The New York Mets have not officially named a team captain, but nearly everyone agrees if they had one, it would be Francisco Lindor.
Coming off a tremendous 2024 season in which he was named runner-up to Shohei Ohtani for the Most Valuable Player Award, Lindor is hoping to lead the Mets to the promised land this season, bolstered by the arrival of Juan Soto and the resurgence of Pete Alonso.
Whenever the Mets’ season ends, however, Lindor already knows his next order of business.
After appearing in the last two World Baseball Classics for Team Puerto Rico, Lindor will be back in next March’s event, hoping to take home the nation’s first title. And speaking of titles, Lindor already knows he’ll hold a powerful leadership role for his national team.
On Wednesday, Lindor announced on Instagram that he will be captaining the Puerto Rican squad for the second go-around.
“Honored to be captain of Team Puerto Rico for the 2026 World Baseball Classic PR Vamos mi borinquén!” Lindor captioned the post.
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Lindor was the MVP of Pool D in the 2017 WBC, when Puerto Rico lost to Team USA in the tournament final. In 2023, Team PR was ousted by underdog Mexico in the quarterfinals.
Someday, Lindor could be the Mets’ captain as well. He’s acknowledged in the past how much that would mean to him, and he’s now in his fifth year with the franchise, which feels like a significant milestone.
But captaining an entire nation (or in this case, U.S. territory), even for a short tournament, is quite an honor as well.
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