Perhaps the Padres are about to enter their “OMG” era one season after it became an integral piece of the Mets’ magical run.
Before the Padres’ loss to the Mariners on Saturday, television host and reporter Annie Heilbrunn shared a video on X of Jose Iglesias picking up an “OMG” cutout in Padres colors and handing it to someone else on the field wearing team gear.
While that specific sign’s backstory remains unclear, Heilbrunn added in a reply that she believes “this was a gift from a fan.”
It still served as a strange sight, though, since for the final four months of the 2024 season, those three letters appeared throughout Citi Field and the Mets dugout as the Mets reversed a sinking campaign and ended up two wins shy of a World Series berth.
Iglesias, known as “Candelita” in the music space, performed his hit song “OMG” — which reached No. 1 on Billboard’s Latin Digital Song Sales and even got a remix featuring Pitbull — following a June 28 home game, and when a Mets player would hit a home run, they’d pose with a cutout in the dugout.
They were scattered throughout the stands, too, as Mets fans embraced the journeyman infielder, who began the year on a minor-league deal before hitting .337 across 85 regular-season games.
The three letters became synonymous with their run.
Iglesias’ presence in the lineup did, too.
But there wasn’t a reunion for 2025.
The Mets didn’t pursue Iglesias in the offseason, instead trying to create opportunities for younger players instead of signing the 35-year-old Iglesias to another deal.
Iglesias said he was “totally shocked” by that development that allowed him to sign with the Padres, though he said that the “OMG” hype and memories belong to his former team in Queens.
“‘OMG’ belongs to the Mets,” Iglesias said when San Diego was in New York earlier this month to face the Yankees. “It’s a song for everybody to listen to obviously, but ‘OMG’ is the Mets. That’s how I see it, that’s how I look at it. “Every time that song plays it reminds me of the year, the ups and downs and the development of the organization.”
Iglesias, who has his just .228 across 30 games this season, won’t make his Citi Field return until September.
