Devin Williams Trolls Yankees Fans After Jumping Ship to the Mets
If there is one thing baseball fans love almost as much as a World Series win, it is petty offseason drama. And folks, Williams just served up a piping hot plate of it.
Just days after inking a massive three-year, $51 million deal with the New York Mets, the former Brewers closer decided he wasn’t going to leave the Bronx quietly. After a tumultuous 2025 season wearing pinstripes, Williams hopped on Instagram to deliver a parting gift to the Yankees faithful that is sure to keep the Subway Series spicy for years to come.
The Art of the Instagram Clapback
Let’s set the scene. Williams didn’t exactly have a Cy Young caliber season with the Yankees in 2025. We are talking about a guy who posted a 4.79 ERA over 62 innings. He blew saves. He lost the closer role. If you were on Twitter (or X, whatever we are calling it this week) during the season, you saw the vitriol. Yankees fans wanted him gone. They were packing his bags for him in July.
So, when news broke that he was heading across town to Queens, you’d think the Bronx would be throwing a parade, right? Apparently not. Williams took to his Instagram story—posting a simple black screen with text that hit harder than his signature changeup:
“For a bunch of people that didn’t want me back on your team, y’all sure are mad in the DMs.” He capped it off with a laughing emoji, just to make sure the message really stung. It is a classic “you don’t know what you got ’til it’s gone” moment, except in this case, the fans seemingly hated what they had when they had it. It is the ultimate irony of sports fandom: players are bums until they sign with your rival, at which point they become traitorous legends who must be destroyed.
Williams Secures the Bag (and the Last Laugh)
While Yankees fans are busy typing angry paragraphs into his DMs, Williams is laughing all the way to the bank. The Mets didn’t just sign him; they paid him like an elite arm. That $51 million contract proves that the Mets’ front office, led by David Stearns, sees something in the underlying metrics that the box score might be hiding.
And to be fair to Williams, the metrics suggest he was incredibly unlucky last year. His FIP (Fielding Independent Pitching) sat at a shiny 2.68. He was still striking guys out at an elite clip—90 punchouts in 67 appearances is nothing to sneeze at. The Mets are betting that getting him out of Yankee Stadium and reuniting him with Stearns (who oversaw his dominant years in Milwaukee) will bring back the “Airbender” version of Williams that terrorized the National League Central for years.
Why are Yankees Fans So Salty?
This is the million-dollar question. If Williams was so “bad” last year, why are the DMs flooding with hate? It likely boils down to the destination. If he had signed with the Royals or the Giants, nobody in the Bronx would care. But he went to the Mets.
There is an unwritten rule in New York baseball: you pick a side. Crossing the streams usually results in chaos. By taking Steve Cohen’s money, Williams essentially told the Yankees fanbase that he prefers the vibe in Queens. And considering how loud the boo birds were in the Bronx last year, can you really blame him?
It is a bold move to antagonize one of the largest fanbases in sports immediately after leaving, but you have to respect the pettiness. He could have taken the high road. He could have posted the generic “Thank you, New York” graphic. Instead, he chose violence.
The Stearns Reunion in Queens
For the Mets, this signing is about more than just trolling their crosstown rivals. The bullpen needed help—desperately. But the arrival of Williams creates an interesting dilemma regarding Edwin Diaz.
With Williams making closer money, are the Mets planning a terrifying one-two punch at the back of the bullpen? Or is this a sign that the Mets are pivoting away from Diaz? Early reports suggest Williams might be open to a setup role, but let’s be real—you don’t pay a setup guy $17 million a year unless you expect him to shut the door often.
Regardless of how the innings are split, the Mets just got significantly better, and Williams gets a fresh start with a manager and executive who know exactly how to utilize his skillset.
What This Means for the Subway Series
Mark your calendars for the first Mets-Yankees series of 2026. The atmosphere is going to be electric, and not in a friendly way. Williams has effectively painted a target on his back, guaranteeing that every time he jogs in from the bullpen at Yankee Stadium, he is going to hear it.
But if his Instagram story is any indication, he doesn’t seem too bothered by the noise. In fact, he seems to thrive on it.
The Mets are banking on a bounce-back year. The Yankees are banking on their fans letting it go (unlikely). And Williams? He is just banking the checks and reading the DMs with a smile on his face. Welcome to New York baseball—the drama never sleeps.
