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The New York Mets season began Thursday night on quite a hilarious note — because why wouldn’t it for the Mets?
After the Mets and Pittsburgh Pirates’ 2026 rosters were announced, Tony Award winner Chris Jackson, who played George Washington in “Hamilton,” was brought onto the field for the national anthem.
Things got off without a hitch until he moved onto the fourth line of the “Star-Spangled Banner.”
Jackson was supposed to sing “O’er the ramparts we watched,” but instead went in reverse and repeated, “What so proudly we hailed” before moving on to the rest of the anthem.
The mishap started off as a bad omen for the Amazin’s, who choked away the best record in the major leagues on June 13 last year and missed the postseason, as they fell to a 2-0 hole with new ace Freddy Peralta on the mound before recording an out.
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However, they stepped up with a five-run first inning, with the help of shoddy Pirates defense, and stunningly knocked reigning Cy Young Award winner Paul Skenes out of the game. It was the first time Skenes had failed to get out of the first inning in his career, having always thrown at least two frames in his previous 55 starts.
Jackson also played “Benny” in Lin-Manuel Miranda’s “In the Heights.” He made his Broadway debut in 1997 in “The Lion King” as Simba. In an ironic twist, Jackson also played Derek Jeter in the former Broadway show, “Bronx Bombers,” that lasted less than a month.
It’s a new look for the Mets after last year’s debacle. They moved on from Edwin Diaz, Pete Alonso, Jeff McNeil, and Brandon Nimmo and brought in Peralta, Bo Bichette, Marcus Semien, and Jorge Polanco. Top prospect Carson Benge also made his MLB debut on Thursday.
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