Simpsons episode "Dancin' Homer" on experiences as an announcer for the Syracuse Chiefs. The episode includes references to former announcer Dan Hoard and owner Anthony "Tex" Simone (named Antoine "Tex" O'Hara in the episode).
The Chiefs gained national media attention for a promotion planned for 2014's Tattoo Appreciation Night, where anyone who got a tattoo of their "C" logo would receive free tickets to Chiefs games for life.