Five Mets moments we wish they could redo on Groundhog Day

The New York Mets have had their share of moments that they would like to redo. In honor of Groundhog Day and redoing moments a hundred times over, let’s look at five moments the Mets wish they could redo.

The team that was referred to as the “Lovable Losers” and was the laughing stock of baseball for years, including relatively recently, the Mets have plenty of moments most would want to redo.

Between terrible trades, poor endings to key games, poor investments on and off the field, keeping in pitchers a batter too long or taking them out just too early, and many other moments, the Mets have had their fair share of moments they want to redo.

Through the power of Groundhog Day and our imagination, we are going to redo five moments in Mets history that the Mets wish to redo and come up with a new result.

Even though it would be nice for the actual result to change, that is not a real possibility, unfortunately. For now, we will have to use our imagination and live in an alternate Mets universe. With that being said, let’s take a look at five New York Mets moments we wish could be redone.

5) 1988 NLCS Game 4

Starting off the five moments that the Mets wish they could redo, we have game four of the 1988 National League Championship Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Amazin’s were back in the playoffs after missing them in 1987 despite winning 92 games and coming off a World Series Championship.

The Mets were up two games to one going into game four of the NLCS and they had young phenom Dwight Gooden set to start. They were looking to be in good shape to go up three games to one as a result.

Despite the fact that Gooden gave up two runs in the first inning, he settled down and went on to pitch eight spectacular innings. In those eight innings, he only gave up those two runs in the first, 3 hits, and had 8 strikeouts.

Once the ninth inning rolled around Gooden got himself into a little bit of trouble. The Mets were up 4-2 on LA and had a win expediency of 94%. Gooden gave up a leadoff walk to John Shelby which brought the tying run to the plate in Mike Scioscia. On the first pitch of the at-bat, Scioscia connected for a line-drive home run over the right-field fence to tie the game at 4.

The game ended up going twelve innings which resulted in the Dodgers winning and tying the series at two games apiece. The Mets went on to lose the series in seven games which included them being shutout 6-0 in the seventh game. The Dodgers would then go on to beat the Oakland Athletics 4 games to 1 in the World Series.

There are a couple of different ways that the Mets could redo game four. The two obvious ones would be having Gooden pitch the ninth again and getting Scioscia out, with the end result being the Mets winning the game and going up three games to one in the series. The other option would be having closing pitcher Randy Myers come in and shut the door, also putting the Mets up three games to one.

In both situations of the Mets redoing the ninth, they would have been up three games to one in the series with only one win between their second World Series appearance in three years. With the Dodgers having gone on to win the World Series in only five games, it can be assumed that the Mets would have gone on to win the World Series as well.

If the Mets could redo game four of the 1988 NLCS, they would have likely gone on to win the series after going up three games to one. The Amazins likely then would have gone on to win their second World Series in three years and their third in their franchise history. Unfortunately, game four of the 1988 NLCS will always be remembered as a moment the Mets wish they could redo.

4) Mets Trade Nolan Ryan

Next up on moments the Mets wish they could redo, is trading future Hall of Fame pitcher Nolan Ryan. The Mets originally drafted Ryan in the twelfth round of the 1965 amateur draft out of his high school in Texas. Ryan played in five seasons for the Amazin’s before they dealt him away, which including the 1969 World Series Championship team.

In Ryan’s five seasons in Queens, he combined for a 3.58 ERA, a 1.398 WHIP, with 493 strikeouts over 510 innings pitched splitting time between the rotation and the bullpen.

On December 10th, 1971, the Mets made one of their worst trades in franchise history when they dealt Ryan and three other players to the California Angels for infielder Jim Fregosi. Not only was this trade terrible for the Mets because of how lights out Ryan went on to be, but also because Fregosi only played a season and a half before being sold to the Texas Rangers.

Although Ryan never won a Cy Young award in his 27-year career, he is still considered one of the best pitchers in the history of the game. Even though he struggled with his control as he has a career walks per nine of 4.7 and the most walks in baseball history by a single pitcher with 2,795, he was still incredible.

Ryan has the most strikeouts in the history of baseball with 5,714 and the best hits per nine by a single person with 6.6, not to mention his MLB record seven no-hitters over the course of his career. To make that even more impressive, he is also the oldest pitcher to throw a no-hitter, which came at age 44. For a franchise that only has one no-hitter and one that is often questioned to be legit, the Mets sure wish they never traded Ryan away.

Even though Ryan never won a Cy Young award as previously stated, he did end up finishing in the top five votings six different times, and an additional two if we talk about top ten finishes. He was sent to the All-Star game eight times in his career and won the ERA title twice. In addition to all these great accomplishments, he also led the league in strikeouts eleven times and led the league in hits per nine twelve times.

Now while we cannot guarantee Ryan would have had the same production if he was never traded and stayed in Queens longer, the Mets would sure like to redo the decision to trade Ryan and find out. The Mets likely would have another Ace to their team and their history of great pitching, and possibly their first no-hitter years earlier, but instead, the decision to trade Ryan will be one moment that the Mets forever wish they can redo.

2) Mets Trade Tom Seaver

Just like another great pitcher on this list that was traded away in moments the Mets would like to redo, we have the trade that sent future Hall of Famer Tom Seaver to the Cincinnati Reds. Seaver was originally signed as an amateur free agent by the Mets on April 3rd, 1966. Although he had a fantastic ten and a half seasons with the Mets before being dealt away, it is still a moment the Mets wish they could redo.

In Seaver’s first ten and half seasons with the Amazins, he won the Rookie of the Year Award, three Cy Young Awards, was selected to ten All-Star games, led the league in ERA three times, led the league in wins twice, led the league in strikeouts five times, and won a World Series.

Seaver was only 32 years old when the Mets traded him to the Reds, so even though they received a couple of decent players, the trade was still not a good one. The Mets traded a player whose nickname was literally “The Franchise”, which is a bad decision before he even puts on the uniform to his new team.

Although Seaver did find his way back to Queens later in his career for one more season, the in-between still haunts the Mets. He spent five and a half seasons with the Reds where he combined for a 3.18 ERA, a 1.177 WHIP, and 75 wins over 1,085.2 innings with 2 All-Star game appearances, and a second, third, and fourth-place finish n Cy Young voting.

Those seasons that Seaver was gone from the Mets were absolutely terrible too. They finished in last place or second to last place every single year he was gone so they might have waisted Seaver’s talent, but yet again as previously mentioned, his nickname was literally “The Franchise” and the return they got for him was not that great anyway.

While you can never assume a player would produce the same way if they were never traded away, it is a safe assumption that Seaver would have performed at his same elite level. Even though Seaver was not the same pitcher on the Reds as he was on the Mets, he still had a 3.18 ERA over 1,000 innings in Cincinnati in his mid-thirties which is fantastic.

If the Mets had the opportunity to go back and redo their decision on trading Seaver, it is safe to say he would have stayed in Queens for a lot longer and added to his legacy. Unfortunately, the decision to not trade Seaver will always be a moment that the Mets wish they could redo.

1) Carlos Beltran Strike 3 Looking to End 2006 NLCS

Coming in at the final moment the Mets would like to redo, we have Carlos Beltran striking out to end the 2006 NLCS against the St. Louis Cardinals. The Mets were in their first postseason since 2000 and were coming off a fantastic regular season that saw them win 97 games.

Up until the top of the ninth inning the Mets and Cardinals were tied since the top of the second inning. In the top of the ninth, young catcher Yadier Molina hit a two-run home run to give the Cardinals the lead. While there are some people who would like to redo this moment, all the attention seems to gravitate towards Beltran’s called third strike.

The Cardinals obviously went on to win the game and advanced to the World Series where they ended up defeating the Detroit Tigers four games to one. That 2006 Mets team is often referred to as one of the best, if not the best Mets team to not win a World Series. If the Mets did find a way to win game seven and advance to the World Series, the odds would have been in their favor to win their third World Series in franchise history.

Beltran was coming off arguably his best season in the big leagues. He slashed .275/.388/.594/.982 with 41 home runs, 116 RBI, 127 runs scored, and 18 stolen bases in 140 games. He was also sent to the All-Star game, won a silver slugger award, a gold glove award, and finished fourth in MVP voting. Beltran was an elite player that season and it was no secret.

Getting back into the game scenario, the Mets were down two runs when Beltran came up to the dish with the bases loaded and two outs. Rookie pitcher Adam Wainwright was trying to close the game which made matters all that much more tricky. Since he was a rookie, the Mets did not have any real scouting report on Wainwright since it was his first season and most if not all the Mets players had not seen him yet.

Now as cool as it would have been to see Beltran hit a walk-off grand slam to send the Amazin’s to the World Series, speedy outfielder Endy Chavez was on second base so a single would have scored him to tied the game anyway. Assuming Beltran did single to tie the game, that would have brought up slugging first baseman Carlos Delgado who hit .304 in the series with 3 home runs and 9 RBI.

If the Mets did have the opportunity to redo Beltran’s at-bat that ended the game and their season, they would jump on it every single time. If Beltran goes on to swing the bat and win the game for the Mets, or even prolong the game to have somebody else win the game, the Mets are likely World Series Champions for the third time in franchise history, and Beltran would be remembered for saving the Mets season instead of ending it. Sadly this at-bat will always be remembered as one of the moments in team history that they wish they could redo.

The Mets have had plenty of laughable moments in their history that both the fans and the team wish they could redo. Between being nicknamed the “Lovable Losers” in the ’60s when they first broke into the league and were just downright terrible, to later in their history when they made terrible decisions or got caught up in trouble off the field.

Between all the negative and embarrassing moments in franchise history, there are plenty of moments the Mets wish they could redo on Groundhog Day. After living the same moment over and over day after day, the Mets would have plenty of opportunities to redo some of their worst moments and turn them into some of the best moments in franchise history.

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