Pete Alonso was selected in the second round of the 2016 MLB Draft by the New York Mets. He spent seven seasons with the Mets before moving to the Baltimore Orioles this past offseason. Former Mets executive Sandy Alderson has noted that he was disappointed that the team could not bring back Alonso.

Now, as the Orioles and Mets are set to face off on Monday night, Alonso is talking about his exit from the Mets and whether he took it personally, per SNY Mets.

“No, because like I said before, when you have a really good opprtunity, you have great dialogue, you don't necessarily want to kind of ruin that. For me, I didn't want to look anywhere else because Baltimore was putting in a tremendous effort, dialogue and having conversation,” Alonso said.  “When you have something really, really good in front of you, for me especially, when it comes down to business negotiatons, you don't want to, I guess, kind of look elsewhere. For me, when Baltimore came, they obviously expressed some serious interest and for me, if they're expressing themselves seriously, then I'm going to listen seriously.”

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Alonso played 1,007 games with the Mets, hitting 264 home runs and driving in 711 RBIs. This year, with the Orioles, he has played 150 games with 35 home runs and 100 RBIs.

“I feel like Baltimore's home. I feel so at home and really just so genuinely happy where it's like, I really see myself in a really good way with this organization. Hopefully, I get to finish my career here as an Oriole. I'm beyond blessed to be an Oriole,” Alonso finished.

Alonso could reach 300 career home runs tonight. Meanwhile, the Orioles can eliminate the Mets from playoff contention on Monday night. The Orioles are 72-78 on the season, which places them in last in the AL East. They are just four games behind the Cleveland Guardians for the final wild card spot in the American League.