For the fourth time in franchise history, the Mets entered the 2001 season as a defending champion (1970 and 1987 at defending World Champions, 1974 and 2001 as defending National League Champions). A sluggish start put the Mets season in an early hole but they battled back and nearly made a miraculous run to what would’ve been a third consecutive post season berth. The Mets opened the season on April 3rd, with a ten inning, 6-4 win over the Braves in Atlanta. Robin Ventura hit two home runs....

Following a second consecutive 88-74 record without a playoff berth, the Mets hierarchy felt some drastic changes needed to be made if they were to get back to October baseball for the first time in 11 years. Carlos Baerga and Todd Hundley departed via free agency and Mel Rojas was traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers for a second stint of Bobby Bonilla. The Mets used free agency to add gold glove winning third baseman Robin Ventura, future Hall of Famer Rickey Henderson and former NL Cy Young...

Despite coming off a disastrous 1996 season where they finished 71-91 and were 25 games out of first place and 19 games out of a wild card spot, the Mets became one of the surprise teams and challenged for a playoff spot in 1997. Manager Bobby Valentine replaced Dallas Green and was heading into his first full season as the “dugout general.” During the off season, the Mets made a very shrewd trade when they sent pitcher Robert Person to the Toronto Blue Jays in exchange for first-baseman John...