All right, here we go:
Mets (in my lifetime)
- 2000 WS. I was technically alive for this so I will count that
- 2006 NLCS. After a summer of unbelievable baseball at Shea the Mets lost half of their rotation before the start of the playoffs, and lost in 7 games to an underdog Cardinals team. This was the first Met team I followed religiously, so it was gut-wrenching to watch the ninth inning of Game 2, where Billy Wagner gave up a bomb to So Taguchi (who?) and then of course the ninth of inning of Game 7, where after the only good start of Ollie Perez's Mets career, and the greatest catch ever made in baseball history, Aaron Heilman gave up the go-ahead homer to Yadier Molina and Carlos Beltran struck out looking with the bases loaded to end the season. It wouldn't have been so bad if it wasn't for what happened the seasons after that.
detroittigers15 wrote:
2006 World Series (Against 83-win Cardinals)
Also, there's no doubt in my mind the Mets would've easily swept that '06 Tigers team.
- September 30, 2007. The Mets had been cruising all year long in 2007, Pedro Martinez was coming back from injury, David Wright was on his way to an MVP and then the team completely forgot how to play baseball in September. The Phillies swept the Mets from 9/14-9/16 but the Mets were still up 3.5 with 14 games left, 6 of which came against the 4th place Nats (who took 5 of 6, including an agonizing sweep at Shea in the final week of the season) and 7 against the 5th place Marlins, who took 2 of the final 3 games of the year to stun the Mets and complete the worst collapse in baseball history. On September 30th, HOF'er Tom Glavine gave up 7 runs in the first inning of Game 162 before most fans took their seats at Shea, and the season where we were supposed to win the World Series was over just like that.
- September 28, 2008. After the shocking '07 collapse, the Mets went out and got Johan Santana to shore up the rotation, and the lineup still had its main pieces, and the team was primed for another playoff run. After a slow start that led to Willie Randolph's firing, the team picked it up in August until Wagner got hurt, and then the bullpen fell apart without him. If all the games played by the Mets ended after the 8th inning the team in '08 would have won the NL East by 12 games. Despite
Carlos Delgado's heroics in the final month of the year, the bullpen failed to hold most leads (seen later in that video), and the Mets lost the NL East for good. This year, though, they still had a chance for the Wild Card. Eventually, it all came down, for the second straight year, to a 3 game series at Shea against the Florida Marlins. After a loss on Friday night, Santana pitched a complete game three-hit shutout on three days' rest on Saturday to keep the Mets' chances alive heading into Sunday. In the final game at Shea, the horrible Scott Schoeneweis and the dreadful Luis Ayala surrendered back-to-back homers in the 8th, and after Ryan Church's fly ball died at the warning track in the bottom of the 9th, the Marlins had beaten the Mets 4-2, ending the Mets' season on the last day of the year for the second straight season.
- 2009 through 2014. Heading into a new ballpark, Citi Field, after '08, the Mets decided to bolster the bullpen by bringing in J.J. Putz and Francisco Rodriguez. Instead of at least competing through the end of September, the Mets completely fell apart, as my heroes of days past (Delgado, Beltran, Reyes, Wright, Santana, and John Maine) and villains (Luis Castillo, Perez, among others) all fell victim to injuries that cost them most of the lost season. This, combined with the revelation that the team's unfit owners, the Wilpons, had been involved in Bernie Madoff's Ponzi scheme ultimately led to drawn-out rebuilding process that saw Reyes leave. Eventually by the end of 2014, the Mets had made Wright the captain, signed role players such as Curtis Granderson and Bartolo Colon, and had developed a young core of semi-talented players (Daniel Murphy, Lucas Duda, Travis d'Arnaud) to go along with a talented pitching rotation (Harvey, deGrom, Zack Wheeler, Noah Syndergaard, and Steven Matz). They appeared to be ready for a run of contention again.
- 2015 WS. And contend they did, as they took the NL East in 2015. After losing Wheeler and Wright to injuries early in the year, the Mets rode an 11 game winning streak in April all the way to somehow being alive in July, mostly because of Harvey and deGrom having great seasons, and Syndergaard and Matz coming up successfully. Thanks to some key trades, most notably acquiring Yoenis Cespedes, the Mets came alive in August as Cespedes mashed dingers at a record pace, the Nats came into town and got swept, and Wright returned from his injury to help the Mets take the division crown (that was basically sealed for good when the Mets swept the Nats again, this time in D.C. in early September). After getting past the Dodgers and Cubs, the Mets faced off against the Royals in the Fall Classic. In Game 1, Jeurys Familia gave up the game-tying home run to Alex Gordon in the bottom of the ninth on a quick pitch, and then the Mets lost in the bottom of the 14th. After a Game 3 win, in which Wright and Granderson homered (and I attended), the Mets were down 2-1 in the series and had a chance to get back in it. But Daniel Murphy's error in game 4 gave the Royals a 3-1 chokehold on the series, and Terry Collins not removing Matt Harvey to start the ninth of Game 5, along with Duda's throw (which we don't talk about) and a 5-run 12th inning let the Royals win the World Series on the Mets' home field. But this was just the start of something big. Right?
- 2016 NL WC. 2016 was a weird year for the Mets. It started off great, as around the end of May they were first in the division and cruising like everyone thought they would. But then David Wright died. Michael Conforto forgot how to hit a baseball. 3/5 of the rotation (Harvey, Matz, deGrom) went down with season-ending injuries. Zack Wheeler didn't return from his injury. Reyes came back, but he was washed up, a horrible human being, and only returned because the Rockies were paying most of his salary. Cespedes got hurt, Jay Bruce was a horrible trade deadline acquisition, and the Mets fell below .500 by mid-August. But then Cespedes returned, and for the second straight season carried the Mets into the playoffs behind his powerful bat. Even without most of their dominant young arms, what remained of the rotation held in there, as Syndergaard and the ageless Colon pitched full seasons, and rookies Seth Lugo and Robert Gsellman delievered strong performances to help the Mets clinch home-field advantage in the Wild Card game, which I also attended. They faced the Giants, and their ace Madison Bumgarner squared off against Syndergaard. Both offenses failed to muster anything through 8 innings. Then, in the top of the ninth, Familia allowed a three-run homer to Conor Gillaspie (who?) that clinched the game for the Giants. The Mets went down 1-2-3 in the ninth, ending their season, and as of now, their days of contending.
- 2017 to present. Injuries ravaged the Mets in both 2017 and 2018. Wright missed all of both years before retiring after doctors told him his neck and back conditions would not improve. He came back for one last start, which was a great night, but it overall was heartbreaking to see the best position player in franchise history have to go out like that, instead of going out on his own terms. He should be a Hall of Famer, but his candidacy will face an uphill climb due to the injuries that befell him. Other than Wright's emotional return, the team has not provided any enjoyable moments since the start of 2017. Collins and Sandy Alderson stepped down. Harvey's downfall from ace to disgrace continued, and was eventually traded away by the organization after refusing a demotion. Cespedes has spent more time off the field than on it, thanks to injuries that have been horribly mismanaged by the team's training staff. It's heartbreaking to see the Mets reverting back to being so bad so fast. If there's anything good that's come out of this recently, it's that the rotation was revived in 2018, as Syndergaard, Wheeler, and Matz gave the Mets full, good seasons, and deGrom became the best pitcher in all of baseball on his way to a Cy Young. Still though, there are a lot of uncertainties surrounding the team for 2019 and beyond thanks to the Wilpons' ownership. Honestly, I can only expect the worst, so I don't get let down.
As for other my other sports teams, I can't say they've broke my heart as much as the Mets have over the years. The Giants have given me two super bowl runs in my lifetime, so I can't complain about them. Although, the 2015 season was pretty painful. They lost 6 games in which they held leads or were tied within the final 2 minutes of them. That was also the last good year of Eli Manning, so maybe they could've gone on another SB run, but I digress. I don't follow basketball or hockey much, which is good because the Knicks suck and the Rangers can't win the big one. So yeah. Just a lot of Mets heartbreak which I had to vent on you guys. And believe me, there was a lot more I could have said.
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