New York Mets: Top 10 most amazin moments from the 2010s

The past 10 years have been a wild ride for New York Mets fans as they struggled to win for most of it, but there were some bright spots and great moments regardless. These were the best moments we shared in the 2010s.

The 2010s were some of the most memorable years for the New York Mets, for both good and bad. They had some of the lowest lows we have seen, but they also had some of their highest highs.

The decade featured plenty of losing seasons. It also included an unexpected run to the World Series, some of the franchise’s greatest of all-time, and some record-breaking players.

Fortunately enough, we are going to look at the good moments from this decade. These are the top ten moments from the 2010s all Mets fans got to experience together.

10) Yoenis Cespedes’ Incredible 2015 Stretch

During the 2015 season, the Mets were in the middle of a push for the postseason and in the market for a big impact bat at the deadline. After a trade fell through for Carlos Gomez, the Mets acquired slugging outfielder Yoenis Cespedes and the rest was history.

Cespedes was brought over for two minor leaguers to help propel the Mets into the postseason and he did just that. In 57 games with the Mets after the trade deadline, Cespedes slashed .287/.337/.604/.942 with 17 home runs and 44 RBI in only 249 plate appearances.

The last month of the season when the entire team was hot, it seemed like Cespedes was hitting a home run every time he came up to bat. Cespedes came through every time he was needed to, most notably in Washington as the Mets tried to create a large gap between them and the Nationals.

Between September and the few regular-season games in October, Cespedes hit .300/.345/.673/1.017 with 33 hits, 19 runs, 9 home runs, and 21 RBI. Cespedes put the team on his back and carried them down the stretch, resulting in their first postseason appearance since 2006.

Cespedes ended up finishing the season 13th in MVP voting in the National League which is incredible considering he only played 57 games in the National League.

7) David Wright Adds to his Legacy

David Wright has always been a special player for the Mets and becoming first on any all-time list for the franchise just added to it. On April 25th, 2012 Wright became the franchise all-time RBI leader, passing Darryl Strawberry by hitting a go-ahead 2-run home run against the Miami Marlins.

Later that season, Wright became the Mets all-time hits leader. On September 25th, 2012 Wright beat out an infield single against the Pittsburgh Pirates to pass Ed Kranepool for the most hits by a Mets player.

During Spring Training of 2013, the Mets announced that Wright would become the fourth captain in team history. Wright would join other Mets greats Keith Hernandez, Gary Carter, and John Franco to all be named the captain of the Mets.

During Wrights 14 year career in New York, he became the face of the franchise and found himself at the top of just about all offensive categories in franchise history. Wright finished fouth in stolen bases, third in batting average, second in home runs and games, first in hits, runs, doubles, RBI, and walks.

If Wright’s career had not been shortened by injury, there’s a good chance he would end up first in the categories he is not and make a sizable lead in the categories he is already first in.

6) Jose Reyes Wins the Batting Title

The early years of the 2010s were pretty rough for the Mets and their fans. In 2011 José Reyes gave the Mets and their fans something to cheer about when he won the batting title. This was the first batting title in Mets history and it came down to the last day of the season which made it even more exciting.

Although Reyes only played in 126 games that year, his 586 plate appearances were enough to qualify for the award. He ended the season with 181 hits which were good for 8th in the National League that year and led the league in triples with 16.

The batting title race came down to the last day of the year between Reyes and Ryan Braun. Going into the last day of the season Reyes led Braun by .001. Reyes laid down a bunt single in his first at-bat and then took himself out of the game to help his chance at the title.

Braun would have had to go 3 for 3 or 3 for 4 that day to overtake Reyes for the league lead. He ended up finishing the day 0 for 4 which ultimately resulted in Reyes winning the batting title, the first and still the only one in Mets history.

5) R.A. Dickey’s Cy Young Season

The 2012 season was a great one for Mets pitchers as knuckleballer R.A. Dickey won the Cy Young Award. Dickey’s Cy Young award was the first for a Mets pitcher since Dwight Gooden in 1985. For a franchise who has always been known for their outstanding pitching, it is shocking for them to go that long without a Cy Young winner.

Dickey’s season was not only good for a pitcher, but even more impressive because he was a knuckleball pitcher. He led the league in games started with 33, complete games with 5, shutouts with 3, innings with 233.2, strikeouts with 230, and batters faced with 927. Dickey was also a 20 game-winner with an ERA of 2.73 and a WHIP of 1.05 while striking out 8.9 batters per 9.

In the middle of Dickey’s historic season, he actually threw back to back one-hitters, which can be read about here “Mets History: R.A. Dickey’s back-to-back one-hitters in 2012“. Dickey’s 2012 season was truly a magical one, especially for the rare knuckleball pitcher, and will be remembered for a long time.

4) Pete Alonso’s Historic Rookie Season

There has been a lot of hype around Pete Alonso since last year when he tore up the minor leagues. He led the minor leagues in home runs last season and hit a towering shot during the futures game.

There was a lot of talk in Spring Training whether or not Alonso would make the team because of the team losing a year of control later down the line. Alonso ended up making the Opening Day roster and put up a historic season.

Alonso’s rookie season was truly incredible and fun to watch. He was awarded Rookie of the Month on three different occasions, player of the week in June, he was selected to the All-Star team, won the Home Run Derby, led the major leagues in home runs while also breaking the all-time rookie home run record and the Mets single-season home run record.

To top it all off, Alonso was crowned the National League Rookie of the Year by receiving 29 out of the 30 first-place votes whiling finishing 7th in MVP voting as well.

People had high expectations for Alonso going into the season, especially after he made the Opening Day roster and the Mets “lost” the extra year of control. Some questioned the decision, but it is safe to say it was the right decision after the historic season he put together. Alonso not only lived up to the hype given to him before the season but completely shattered it.

3) Jacob DeGrom’s Emergence

Jacob deGrom was originally a 9th round draft pick from Stetson University in Florida. He was never viewed as a top tier starting pitcher though, other Mets pitchers Noah Syndergaard, Matt Harvey, and even Rafael Montero were all said and expected to have higher ceilings than deGrom by multiple scouts. deGrom squashed the thought of that relatively quickly once making his debut.

deGrom made his Major League debut on May 15th, 2014 against the New York Yankees and made a name for himself quickly. deGrom threw 7 strong innings, allowing 4 hits, and 2 walks while allowing only 1 earned run and striking out 6 batters. Unfortunately, he received the loss that night, but it was a strong start to a great career.

In 6 seasons, deGrom has been named to 3 All-Star teams, won the Rookie of the year award, won 2 Cy Young awards, finished in the top 10 two other years, finished in the top 10 for MVP voting twice, and set/tied a few Major League records.

On September 15th, 2014 deGrom struck out the first 8 batters of the game, tying a major league record for most consecutive strikeouts to begin a game. During the 2018 season, deGrom set the Major League record for most consecutive starts allowing 3 runs or fewer in a start with 29 and the most consecutive quality starts in a season with 24.

deGrom has put himself into an elite class in a short amount of time and is on path for an amazing career.

2) First World Series at Citi Field/First World Series since 2000

For the first time in15 years, the Mets played in the World Series. 2015 was a special year for the Mets which is no secret as they made it to the World Series after a rollercoaster of a regular season. They returned to the biggest stage in baseball for the first time in 15 years and it was the first World Series at their new home of Citi Field.

The series obviously did not go as planned for the Mets as they lost in five games, but the lone win they did get, did come in their home ballpark. The Mets were victorious in Game 3 at Citi Field.

The stadium was absolute electric during the three games the Mets were at home. Even though two out of the three games resulted in losses, the fans were loud and the ballpark rocked like Shea as it did years ago.

Hopefully, we can see Citi Field rocking in October again soon because it is truly an incredible sight.

1) Johan Santana’s No-Hitter

On June 1st, 2012 Johan Santana wrote his name in the record books when he threw his first, and the Met’s first no-hitter in history. It is a bit shocking it took until 2012 for the Mets to have their first no-hitter in history considering they have always been known for their pitching. It took over 50 years and over 8,000 games, but the Mets finally got their first no-hitter thanks to Santana.

Aside from the no-hitter itself, the game had other moments that will be talked about for a long time. Mike Baxter, a Queens native, put his body on the line late in the game to make an incredible catch to save the no-hitter. Baxter went back on a ball which eventually led to him crashing into the wall and being taken out of the game.

Another moment in the game is the infamous “foul ball” call. A year after the Mets traded Carlos Beltran, he was back for the first time as a visitor. Beltran ripped a line drive down the line that was called foul but appeared to have hit the foul line. Beltran eventually ended up grounding out to keep the no-hitter alive.

Now while Santana did make history that night, it may have ultimately cost him his career. Santana had missed the previous season due to shoulder surgery on his pitching shoulder. Santana ended up throwing a career-high 134 pitches that night and was never truly the same after. He suffered from multiple injuries since and ended up retiring in 2016 as a result.

Although Santana put his career on the line for history, I am sure he would do it all again. He was asked that night what he wanted to do, and just as expected he didn’t want to come out as I would imagine most people would say.

To this day it is still the only no-hitter in Mets history, and as a result, the moment finds itself first on this list.

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Are there any other moments from the 2010s that should have been on the list?