The 2015 New York Mets season holds a special place in my heart for a few reasons. I was 20-years-old and the last time I saw the Mets in the postseason, I was 11-years-old.
I had also just transferred to SUNY New Paltz and the team’s big playoff push coincided with me beginning a new chapter of my life. Those couple months to end the 2015 season were some of the best moments of my life, despite the end outcome of New York losing in the World Series.
Regardless, myself like many other fans, thought it was just the beginning of a dominant era in Queens, so there were big aspirations for 2016.
The Mets ultimately ended up following their National League championship team with a 87-75 season, which was enough to earn the first wild card spot and host the one-game playoff at home against the San Francisco Giants.
Despite losing several key members of the team to injury, the Mets had a lot of fight in them and gained contributions from some unlikely heroes including Seth Lugo and Robert Gsellman who joined the rotation, and T.J. Rivera who gave them a spark at the bottom half of their lineup.
Both Jacob deGrom and Matt Harvey were hurt by the time the playoffs rolled around, so the Mets gave second-year right-hander Noah Syndergaard the nod for the do-or-die ballgame.
The Texas native had a terrific year, putting up 6.0 fWAR in 30 games started that season and was looking like a budding ace in the MLB.
I remember that night and the nervous anticipation leading up to the game. I got out of class and stopped home to make a quick dinner despite my hunger being curved from the anxiety.
I finished up and headed over to my friend Conor’s house, a fellow die-hard Mets fan, to watch the game.
Syndergaard put on a show and we were on the edge of our seats the entire game. Both him and Giants’ ace Madison Bumgarner went toe-to-toe in an epic pitcher’s duel. It was only a matter of who slipped up first.
Neither did.
Syndergaard and Bumgarner matched each other pitch for pitch until Syndergaard was removed after seven scoreless innings.
The-then 23-year-old proved yet again he could perform on the highest stage, punching out 10 Giants and yielding just two hits on three walks.
Unfortunately, the Mets’ offense didn’t do enough to tire Bumgarner out who gave San Francisco nine scoreless innings.
And we know how it ends for the Mets. Jeurys Familia surrendered a three-run home run to an unlikely villain in Conor Gillaspie and that was that. Season over.
Syndergaard would then miss almost the entirety of the 2017 season with injury, but rebounded to accumulate 8.6 fWAR in the last two seasons. While he never quite reached the level of his fellow rotation-mate Jacob deGrom, Syndergaard had the stuff and still gave the Mets a good chance to win every fifth day.
The news that Syndergaard will undergo Tommy John surgery is just a devastating blow to the team’s hopes, but also what could be a sad ending to his time in orange and blue.
When Syndergaard was on, he had the stuff to be a top arm in The Show. Unfortunately, we never got to see him fully blossom.
But for me, that Wild Card game was one of the best pitched games I’ve seen in my lifetime and the feeling I got when he went out there every half inning was second to none.
Thank you, Thor.
