After their upset of the 2000 Mets, the 2019 Mets took on the 2006 Mets—perhaps the best Mets team this century—in the latest Mets Madness series.
The ’19 team, managed by Allison Waxman, looked on their way to another shocking series win, but David Wright and the ’06 Mets, managed by myself, turned their real-life Game 7 woes around.
The ’06 Mets ultimately took the series in seven games behind a game-winning, walk off solo home run by Wright in Game 7. But the series ended up extremely entertaining, and damnit, Pete Alonso‘s rookie season fortunes translated DIRECTLY to Out of the Park. (He had six homers and 12 RBIs in seven games.) The total score of the seven games was 33-31 (advantage ’19)—pretty evenly matched despite assumptions made from the matchup on paper.
Check out how the series played out below and where the ’06 team will go from here!
Game 1
Game 1 was a drubbing, with the ’19 team winning 7-0.
Pedro Martinez got ambushed by Pete Alonso, J.D. Davis and Juan Lagares (yes, you read that right) with homers in the first three innings, and Jacob deGrom (with run support!) shut down the ’06 lineup, who mustered three hits all game.
’19 may have surprised in their last series, but they made a statement starting this one.
Game 2
Zack Wheeler took the hill for Game 2 and faced off against Orlando Hernández. Like his fellow rotation oldie Pedro Martínez, El Duque put up a dud, allowing five runs in three innings. That was capitalized by Pete Alonso’s second home run of the series, an opposite field bomb that brought in three. Wheeler was able to limit damage and pass the game over to Edwin Díaz and Seth Lugo, who shut the door for the ’19 team in an 8-5 win.
The 2019 team is now up 2-0.
Game 3
The 2006 team needed this one, but it wouldn’t come easy.
With Tom Glavine and Noah Syndergaard facing off, each offense popped a couple of homers off the other. Floyd and Beltrán each hit two-run jacks, and Todd Frazier and—guess who—Pete Alonso each got one off Glavine. But the ’06 team was able to string together singles and doubles in the sixth to bring the score to 7-4—a lead that the bullpen would barely hold onto, with Billy Wagner ultimately notching a save in a 7-6 win.
Game 4
Game 4 saw John Maine face off against Marcus Stroman (the ’19 starting rotation was pretty damn good on paper).
The ’06 team, though, went up 2-0 on an RBI single by Endy Chavez and solo homer by David Wright. But Pete freaking Alonso drew them even in the third with a two-run bomb. The game continued back and forth for the next three frames, entering the seventh tied at three. But the ’19 team started pulling away in the seventh. A bases loaded walk to Amed Rosario and a fielders choice by J.D. Davis made it 5-3. The next inning, Wilson Ramos knocked in two on a bases loaded single. Though Shawn Green brought it back within three with a solo shot in the eighth, an Alonso double brought home Jeff McNeil in the ninth to make it 8-4.
The final frame got dicey with Steven Matz on the mound. After getting the first two outs, a single and two walks by Beltrán, Wright and Delgado gave Paul Lo Duca a shot to tie the game with the bases loaded. But he grounded out to third base, and the ’06 team was now on the ropes.
Game 5
The ’06 Mets are now down 3-1 in the series with Jacob deGrom as the opposition in a must-win situation. A tall order. But the ’06 wouldn’t quit. Neither would Pedro Martinez. He tossed seven shutout inning, and the ’06 team strung together two solo home runs—by Carlos Beltrán and Cliff Floyd—and a sac fly from Shawn Green. All three runs were off deGrom in the first four innings. Then the ’06 bullpen shut the door the rest of the game, with Wagner notching his second save of the series.
Game 6
In a must-win Game 6, El Duque and Wheeler faced off again. But this time, Hernández got the best of the matchup with six one-run innings in a drubbing by ’06.
David Wright got his second of the series in the top of the first, and Alonso got his SIXTH in the second. But the ’06 team started pulling away in the fourth with a four-run frame—Cliff Floyd and Endy Chavez both contributed RBI extra-base hits. But Carlos Beltrán put the icing on the cake in the eighth inning with a grand slam, putting the Mets up 11-3 for good.
Game 7
Game 7. It didn’t go great for the real-life ’06 team. The ’19 team never made the playoffs. It ended up as a pitching duel between Marcus Stroman and Tom Glavine.
Through six innings, both starters allowed a single run—a homer each to Carlos Delgado and J.D. Davis. The game was handed over to the bullpen, and combinations of Aaron Heilman, Pedro Feliciano, Robert Gsellman and Steven Matz pitched clean frames in the seventh and eighth.
Billy Wagner entered the game for the ’06 team in the top of the 9th, but three of the first four batters—Michael Conforto, Todd Frazier, and Juan Lagares—all got on base. Lagares was the third, and his single to center could’ve brought Conforto, but Waxman played conservative with one out and the bases now loaded. But Wagner settled in and retired Nimmo, and Chad Bradford entered to retire Rosario. Onto the bottom of the ninth.
Matz continued into the ninth with Seth Lugo warming. He started the frame getting Beltrán to fly out. Waxman weighed bringing in Lugo, but she stuck with Matz. David Wright came up and played hero, mashing a 438-foot homer to dead center. The 2006 team completed the comeback. Onto the semis!
MVP
David Wright wins the MVP of this series. He had three homers and seven RBIs, the most important one on the last pitch of the series. He got on base 11 times over seven games with a .878 OPS.
I debated giving this to Alonso, given his SIX home runs and 12 RBIs across seven games, but Wright had the last laugh and closed the book on this one.
What’s Next
The ’06 team will face off against either the 1988 Mets or the 1969 Miracle Mets in the semifinals. You can read a preview of that series here. Stay tuned to see who makes it!
