The 18-year wait for a division crown ended on a Monday night at Shea Stadium, but had been a certainty for months. The Mets took over the NL East lead for good on April 6 and maintained a significant margin in the NL East all summer long. Their superior play was rewarded with a postseason clinching earlier than any other team in the majors — which occurred after a 4-0 win over the Florida Marlins.
José Valentín provided much of the offense with two home runs — one in the third and the other in the fifth — while starter Steve Trachsel combined with three relievers on a four-hitter.
Billy Wagner, who would finish the year with 40 saves, locked it down in the ninth. Cliff Floyd hauled in Josh Willingham‘s fly ball in left field for the final out, hopping while raising his glove hand.
Fireworks shot off from behind the center-field wall as the backdrop for the on-field celebration.
The Mets could’ve clinched in Pittsburgh — not once, not twice, but all three games in that series — only to be swept. But it allowed them to clinch at home — just as they did for their last division title in ’88 and just as they did twenty years before during the championship season of ’86.
The chances for a champagne party increased once Valentín launched a two-run homer into the Mets bullpen off Marlins starter Brian Moehler. He got a curtain call then, and again two innings later when he repeated the feat. This home run, also to right field, was a solo shot. Floyd added to the lead with an RBI single in the sixth.
Trachsel, meanwhile, allowed three hits over 6.1 innings, walking one while striking out three before handing it off to the bullpen. The lone threat from the Marlins came in the seventh. Florida had two runners on before Guillermo Mota got out of it. Aaron Heilman served as the bridge from Mota to Walker with a scoreless eighth.
At the time, the Mets held the best record at 91-58 and would enter the postseason with 97 victories — tied with the Yankees for the most in the majors.
