With a winning percentage of .656 over 61 openers, no major-league team is better at making a first impression than the New York Mets. And this after losing their first eight. The start of the regular season is cause for fans to celebrate, and Mets fans have celebrated more often than others. With 40 wins in the last 53 years, the only thing we can usually count on is a Mets victory. Then, we can worry about the rest of the schedule tomorrow. Here are the top moments from the Mets’ rich history of Opening Day success.

10. 2015: Buddy Saves the Day

The Mets began their most recent World Series season with their annual win, but not in the ordinary way. At age 41, Bartolo Colón became the oldest Opening Day starter in club history. He was up against the Washington Nationals’ newest ace, once enemy turned current ally, Max Scherzer. New York couldn’t muster a hit for more than five innings until Lucas Duda was helped out by a Washington fielding miscue. The Mets went up 2-1 that inning and added another run before calling on 37-year-old Buddy Carlyle to record the final two outs and notch his only save in the orange and blue.

9. 2013: Need More Cowgill

Opening Day is that chance to elevate yourself above a performance in any ordinary regular-season game. Just ask Collin Cowgill. The 26-year old outfielder acquired from Arizona, who earned a spot in the starting lineup thanks to a solid spring training, made just 61 at-bats as a Met and played in only 23 games with an OPS+ of 45. Yet, he’s remembered better than most thanks to his seventh-inning grand slam over the left-field wall — punctuating a terrific team hitting display in a 11-2 demolition of the San Diego Padres.

8. 1992: Bonilla Cashes In

Sometimes a game one win is a precursor to later success. Other times, it’s 1992. A 3-2 extra-inning victory in St. Louis was not a signal of would lie ahead for the 92 Mets. It was just a lie. The initiation of our ongoing saga with Bobby Bonilla actually began well: a tenth-inning homer down the right-field line at Busch Stadium against Lee Smith that capped a 3-for-5 evening. David Cone went eight innings, struck out nine, allowed two hits, and two runs. He would’ve a tough-luck loser if the Mets hadn’t pushed across a score in the top of the ninth, narrowly avoiding a game-ending double play.

7. 1975: A Pair of Aces

The Hall of Fame pair of Tom Seaver and Steve Carlton combined for 640 wins, 7,700-plus strikeouts, and seven Cy Youngs. The two met on Opening Day five times and on three straight occasions beginning in 1973. Lefty-Seaver III lived up to their standards: trading K’s and scoreless innings. Only a Dave Cash third-inning RBI double and a Dave Kingman fourth-inning solo homer accounted for the entirety of the scoring heading into the ninth. Neither starter would let a reliever settle this 1-1 tie. Seaver held up his end and the Mets offense did not waste any time (or outs) in the bottom half. Félix Millán singled, John Milner walked, and Joe Torre’s base hit to left scored Millán — chalking up another W in Seaver’s column.

6. 1970: Breaking the O-fer

As the Mets basked in the glow of a championship, they still were trying to figure out how to get their season off right. As insignificant as it may seem, the Mets had been 0-for-8 in openers up to that point. The drought ended once they had a World Series ring in hand. Neither Tom Seaver nor Pirates ace Steve Blass factored into the decision as a 3-3 tie lasted into the eleventh, when the Mets were beneficiaries of shoddy Pittsburgh defense. A sacrifice and an intentional walk let World Series MVP Donn Clendenon show he had another big hit to spare. The former Pirate singled to bring in the deciding runs. From there, the Mets were off and winning — taking 18 of their next 20.

5. 1998: Castillo the Unlikely Hero

The old saying goes that the baseball season is a marathon, not a sprint. But it took one game into the ’98 season for the Mets to feel like they had already gone the full route. At least they could celebrate when it ended. In a 1-0 win over the Phillies that took 14 innings and more than four hours to finish, a Mets catcher supplied the necessary offense. Not Mike Piazza — he was two months away. Not Todd Hundley, with 71 homers over the previous two seasons. He was sidelined while recovering from Tommy John surgery. The starting lineup had Tim Spehr behind the plate. He had two of the seven hits, but neither produced the run. After nobody else could, Alberto Castillo did. The pinch-hitter delivered the game-winning single and ended the seemingly endless string of goose eggs.

4. 1988: Strawberry Almost Leaves Olympic

Talk about a flying start. Mets bats slugged what was an Opening Day record six home runs against the Expos, the most prodigious coming from Darryl Strawberry — challenging the confines of Olympic Stadium. Strawberry went deep twice. So did fellow outfielder Kevin McReynolds. Kevin Elster and Lenny Dykstra supplied the rest of the power in a 10-6 win. Strawberry led off the top of the second against Dennis Martínez for his third Opening Day home run in five years. This was a pedestrian 400-foot shot compared to what would come later. In the seventh inning with the Mets now ahead by three, Darryl sent Randy St. Claire‘s pitch out of the yard — almost literally. The mammoth blast hit the top of the stadium and might have cleared customs if not for the roof.

3. 1996: Rey’s Amazin’ Play

It’s rare a comeback becomes forgotten, but the defensive wizardry by Rey Ordóñez in his major league debut is still what’s most remembered. The Mets had sliced a 6-0 deficit in half by the time the Cardinals were at bat with two outs in the seventh and Royce Clayton on first. Ray Lankford went down the left field line — a hit that could have extended St. Louis’ lead. Soon after Bernard Gilkey fielded the ball near the side wall, Clayton rounded third. Gilkey’s throw to Ordóñez — the cutoff man — was low, but Rey got down and fielded the short hop. Then, from his knees on the outfield grass, he fired it some 150 feet home to Todd Hundley before Clayton reached the plate. Ordóñez complemented his extraordinary defense minutes later with a single to right field that set up the Mets’ game-winning four-run rally, but Rey, the rookie, truly saved the day with his glove and arm.

2. 1983: Tom’s Return

With 16, no pitcher has more Opening Day starts than Tom Seaver. Of the five meetings he had with Carlton, none were more memorable than when “The Franchise” returned to the team he’s forever tied to. “Welcome Home, Tom” was a sign draped over the stands down the left field line and it was the message echoed by an anticipatory Shea Stadium crowd that roared as Seaver walked from the bullpen to the dugout. At age 38, by baseball standards, he was an old Tom Seaver. But when he took the mound against Carlton and his Phillies — a glorious sun-drenched afternoon — a packed house got to witness something resembling the Tom Seaver of old. He shut out Philadelphia for six innings in a vintage performance despite a no-decision.

1. 1985: Welcome to New York, Gary Carter

The only opener that could top the return of The Franchise occurred two years later. This wasn’t a reunion, but instead an introduction. The arrival of Carter, once the face of the Montreal Expos, headlined the most anticipated season in Mets history. It began with another storybook ending, and their new catcher offered the heroics. On a cold, blustery afternoon at Shea, Carter came up in the bottom of the tenth against former Met Neil Allen. “Kid” swung and connected on a sharp curveball that cut through the biting wind and snuck its way over the left-field fence. Chants of “Gary…Gary” rang through stands and made the chilly temperature more than bearable.