The Blue Room at City Hall was an especially appropriate setting today for the announcement that the Mets will host the 2013 All-Star Game. Mayor Bloomberg was joined by MLB commissioner Bud Selig, Mets owner Fred Wilpon, Mets COO Jeff Wilpon, MLB Executive Vice President Joe Torre, and Citi Field's most beloved resident Mr. Met to make the announcement. "Competition for All-Star Games over the last five years has been enormous," Selig said during the press conference. "The new ballpark, Citi Field, that was certainly a primary reason for it. It was their time in a new ballpark." more ›

Of all the ways for baseball's greatest closer of all time to be injured: The Yankees' legendary pitcher Mariano Rivera tore his ACL during batting practice in Kansas City, Missouri yesterday. And now many wonder if his career is over. When asked when—and if—he'll pitch again, a "damp-eyed" Rivera told reporters, "At this point I don’t know. We have to fight this first," adding, "I want to think and pray a little bit before I make decisions of whatever happens." more ›

Here's some news to perk up fans suffering from Mets Seasonal Affective Disorder: Mr. Met has been named the most beloved mascot in all of sports. Take that, Philly Phanatic. more ›

Detroit Tigers outfielder Delmon Young was arraigned on a hate crime in a Manhattan court room yesterday following his arrest for assault early Friday. Young has been accused of drunkenly making anti-semitic comments (shouting "F***ing Jews") during an exchange with four tourists, and then tackling one of them. Following the incident, Young was placed on the Tigers restricted list—and once MLB reviews the situation, Young will be back on the field playing: “I don’t know if I will find out Monday,” Tigers General Manager Dave Dombrowski said. “But assuming I would find out Monday, if he is cleared to play, then he will play. Because that is the arrangement that is involved.” more ›

Besides being the Puff The Magic Dragon Passover, April 20th is particularly notable for two birthdays that will always live in infamy around these parts: Adolf Hitler and Fenway Park, the home of the Bahston Red Sox. The NY Post celebrated the latter of the two in true NY Post-style with the loving above front cover today. But some are questioning whether the Yankees and Red Sox even have a rivalry anymore. more ›

Their rivalry has plateaued in recent seasons, but the Yankees and Red Sox are renewing it now in Boston with today's opener of a three-game set. The game will mark the official 100th anniversary celebration of Fenway Park and will see the both teams play in throwback uniforms. It will also see a rivalry that while still exciting, has seen better days. more ›

The Yankees are a lousy 3-3 after dropping their first three games to Tampa (but then they turned it around in Baltimore), but hopefully luck will change at today's 1 p.m. home opener. To put fans commuting by subway in a good mood, the MTA is rolling out the Nostalgia Special again! more ›

The Mets came out strong to start the new season, but have stumbled in their last two games as an injured David Wright has left their offense completely anemic. But just think Mets fans: if the season ended today, we'd be in the playoffs, tied for first place! If that thought isn't enough to prop you up—or even if it is—you may very well be suffering from Mets Seasonal Affective Disorder. But there's a way to stop obsessing about Jose Reyes' free agency and ignore the absurd amount of freak injuries the Mets endure every year—Metsoloft. more ›

The Mets reached "baseball nirvana" with their 1-0 opening day win over the Atlanta Braves yesterday afternoon—and even better for management, they were able to get a record sell out crowd at Citi Field. But there's still a lot of nervousness about selling tickets—and it's now at the point where the Mets are literally giving tickets away for free to anyone who wants. more ›

Today is the Mets' opening day, with a home game at Citi Field against the Atlanta Braves. It's also the 50th anniversary of the team, but with facing various troubles such as their, uh, financial picture (starts with Mad-, ends with -off), plummeting ticket sales, and a Reyes-less team, the team seems desperate. And the Post says the prospect of empty seats today has the Mets freaked out: "The Mets are so terrified by the embarrassing prospect of playing to empty seats at today's opener, they've made an Amazin' 'buy one get one free' pitch. Some 15,000 of their fans have been offered one free seat for Saturday's or Sunday's Atlanta game in exchange for every ticket they buy for today’s opener." Is it no wonder that Mr. Met is looking for comfort from strangers? more ›

The owners of the New York Mets have decided to avoid going to trial and have settled with the Bernard Madoff trustee by agreeing to pay $162 million. Earlier this month, federal judge Jed Rakoff said that the Mets' owners would have to pay at least $83 million. For what it's worth, the Mets' payroll for the 2012 season is $91 million. Which means their payroll has been cut by three-and-a- half Oliver Perez's since 2009 (Perez was paid $12 million/season in 2009!). more ›

We guess he got the hunger back: 39-year-old pitcher Andy Pettitte ended his retirement today, signing a one-year minor league contract with the Yankees that will pay him $2.5 million. more ›

Gary Carter, the Mets Hall of Fame catcher who was diagnosed with brain tumors last year, has died today according to Baseball Hall of Fame president Jeff Idelson. He was 57. more ›

The Mets have spent their offseason cutting coupons, selling off pieces of their outfield, and generally lowering expectations about the team's immediate future to the point where a healthy Daniel Murphy seems about as good as it could get. The sorry state of the franchise is not lost on its long-suffering fans, who took to Twitter today to mock the organization's decision to bring back homemade Banner Day—for the first time since 1996—by creating the hashtag: #MetsRejectedPromotionalDates. Below, check out twenty of our favorite pathetic, imaginary Mets promotional dates. more ›

Sure, when it comes to professional sports it seems as though most New Yorkers are pretty focused on football, basketball and hockey these days. But the next never ending baseball season is right around the corner. How do we know? Because while the Mets are selling off their crap, yesterday the Yankees started their annual select a seat event—in which season ticket holders can trade up their seats. And boy, those premium tickets ($1575 per game available only for all games!) still rankle. As our spy put it, they "make the ones five rows back from home plate for $260-a-pop seem a positive steal..." more ›

While the Yankees have been busy amassing a killer rotation and becoming the most dangerous team in the AL East again, the Mets have spent their winter cutting coupons out of the paper and binging on boxes of chocolate. And now, they're taking their penny-pinching to new levels: the team is literally auctioning off pieces of the discarded outfield wall in Citi Field. Because who wouldn't want to own a giant "Wheat Thins" ad? more ›

The NYTimes has a feature today on some of the incentives being offered to investors willing to give $20 million to the financially struggling Mets. The club is looking for approximately 10 suckers minority share owners—their investments would give them four percent stakes in the team each, while leaving Fred Wilpon and Saul Katz as majority owners. And seeing as how they're not going to attract any Donald Trumps, the organization is sweetening the pot with some added perks, such as access to Mr. Met, an exclusive fantasy camp, and business cards reading "owner." But if someone's gonna help bail out the perpetually-disappointing Mets, we think some better incentives might be in order: more ›