One thing about being a Mets fan is you can count on the Mets giving you a terrific Opening Day. In fact, over the course of Major League history, the Mets have the best winning percentage (.655) of any Major League franchise. What makes this all the more incredible is the Mets lost their first eight openers.
We saw another great Opening Day memory with Jacob deGrom picking up where he left off and with Robinson Cano showing exactly why Brodie Van Wagnenen paid a high price to get him and Edwin Diaz. With that memory made, we asked our writers which was their favorite Opening Day memory:
Joe D. – Carter Walk-Off
The Opening Day that stands out for me has to be in 1985, when in his first game as a Met since being acquired in an offseason trade, Gary Carter blasted a walk-off home run in the bottom of the 10th inning to give the Mets a dramatic 6-5 victory over the Cards.
I lost my voice at that game.
Marissa Credle – Prior Year Made 2016 Special
I’ll have to say Opening day 2016. For whatever reasonOpening days don’t really resonate with me, however, I feel like 2016 was like no other given what the team was able to accomplish the year before.
Jack Hendon – 2012 Looked Good For a Day
I thought the 2012 Opener was pretty awesome. Team had next to no chance of competing after Reyes went to Miami, and Johan – who hadn’t thrown at all the prior year – was pitching against the Braves. The turnout at that game was ridiculous: 42,080 people. As a point of reference, the first game of their next homestand brought in just over 30,000 people. They scored one run off Tommy Hanson (of course, it was an RBI by David Wright – who was also coming off a really bad 2011). That was all they needed.
That vaunted bullpen of Ramon Ramírez, Jon Rauch, and Frank Francisco combined to keep a pretty scary Braves offense off the board after Santana hung out for five innings.
Everything about that game, between the amount of people invested in it, the new guys actually being good, and the team being above .500 – even if for that moment – shouldn’t have happened.
Mojo Hill – Recency Bias
This may seem like recency bias, but my most exciting Opening Day moment was just last year in 2018. As I am every year, I was super excited and optimistic about a great season to come from the Mets, and in the first game, they did not disappoint. They got contributions up and down the lineup, with my personal favorites Brandon Nimmo and Kevin Plawecki each getting on base four times. These were two players I was rooting for to establish themselves as regulars, so it was exciting in that regard as well. Noah Syndergaard struck out ten and the bullpen was lights out, and it just felt like everything was clicking and we were in store for a magical season. Sadly, the season did not pan out the way I had hoped. But rarely has an Opening Day game ever made me feel as excited as last year’s.
Matt Mancuso – 2015 Set the Path
Bartolo Colon wasn’t supposed to have a chance against Max Scherzer. Yet, thanks to a couple of Ian Desmond errors, the Mets found themselves victorious against one of the best pitchers in baseball. In a way, it forecasted the way the rest of the season would go. The team wasn’t built to win, however, at the end of the year, they found themselves hoisting an NL Pennant.
Tommy Rothman – My First One
My favorite has to be the first one I attended: 2006, my first year as a truly obsessive fan. Two things stick out in my memory from that game: a clutch play at the plate by Paul Lo Duca (that I think might have been a bad call, but I wasn’t complaining), and a monster game from Xavier Nady. What a time…
Tim Ryder – A Grand Cowgill
Collin Cowgill‘s grand slam in 2013 was both fun and extremely misleading. Great day, though.
Dilip Sridhar – All Duda Day
Lucas Duda‘s two-run single off Max Scherzer to give them the lead in the 2015 Opener.
John Sheridan – Baseball Is Back!
The 1994 season was promising to be a historic one. Tony Gwynn was close to hitting .400. Matt Williams and Ken Griffey, Jr. were making a run at Roger Maris‘ 61 homers. Chuck Knoblauch was chasing the single season doubles record. Frank Thomas was making a run at the Triple Crown. Greg Maddux had a 1.56 ERA. Kenny Rogers threw a perfect game.
As we know now, the 1994 season was historic, but for all the wrong reasons. It was historic not for the records set, but for it being the first year since 1904 there would be no World Series. The strike and labor strife carried through to the beginning of 1995, a season which threatened to begin with replacement players.
When the 1995 season began, it was a relief. The Mets would play in the first ever game at Coors Field. It would prove to be the type of game the stadium was promised to be.
Personal favorite Rico Brogna hit the first home run in Coors Field history, and Todd Hundley hit the first grand slam, which at the time tied what was an exciting back-and-forth game. Unfortunately, John Franco blew the save, and Dante Bichette would walk it off in the 14th inning. As a Mets fan, it was a hard loss to take, but as a baseball fan, it was great to once again have baseball back.
Each one of our writers had a personal favorite with the 2015 season being the one opener which was mentioned more than once. Do you agree with our writers? Is there an opener which was not included in this list? We look forward to continuing this discussion in the comments.
