The Mets had made the postseason for the first time in 11 years, but didn’t make it easy. Over a span of about two weeks, Bobby Valentine’s team went from being comfortably in the postseason to perilously being on the outside — only to stare elimination in the face and overcome it. New York needed to win two of three final regular-season games just to have a chance at the...
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As the team made Pittsburgh their fourth and final stop on a 14-day, 13-game road trip which covered roughly 7,300 miles, the Mets had also yet right a steady course when it came to on-field performance. A couple of wins were followed with a string of losses. A solid victory was countered by a discouraging defeat. New York’s frustration exemplified itself in the Steel City on May 10, with...
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Now that SNY has aired the entirety of the 1969 World Series, we thought it might be fun to feature a portion of the Mets’ next Fall Classic appearance four years later — even if the end result wasn’t as satisfying. Game 2 versus the Oakland A’s was arguably the wildest World Series contest to date — in addition to being the longest. After four hours and 13 minutes...
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The Mets of 1987 discovered that defending a championship isn’t nearly as easy as pursuing one. Injuries and infighting were the main cause for New York having to play catch-up with the St. Louis Cardinals in the NL East for most of the year. The starting pitching — so strong in ’86 — was decimated in ’87. Dwight Gooden missed the first two months due to drug...
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The Los Angeles Dodgers didn’t want to see New York again so soon. After snow on April 9 forced a postponement, the scheduled makeup game was considered far too quick a turnaround for the visitors. “I didn’t like this [the rescheduled date],” lamented Dodgers manager Davey Johnson to the Los Angeles Times, displeased with the second Big Apple visit in three weeks. But if the Dodgers...
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