J.K. Simmons Continues Feud With Spider-Man During Recent Mets Loss

Baseball, baby! The season is in full swing, and everybody is terrible. And I’m not just saying that because my beloved Texas Rangers got no-hit in their own ballpark the other night. They are not an outlier. Plenty of teams have winning percentages below .500, and yet some, like the Rangers, remain within striking distance of first place because the teams ahead of them are also bad. It has been a wild first third of the season, and few teams represent that better than the New York Mets.

As a Texas Rangers fan living in New York and Jersey City over the last 19 years, I’ve often found kindred spirits in Mets fans. I’ve had plenty of conversations with them, as they will often remark on my hat, and the players we have shared over the years (Jacob deGrom has been a big one), and we both walk away saying, Rangers v Mets, 20-whatever year it is.” Hasn’t happened yet. Maybe someday. Probably not this year, though, as the Mets sit in last place with no clear way out.

On the plus side, the Mets are kind of the opposite of the Los Angeles Dodgers right now, despite attempting similar paths to victory: spending boatloads of cash. MLB owners, who are making money hand over fist, have complained that the Dodgers are only winning because they can spend so much, and are arguing for a salary cap. But here comes the Mets, showing that money doesn’t always buy you a winning team, something I hope the players’ union seizes on during labor negotiations, which take place this winter.

But what if the Mets manage to turn it around? Just two years ago, the Mets began the season with the exact same terrible record of 22-33. However, they turned things around and even made the playoffs that year. How did they do it? Why, with the beloved McDonald’s mascot Grimace, of course. The giant purple… thing came out and threw the first pitch of a game, and the Mets then went on a seven-game winning streak. Maybe it was just a coincidence, or perhaps J.K. Simmons will provide a similar blessing.

The longtime actor, and enemy of any wall-crawlers, attended the Mets’ home of Citi Field last night to catch the first pitch from SpongeBob actor Bill Fagerbakke, clad in a Mets jersey and hat. Then, later that night, Simmons was visited in his seat by the web-headed menace known as Spider-Man. The actor sensed that someone was around him, and, sure enough, Spidey was sitting behind him. He shakes his fist at him and angrily goes back to watching the Mets lose to the Reds by an embarrassing 7-2.

"He's a menace … I WANT SPIDER-MAN!"

J.K. Simmons is at the Mets game tonight and ran into a familiar face 😂

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— MLB (@mlbbot.bsky.social) May 26, 2026 at 8:37 PM

My guess is that this won’t send the Mets on another winning streak, but only because Simmons seems to have his loyalties all over the place. While looking for a photo for this article, I found one of him throwing out a first pitch for the Cleveland Guardians last year, clad in their jersey and hat. The year before that? He was throwing out a pitch for the Reds, the ones schelacking the Mets in front of him! You can’t just be bouncing around to different teams, J.K.! You suffer through every loss with a smile on your face and say, “You wait until next year,” as if that softens the blow at all!

Or you go to a bunch of different ballparks and get to throw out pitches no matter what jersey you’re wearing because that’s an awesome experience, and you ignore the person writing about it because they’re clearly just jealous and would take the same opportunity in a heartbeat. But, ya know, to each their own.