Saturday Seasons: 2016 Season, One and Done

Despite going into the 2016 season as defending National League champions, the Mets still had a bittersweet taste in their mouths as a result of coming up short in the World Series against the Kansas City Royals.

The roster that won the franchise’s fifth National League pennant underwent some changes during the off season.

Daniel Murphy cashed in on his break out post season in 2015 to sign a free agent contract with the NL East rival Washington Nationals.

With the prospect of losing Murphy, the Mets traded left hander Jon Niese to the Pittsburgh Pirates in exchange for switch-hitting second baseman Neil Walker.

Injuries plagued the Mets throughout the 2016 season but they managed to win enough games to make the playoffs for a second consecutive season, only the second Mets team in franchise history that qualified for the post season in back to back seasons.

After splitting a two game series against the Royals in Kansas City to open the season, the Mets played the Philadelphia Phillies in the home opener.

A festive crowd of over 44,000 was on hand to see former Mets Edgardo Alfonzo, John Franco and Rusty Staub hoist the NL Championship banner. The game was just as enjoyable as the Mets beat the Phillies, 7-2 behind the solid pitching of Jacob deGrom.

The Mets stumbled out of the gate before finishing April with a season best eight game winning streak that included a memorable game at Citifield against the San Francisco Giants.

On April 29th, the Mets set a franchise record by scoring 12 runs in the third inning enroute to a 13-1 win. The historic inning featured 15 batters, 8 hits, and two hits apiece by Michael Conforto and Yoenis Cespedes, who hit a grand slam and had six runs batted in during the offensive barrage.

On May 7th, the Mets were in San Diego as part of an 11-game West Coast road trip when pitcher Bartolo Colon produced one of the highlights of the season with his bat.

Colon, who was one of the worst hitting pitchers in baseball, came up in the top of the second and electrified the crowd, his teammates and the broadcasters by hitting the one and only home run of his 20-year career. The historic blow came off of Padres pitcher James Shields.

With Kevin Plawecki on first and two out, Colon ran into a 1-1 pitch from Shields and drove it into the left field stands. Mets broadcaster Gary Cohen called it, “One of the great moments in the history of baseball.”

Four days later, Mets pitcher Noah Syndergaard hit two home runs to beat the Dodgers in Los Angeles, 4-3, but they ended up dropping the final four games of the extended trip to finish it at 4-7.

The Mets were under .500 in May but that was not the only bad news. On May 23rd, first baseman Lucas Duda was placed on the disabled list with a stress fracture in his lower back that would eventually cost him four months.

In order to compensate for Duda’s absence, the Mets purchased the contract of veteran first baseman James Loney, who had signed a minor league contract with the San Diego Padres.

Things got worse in early June when third baseman David Wright was placed on the DL with a herniated disc in his neck. On June 16th, Wright underwent surgery and missed the remainder of the season.

Wilmer Flores took the bulk of the reps at third but the Mets were looking for another alternative. A little over a week after Wright underwent surgery, the Mets signed free agent and former shortstop Jose Reyes to a minor league contract. Asdrubal Cabrera was the starting shortstop so the Mets toyed with the idea of using Reyes as a third baseman.

On July 3rd, Flores tied a franchise record by going 6 for 6 in a 14-3 win over the Chicago Cubs at Citifield. Flores memorable day included two home runs, four runs batted in and three runs scored.

Reyes made his return to the Mets and his debut as a third baseman on July 5th. In his first game as a Met since 2011, Reyes went 0 for 4 as part of a 5-2 loss to Miami.

The next day, Reyes was back at shortstop and had two hits in a 4-2 win but the Mets were a .500 team in July. At the end of the month, Reyes was placed on the DL with an intercostal muscle strain.

The Mets took another huge hit in July

Matt Harvey’s velocity was down and he was very inconsistent throughout the first half of the season. Sure enough, on July 8th, Harvey underwent surgery for a condition known as thoracic outlet syndrome and was done for the season.

The Mets were 57-58 in mid-August and their chances for a second consecutive playoff berth seemed to be waning. The Mets were in third place in the NL East but they were fortunate to only be 2.5 games out of the second Wild Card spot and then things began to turn around. The Mets won 12 of their last 18 games in August to improve to 69-64, 1.5 games out of the second Wild Card spot.

The Mets played their best ball of the season in September and it couldn’t have come at a better time.

On September 17th, the Mets hosted the Minnesota Twins and the game was tied at one in the 11th inning. A Byron Buxton home run off of Hansel Robles gave Minnesota a 2-1 lead, but Curtis Granderson homered leading off the home half of the 11th to tie the game at two.

After the Twins failed to score in the 12th, Granderson hit a two out, walk off home run to give the Mets a huge 3-2 win.

With ten games remaining in the season, the Mets were 80-72 and involved in a three way tie with the St. Louis Cardinals and San Francisco Giants for the two Wild Card spots.

The Mets hosted the Philadelphia Phillies on September 22nd in what turned into the most exciting game of the season.

The Mets trailed 6-4 in the bottom of the ninth when Jose Reyes hit a two run home run to tie the game and send it to extra innings.

The Phillies scored twice in the top of the 11th to take an 8-6 lead but the Mets were not dead yet.

With one out, Michael Conforto walked and Jose Reyes singled to put the tying runs on base. Asdrubal Cabrera unloaded on a 1-0 pitch from Phillies pitcher Edubray Ramos and drove it into the right field stands for a walk off, game winning three run homer. Cabrera knew it was gone as he did a memorable bat flip and circled the bases with the Mets biggest win of the season.

The Mets went on to win 6 of their next 8 games and on October 1st, they beat the Phillies, 5-3 at Citizens Bank Park to clinch the top NL Wild Card spot which meant they would have the home advantage in the one game playoff.

On October 5th, the Mets hosted the Giants in what turned out to be a classic post season pitching duel. For seven innings, the Giants Madison Bumgarner and the Mets Noah Syndergaard matched zeroes.

Syndergaard, who had ten strikeouts in seven scoreless innings, no hit the Giants until Denard Span singled with two out in the sixth. Bumgarner was just as good but the Mets had their best chance to dent the lefthander in the fifth.

T.J. Rivera led off with a double. After Jay Bruce struck out, Rene Rivera hit a ground ball to short and T.J. Rivera got a little too far off of second. Rivera got in a rundown long enough to let Rene Rivera get to second. James Loney was intentionally walked to get to Syndergaard who wasn’t going to be pinch hit for in the fifth inning of a game he was dominating on the mound. Syndergaard struck out to end the only real threat the Mets had against Bumgarner.

The game was scoreless in the ninth, so Mets Manager Terry Collins went to his closer, Jeurys Familia.

With two on and one out, Giants third baseman Conor Gillaspie silenced the sell out crowd of 44,747 as he drove Familia’s 1-1 pitch into the Mets bullpen in right center field for a crushing three run homer and a 3-0 lead.

Bumgarner retired the Mets in order in the ninth and suddenly, a promising season was over.