Mets radio announcer Howie Rose to work fewer games this season
Mets radio announcer Howie Rose. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
One of the true New York sounds of spring and summer will hit the airwaves on Saturday afternoon when the venerable Howie Rose does play-by-play for the Mets’ spring training opener on WCBS-880.
Rose, 72, told Newsday on Wednesday that he is reducing his regular-season workload from 100 games last season to 84 in 2026. Rose will call every Mets home game from Citi Field and the three Subway Series games in September from Yankee Stadium.
He will not travel during the regular season. But Rose said he plans to call every Mets postseason game — home and away — should the team make it.
Rose has been going year to year for some time now. That hasn’t changed as he begins what could be his final — or could be far from his final — season behind the mic.
“I'm going to work this whole season,” Rose said. “And whether or not I work next season is not a matter of whimsy or anything like that. I'll know. When I decide to say it — and it could be at any time —it could be in a couple of years. Who knows?”
Rose has been reducing his workload over the last few seasons to manage what he calls “the grind” of baseball radio play-by-play. He has been in the Mets’ radio booth since 2004 after starting his five-decade journey on the team’s “Mets Extra” pre- and postgame shows in 1987.
“At the end of a season, the last couple of years, what I've done just to make sure I'm set in my conviction about whether or not I'm going to work the next season,” he said. “I always say — because it's accurate — that when I leave the booth after the last game of the season, I'm planning to do the next year, but I reserve the right to get settled here in Florida and perhaps change my mind and say, ‘I'm done.’ ”
Apparently, there was only one thing that could have changed Rose’s mind this offseason: If his golf game got much, much better.
“Nothing changed from my intention to do ’26 other than what'll happen when I get down to Florida, and will my golf game ever get better to the point where, ‘Yeah, I'd rather do this,’ ” Rose said. “And that ain't ever going to happen. My lack of prowess on the golf course cannot affect my decision, whether or not to work.
“But it's just that the baseball season, even though my travel has been reduced significantly over the last few years, it's such a grind. What it's done for me is just sort of morph into a different kind of grind because the games themselves are relatively easy. If you could parachute me into the booth at 7 o'clock every night and parachute me back home when the game is over without dealing with traffic and preparation and everything else, then I’d go on indefinitely. But there's a lot of factors as you get older — your health, certainly the greatest of it. The other things that, I suppose, contribute to an ultimate decision is do I want to continue leaving my wife home at night all the time? Do I want to continue working at night? Do I want to continue finding the energy to prep properly for a game? Those are the things I evaluate.”
Rose will be partnered for the fourth consecutive season with Keith Raad. The Valley Stream native is one of the young broadcasters who have shared the Mets booth over the last few seasons (others include Wayne Randazzo, Pat McCarthy and Jake Eisenberg). McCarthy, the pre- and postgame host, will fill in when Rose is off.
“I have to say that what sort of keeps me going and one of the things that sustains me in this business is how much I love mentoring,” Rose said. “And maybe mentoring’s too strong a word because I don’t know that I’m credentialed to teach per se . . . But the bottom line is whether I have a right to be proud or not, I’m extremely proud of the last few young broadcasters we’ve brought through our booth.”
Earlier this week, Rose held his annual spring-training kickoff conversation with Mets owner Steve Cohen on the team’s social media platforms.
Spring training is underway, so it’s time for our annual season opening conversation with @Mets owner Steve Cohen. Enjoy! https://t.co/G0xobmB1Yo
— Howie Rose (@HowieRose) February 14, 2026
“I always say we should take it on the road,” Cohen said.
“I’m willing,” Rose said.
Anthony Rieber covers sports media and business and professional sports (you know, games and trades and things). He has worked at Newsday since Aug. 31, 1998, and has been in his current position since Jan. 1, 2026.
