By Jonah Drew

Coming off of a 101 win season in 2022 expectations were sky high in Queens heading into 2023. In addition, the Mets added Justin Verlander and Kodai Senga, only brightening the clubs’ outlook. Unfortunately, things did not go as planned for the Amazins’ and after a disastrous start, Billy Eppler waived the white flag. He traded David Robertson, Max Scherzer, Mark Canha, Justin Verlander, Tommy Pham, Dominic Leone, and Adam Kolarek for a number of prospects headlined by Luisangel Acuna, Drew Gilbert, and Ryan Clifford. Finishing the season 75-87, the organization seemingly had their sights set on the future.

Mets Owner Steve Cohen knew whole sale changes had to be made. Those changes started with bringing in David Stearns, one of the most accomplished and well respected executives in the business, to be the President of Baseball Operations. Subsequently, Stearns brought in former Yankees Bench Coach Carlos Mendoza to replace Buck Showalter as Mets Manager. Although this decision came with plenty of questioning but as was the case with most of Stearns moves, it was a smashing success. Despite Steve Cohen’s bottomless pockets, Stearns mainly operated under the radar in the offseason. He acquired NY native Harrison Bader, J.D. Martinez, Luis Severino, Sean Manaea, and Tyrone Taylor among a slew of low profile acquisitions. While the Mets were expected to be competitive, external expectations were more directed toward 2025 and beyond. Nobody thought the Mets would be legitimate contenders as soon as 2024.

The Mets looked to be proving the doubters right early on, getting off to an absymal 0-5 start, including a classic Mets/Rhys Hoskins scuffle, before they finally got on the board thanks to a walk off single off the bat of Tyrone Taylor. This coming after being no hit into the 9th inning and an infamous quote from the great Gary Cohen in which he proclaimed the Mets had hit “rock bottom”. This walkoff seemed to ignite a run for the Mets as they would go onto win a series in Cincinnati, miraculously win a series in Atlanta, and come back home to take two out of three from Kansas City. Finishing out a successful home stand, they swept the Pittsburgh Pirates out of town in a three game set. Sitting at 10-8, the Mets found themselves in a solid spot, especially considering nightmare start to the season. With that said, the real test was looming, a 3 game set versus the eventual champion Los Angeles Dodgers. The Mets actually passed this test, but it did come at a price, the Mets lost Francisco Alvarez, who was off to a fantastic start, for a significant period of time. This injury really took the wind out of their sails as they lost a series in San Francisco and lost a series to St. Louis back at Citi Field. This St. Louis series did show a flash in the pan. The Mets had just called up Mark Vientos in a pinch and he delivered in the final game of the series, hitting a walk off tater in extra innings. Despite his clutch moment, Vientos would be sent down just a couple of days later, this was far from the last of Mark Vientos though. Sitting at 14-13, this would be the last time the Mets would see the bright side of .500 for a very long time as a free fall would ensue.

Over their next 28 games, the Mets would go a whopping 8-20, and this wasn’t just your run of the mill slump, the Mets were finding ways to lose and crumbling in the process. This stretch included a game losing home plate call review, countless blown leads, emotional lashouts, cheating allegations, suspensions, and all of the aforementioned “Lol Mets” moments looped into one: The Jorge Lopez Incident. On May 29th, the Mets were played the final game of a three game series vs the Dodgers, a series that would end in a sweep. In the 8th inning of a 9-3 ballgame, Jorge Lopez was on the mound, facing Freddie Freeman. In a 2-1 count, Lopez missed with a slider down and in, Freeman checked his swing, as confirmed by 3rd base umpire, Ramon De Jesus. Lopez took great exception to this essentially meaningless call, barking at De Jesus vigorously. Subsequently, Lopez was ejected and as he walked off the field, he chucked his glove over the dugout, and into the stands. When asked about the situation in the post game presser, Lopez stated “I am on the worst team in the whole f*cking MLB”. Mets reporter Steve Gelbs even gave Lopez a chance to rescind his statement but instead he doubled down. Obviously, the Mets were quick to DFA Lopez as they deemed his actions detrimental to the team. The Mets were about as down and out as a team could possibly be, from an outsider perspective, the team was falling apart. There was no coming back from this, or so we thought…

Amidst this nightmare run there was one bright spot, the Mets called up Mark Vientos, for good this time. Vientos would go onto be the team’s second best hitter, behind Francisco Lindor(who I’ll touch on later). Vientos would post a 135 OPS+, hitting numerous clutch homers down the stretch. They also made another call up, one that signified the end of the skid, and the beginning of an unforgettable season, Jose Iglesias. Jose Iglesias, AKA Candelita was a journeyman middle infielder who signed a minor league deal the offseason prior. He would go onto not only be absurdly productive, posting a 3.1 win season in just 85 games, but also completely transcend the vibes of this team. Candelita is not just his nickname, it is his artist name. Iglesias was a part-time ball player and full time Latin singer, and it just so happens he dropped his first song, OMG, just a couple of days after he was called up. Without Jose Iglesias, 2024 likely goes down as just another forgettable, lackluster Mets season. In reality, 2024 will go down as one of the most memorable Mets seasons’ ever, in large part due to Jose Iglesias.

After a 9-19 month of May, the Mets knew they had to pick things up quick if they wanted to salvage their season. This started with a tremendous June, in which they won 19 games and only lost 9. The vibes were especially high after a win over the Astros on June 28th, the Mets held an on field concert for Candelita in which he sung his trademark song OMG. OMG would go on to be the emblem of this improbable run from here on out. Rolling into July with a full head of steam, the Mets continued to win. They went 17-10 in July. Miraculously, the Mets sat at 57-51, just a couple months after most talking heads had declared their season was over. The Mets did leave July with a couple of new toys, specifically former enemy, Jesse Winker. This was a test to see how fast a fanbase could go from hating a player, to loving them. Spoiler alert: very quickly.

August was a bit of a down month by the OMG Mets standards, who all of a sudden have the standards of the murderers row Yankees. The Mets went 15-13 in the month of August, their worst month since their catastrophic may, but still not terrible. In the middle of the month, they played a home series versus a solid Baltimore Orioles team. They took two out of three in this series but the two wins came with a couple of the most electric moments of the season. The first one came from a walk off homerun off the bat of a struggling Francisco Alvarez. The second came from another walk off nuke, this time via Jesse Winker. Alvarez and Winker are two of the more confident players in MLB so it was not a surprise when these two essentially had a pimping competition. After each of their respective homers, they both hit brash bat flips and took there sweet time getting around the bases. Just another month of pure electricity from team who seemingly does not know how to not have fun.

September was a do or die month filled with nail biters and a whole lot of scoreboard watching. Coming into the month in a dead heat with both the Diamondbacks and the rival Atlanta Braves, the margin for error was slim to none. It felt the none of these teams would lose a game, making the wild card race tight as could be. After a series win over Philadelphia at home, the Mets were headed to Atlanta for a series that would more than likely decide their fate. The first game was a dud as the Mets looked lifeless in a loss to the Braves. But, in what felt like some sort of divine intervention, the remaining two games were rained out. With those games postponed in Atlanta postponed, the Mets shifted their focus to the Brewers. Once again though, they fell flat on their face, losing miserably in each of the first two games of that series. However, with their backs against the wall, needing a win in the final game of the series to keep their season alive, the Amazins’ came through. David Peterson pitched lights out and the Mets gutted out a much needed 5-0 victory in Milwaukee. For the rest of MLB, the regular season was over, not for the Mets and Braves though. Those two teams had a double date on September 30th to decide the NL wild card. Watching at home, the Diamondbacks needed either team to sweep the double header, with a split, they would be eliminated. The first game was the greatest baseball game I have ever personally laid my eyes on. The Mets trailed 3-0 all the way up to the top of the 8th. That was until they hung a 6 spot after finally knocking Spencer Schwellenbach out of the game. This lead unfortunately did not hold as the Mets bullpen handed the lead right back, allowing a 4 run eighth inning. With the game sitting at 7-6 Braves, the Mets were 3 outs away from the brink. Enter Francisco Lindor, this team’s best player and leader, with their backs against the wall, he did the thing. He hit a clutch 2 run shot to put the Mets back on top, where they would stay thanks to a classic Edwin Diaz edge of your seat, shutout ninth inning. Despite dropping the latter game, the Mets had done it. From down and out, from 19-31, the New York Mets had qualified for postseason baseball.

The Mets were headed to Milwaukee to play a 3 game wild card series. A place that has haunted them in the past, against a team that had their number in the regular season. You would not have known it in Game 1 though as the Mets steamrolled the Brewers in a Game 1 victory. Game 2 was looking promising before Phil Maton blew the lead late with back to back jacks from young phenom Jackson Chourio and Garrett Mitchell to send this series the distance. Game 3 was an absolute barn burner, as starting pitchers Jose Quintana and Tobias Myers both twirled gems. However, Jose Butto cracked out the Mets bullpen and allowed solo shots to both Jake Bauers and Sal Frelick. Headed into the 9th inning, the Mets chances were slim. They were facing Devin Williams who had been essentially untouchable all year long. As we know though, this team just does not subscribe to disbelief, as Lindor drew a walk and Nimmo got a knock, up came Pete Alonso. Alonso had one of the greatest five year stretches any Met has ever had, but with his free agency looming, 2024 was not his best year. In fact, the inning prior he dropped a pop up that had Brewers fans laughing in his face. With that said, Pete Alonso dug his feet in for what could have been his final at bat in the blue and orange. In storybook fashion, Alonso drilled a ball the opposite way that just barely snuck over the fence in right field. Shakespeare could not have written that script, it felt as if time had stopped, as if earths could have collided. In a poetic moment, Pete Alonso got his iconic Mets moment, a moment that will forever be enshrined in the heads of Mets fans everywhere. Former Brewer, Jesse Winker tacked on another run and the Mets headed into the bottom of the 9th up 4-2. David Peterson, who had been a terrific starting pitcher for the Mets all season, shut the door. As if this game wasn’t poetic enough, the game ended on a 6-3 double play. Francisco Lindor to Pete Alonso, ball game over. Series over. On to Philly.

Two bitter rivals, two passionate fanbases, and two damn good baseball teams. This National League Division Series was setting up to be a classic. Instead, the Mets embarrased the Phillies. In game 1, the Mets trailed late as they so often did, and as they did even more often, they fought back. In a collective effort, the Mets got to the Philly bullpen, hanging five in the 8th inning and one more in the 9th for good measure. Game 2 seemed to be following a similar script, the Mets trailed going into the 9th before Mark Vientos tied the game with a 2 run shot. However, the Mets failed to hold on as Nick Castellanos hit a walk off single in the bottom of the 9th. This did not kill the Mets momentum as back at Citi Field for the first time in a long time, the Mets drubbed the Phillies, beating them 7-2 behind seven strong innings from Sean Manaea, who had been great all season by the way. With the Phillies one game away from throwing a 95 win season down the drain, they got off to a 1-0 lead in Game 4. That was until Francisco Lindor happened, again! With the bases loaded in the bottom of the 6th, Francisco Lindor hit the homer heard around the five boroughs, a grand slam to put his team on top. Fitting that the greatest player the Mets have had in a very long time, a man who posted one of the greatest seasons from any met ever, would win get them their biggest series win in a decade. I not say enough about what Francisco Lindor was for this Mets team, he posted a 7 win season, and was an impeccable leader for a group that never flinched in the face of adversity.

This unfortunately, is where the magical run comes to an end. The ran into a superteam in the Los Angeles Dodgers. They were able grit out a couple of wins in this series but in the end it was not enough. The Dodgers won the series in six games and would eventually win the World Series over the Yankees in five games. Of course though, this Mets team fought their absolute hardest, to even take two games from that buzzsaw of a ballclub is something to be proud of.

As a Mets fan myself, I believe that I speak for Mets fans globally when I say this. Going through the trials and tribulations of the 2024 Mets is something I will never forget. I highly doubt a sports team will ever make me feel the way that the 2024 Mets did. From the magic of Grimace, to on field concerts, to countless clutch comebacks, this team was something else. As for when this one of a kind season finally came to a close, I felt an unfamiliar feeling. As a New York sports fan it is in my DNA to be angry, lose my mind, and scream. However I did not feel that way, I felt a way that I am not capable of putting into words. There is only one man who can contextualize the way Met fans like myself felt on that fateful Game 6 night, Howie Rose. So in the words of Howie Rose, “If you are emotionally invested in this Mets team and you’re sad right now, it’s certainly understandable. But I promise you that won’t take long to wear off … Because once the immediate disappointment … here wears off, you’ll realize what an incredible ride this team took you for this year. Started out 0-5, showed some signs of life before they fell to eleven games under the .500 mark, and a lot of people had them written off right there.“

The 2024 Mets were a baseball team like no other.

Sources

Amazin Avenue

Baseball Reference

Baseball Savant

Lohud

MLB Film Room

Statmuse

USA Today