OG Anunoby Showed Up at Citi Field. The Mets Need His Luck More Than His Handshake.

OG Anunoby walked into Citi Field on Sunday with an NBA championship ring he earned two weeks ago. The Mets, meanwhile, walked onto the field with a 35-48 record and a season that’s been over since June.

That’s the vibe shift happening in New York right now. The Knicks just won their first title in decades. The Mets are losing to the Phillies at home and staring at a summer of irrelevance. So when Anunoby showed up for the series finale against Philadelphia, it wasn’t just a photo op. It was a reminder of what winning looks like in a city that hasn’t seen much of it lately.

The Knicks star brought Finals energy to Queens

Anunoby was spotted greeting Mets players before the game, including Juan Soto, who’s having a fine season personally but can’t carry a dead roster by himself. The forward also took time to wave at fans in the stands, which is the kind of thing that gets cheered when you’re fresh off a title and the Mets haven’t given their own crowd much to clap for.

The Knicks won the NBA Finals in five games over the Spurs. Anunoby made arguably the play of the postseason when he tipped in Jalen Brunson’s miss in Game 4 to seal the win. He was their most consistent player throughout the run, which is saying something on a team with Brunson, Julius Randle and others carrying the star power.

Can the Mets borrow some of that mojo?

Probably not. But the franchise is desperate enough to try anything at this point. They signed Bo Bichette in free agency last winter and came into 2026 with genuine World Series expectations. Instead they’ve lost seven of eight and sit 13 games under .500 past the halfway mark. The pitching has been uneven. The lineup goes cold for days at a time. And the division? The Braves and Phillies aren’t exactly backing up.

Anunoby’s appearance won’t fix any of that. Baseball doesn’t work on borrowed vibes. But it gave fans something to tweet about, which is more than the Mets have offered them in weeks. The Knicks held up their end of the New York sports bargain this year. The Mets were supposed to do the same. They didn’t.

So for one Sunday afternoon, the champ was in the building. And the team that’s playing like anything but champions got to stand next to him and pretend some of it might rub off.