{"id":324557,"date":"2026-08-19T01:28:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-19T01:28:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/324557\/"},"modified":"2026-08-19T01:28:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-19T01:28:09","slug":"jose-iglesias-misses-mets-but-happy-to-be-making-broadway-debut","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/324557\/","title":{"rendered":"Jose Iglesias misses Mets, but happy to be making Broadway debut"},"content":{"rendered":"

A smiling Kodai Senga<\/a> said it first as he strolled down the dugout steps.<\/p>\n

A few minutes later, Mark Vientos said it, too, as he approached the tunnel to the Mets<\/a>\u2019 clubhouse.<\/p>\n

\u201cOMG.\u201d<\/p>\n

The cheery remarks were directed at Jose Iglesias<\/a>, their hit-making former teammate, whose Latin pop song \u201cOMG\u201d served as the rally anthem for the Mets\u2019 unexpected run to the 2024 NLCS.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have so many memories. It\u2019s not even one in particular,\u201d Iglesias said Tuesday afternoon, sitting inside the Citi Field home dugout.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery single day that I got to wear that uniform, every single day I got to interact with that team, the 2024 New York Mets, every moment, it was special. Every scene was perfect. We went through it as a team, we went through it as a family, and that will live for us forever.\u201d<\/p>\n

Iglesias, 36, was back at Citi Field to throw the ceremonial first pitch before Tuesday night\u2019s game between the Mets and San Diego Padres.<\/p>\n

The appearance came less than two weeks before Iglesias is scheduled to make his Broadway debut on Aug. 27 as the Narrator in \u201cBuena Vista Social Club,\u201d a stage musical based on the titular group of Cuban musicians.<\/p>\n

The Cuban-born Iglesias has not retired from baseball, but he remains unsigned this season. He still has a lot of love for the Mets, with whom he batted .337 with four home runs and an .830 OPS in 85 games in 2024.<\/p>\n

Iglesias remains synonymous with the Mets\u2019 improbable turnaround that season.<\/p>\n

The Mets were 23-33 when they called up Iglesias \u2014 a former All-Star shortstop who had bounced from team to team over the previous half-decade \u2014 before surging to a National League wild-card berth and winning a pair of playoff series.<\/p>\n

Iglesias\u2019 on-field impact was significant, but he was perhaps even more important to the team\u2019s chemistry.<\/p>\n

Known musically by the stage name Candelita, Iglesias released \u201cOMG\u201d on June 28, 2024. The song quickly emerged as a hit, debuting at No. 1 on Billboard\u2019s Latin Digital Song Sales.<\/p>\n

Citi Field adopted the feel-good single, blaring it over the speakers whenever a Met hit a home run. Iglesias performed \u201cOMG\u201d live at a post-game concert at the ballpark on the day the song officially came out.<\/p>\n

Iglesias wanted to return to the Mets \u201cvery bad\u201d in 2025, he recalled Tuesday, but the Mets decided to go in a different direction.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was already looking for apartments to live [in],\u201d Iglesias said. \u201cIt totally got me by surprise, how I cannot be involved, around.\u201d<\/p>\n

He continued, \u201cAs a baseball organization, they might head in a different direction. I totally respect that. I personally don\u2019t have to agree with it, but I respect their decisions completely. But just detaching with this organization hurt me. That\u2019s true. I really enjoyed being around these guys, and that goes way beyond nine innings. That goes way beyond the baseball season.\u201d<\/p>\n

Iglesias spent the 2025 season with the Padres, batting .229 with three home runs and a .592 OPS in 112 games.<\/p>\n

He has not closed the door on continuing his MLB career, should another opportunity arise.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel great. I\u2019m in a lot better shape than a lot of people out there, I\u2019m telling you,\u201d Iglesias said with a laugh.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut if it happens, I\u2019m ready. If it don\u2019t, I\u2019m ready. It\u2019s just however life comes. I always look for the positive out of it. For me, it\u2019s making an impact. This time, I get to do it through music, through acting. God knows what happens next year. Nobody knows what happens tomorrow, so why worry?\u201d<\/p>\n

For now, Iglesias\u2019 future is on Broadway, where he is set to star in \u201cBuena Vista Social Club\u201d for a six-week engagement.<\/p>\n

Iglesias says he was surprised when a producer for the show called him and asked him to join the cast, but that he didn\u2019t hesitate to say yes.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not an actor. I\u2019m putting a lot of time and effort in those rehearsals,\u201d Iglesias said. \u201cI have a big responsibility on my shoulders by representing Cuban music on the biggest stage in the world, and I want to do it right.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A smiling Kodai Senga said it first as he strolled down the dugout steps. A few minutes later,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":324558,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[207,120832,122247,2032,9,24,63,122248,122,124,123],"class_list":["post-324557","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-broadway","tag-buena-vista-social-club","tag-jose-iglesias","tag-mets","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-omg","tag-queens","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324557","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=324557"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324557\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/324558"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=324557"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=324557"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=324557"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}