The 3 best Mets pitching performances in NLCS history ranked

1. Mike Hampton in 2000 vs. the St. Louis Cardinals

Mike Hampton was an essential piece for the Mets run to the pennant in 2000, and helped solve a problem that burned the 1999 team that fell two wins short of the World Series, which was the lack of another big game pitcher. As such, the Mets acquired Hampton from the Houston Astros in December 1999. Hampton went 15-10 with a 3.14 ERA and 142 ERA+ in 217.2 innings during the regular season, then he turned his level of play up in October.

He was simply dynamite in that year's NLCS against the surprising St. Louis Cardinals, where he tossed 16 scoreless innings in 2 games the Mets won.

In Game 1 at Busch Stadium, Hampton tossed seven scoreless innings in an outing in which he had to pitch into and out of trouble because he did not have his best stuff that night. The Cardinals had the bases loaded in the first inning and didn't score, and then had runners at first and second with one out in the seventh inning and Hampton got Edgar Renteria and Jim Edmonds to fly out to get out of trouble there. The Mets won that game 6-2.

Then, in Game 5 at Shea Stadium, Hampton pitched the game of his life, tossing a three-hit shutout to send the Mets to the World Series. He also walked just one batter while striking out eight batters, including Jim Edmonds three times. He became the first Mets player to win NLCS MVP thanks to his efforts.