With a solid core in place and the replacement of departed key cogs having been executed successfully over the course of the winter, the 2000 New York Mets were ready for another shot at usurping the Atlanta Braves amid their then-nine-year run atop the National League East.

With Mike Piazza — fresh off a monster 1999 that saw him hit .303/.361/.575 with 40 home runs, 124 RBIs, and just 70 strikeouts, smack dab in the middle of his Hall of Fame career — leading the way, the cornerstone was in place and sights were set high.

The rest of manager Bobby Valentine‘s roster filled out nicely, swapping John Olerud for Todd Zeile at first base — Keith Hernandez played the role of Zeile’s tutor at the position through the spring — and inserting Mike Hampton at the helm of the Mets’ rotation, joining incumbents Al Leiter, Rick Reed, Bobby Jones, and Glendon Rusch — acquired the previous September, presumably to preemptively ease the sting of losing Orel Hershiser and Kenny Rogers via free agency.

After squeaking into the postseason in 1999, riding Leiter’s complete-game victory at Cincinnati in the Wild Card tiebreaker to a Game 4, series-clinching walk-off home run via Todd Pratt versus Arizona in the NLDS, falling just short of knocking off Atlanta in a six-game NLCS loss, the Mets now had proof positive that they could hang with the NL’s best.

Rickey Henderson, coming off a .315/.423/.466, age-40 season, was penciled back into left field and the top of the Mets’ order heading into the season. Darryl Hamilton would assume centerfield duties in the departure of Brian McRae, and the newly-acquired Derek Bell (included in the Hampton deal with Houston) replaced his trade counterpart Roger Cedeno in right.

Benny Agbayani and Jay Payton, both Mets farmhands who crossed paths with Valentine at Triple-A Norfolk in 1996 — his first season with the Mets organization, just back from managing in Japan — had been making their bones at the major league level (.888 OPS in 314 plate appearances in 1999 for Agbayani; .300/.344/.367 over his first 32 MLB plate appearances between 1998 and 1999), and thankfully so. They’d end up being heavily counted on later on in the year.

Armando Benitez (1.85 ERA in 1999), entering his second season as the closer in Queens, as well as the ageless southpaw and future Mets Hall of Famer, John Franco, then 39 and coming off a 2.88 ERA over 46 appearances the previous season, fellow lefty Dennis Cook (3.86 ERA) and right-hander Turk Wendell (3.05 ERA) made up the bulk of the Mets’ bullpen, with righty Pat Mahomes (3.68 ERA) in line to see quite a bit of action, as well.

Robin Ventura, one of the previous fall’s heroes, was still entrenched at third, but his offensive capabilities (.301/.379/.529, 32 HR, 120 RBIs in 1999) matched or exceeded his defensive skills, as evidenced by the sixth career Gold Glove he won at the position in 1999. Rey Ordonez, entering his fifth season in Flushing with three Gold Gloves but just a .246/.288/.297 line at the plate to show for it, could certainly feel the heat beginning to build on his hold at shortstop.

Edgardo Alfonzo reemerged in 1999, hitting .304/.385/.502 with 27 home runs and 108 RBIs after experiencing a “down year” in 1998 (.278/.355/.427) and things were only looking up for the then 26-year-old second baseman. Alfonzo’s steady hand at the plate and sterling play in the field was expected to be a sturdy leg for this ball club to stand on throughout the season. Fonzie would not disappoint.

With the summarily stacked Braves (Chipper Jones, Andruw Jones, Javy Lopez, Andres Galarraga, Quilvio Veras, Rafael Furcal, Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, but sans John Smoltz, who underwent Tommy John surgery in late-March) looking for their tenth-straight division title standing as the Mets’ only true hurdle to clear within the division in 2000, the boys from Queens would have their work cut out for them.

The oldest starting position player for the upstart Florida Marlins — rebuilding once again after winning their first World Series title just three seasons earlier — was backstop Mike Redmond, who was 29.

First baseman Derrek Lee, second baseman Luis Castillo, and outfielder Mark Kotsay, all 24, Cliff Floyd, 27, third baseman Mike Lowell, 26, and Preston Wilson, 25, would prove to be a formidable young cast as the season wore on. Young hurlers A.J. Burnett and Ryan Dempster, both 23, and Brad Penny, 22, would also make their presence felt in 2000.

The Mets would need to feast on the Fish, as well as the downtrodden Montreal Expos (Javier Vasquez and Vladimir Guerrero, 23 and 25, respectively, as talented as they were, shouldn’t have been expected to carry their team, and wouldn’t) and Philadelphia Phillies (the seeds were being sown with Pat Burrell, 23, Scott Rolen, 25, and Bobby Abreu, 26 all approaching stardom, but the Phils weren’t there yet) to make a real run at Atlanta.

Stay with us throughout the year as we recap the 2000 season. Even while the sports world in on pause, baseball continues!