Reliving the magical NY Mets season Matt Harvey had in 2015

Matt Harvey will forever be a name that will live in New York Mets history. The man they called, "The Dark Knight" gave the fans of this team many wonderful memories. Although the trajectory of his career went down beginning in 2016, he still brings a smile to younger Mets fans who remember the moments when he made them truly believe. No year optimized that more than the magical year of 2015. That year, Harvey was not only the King of Queens but the King of New York baseball.

Entering the 2015 season, there were questions surrounding Harvey. The main one was how effective he would be coming off not pitching in over a year. In October of 2013, he had elected to get Tommy John surgery to repair his elbow. He ended up missing the entire 2014 campaign and now was looking for a bounce-back year in Queens. He did more than just bounce back, he thrived.

While he wasn't as dominant as he was in 2013, he was just as effective. It started with six shutout innings in his season debut on April 9th in a 6-3 win in Washington vs the Nationals. From there, Harvey truly became, "The Dark Knight" again. He finished the 2015 season with a career year. He posted a 13-8 record along with a 2.71 ERA. He along with Jacob DeGrom and a rookie Noah Syndergaard, set a franchise record for strikeouts at the time for strikeouts in a season with 1,337.

Harvey helped guide the Mets to a remarkable run to a division championship. It was the organization's first National League East pennant in nine years. Heading into the postseason, there was some controversy. Harvey's agent Scott Boras had made public that his client was being overworked in his first year back from surgery. He suggested that Harvey should skip the postseason altogether.

Harvey Guides Mets to World Series Run

In an unprecedented move, Harvey went against his agent's words and wrote a piece in the Players Tribune that he would pitch in the postseason. He wrote, "I understand the risks. I am also fully aware of the opportunity the Mets have this postseason. Winning the division and getting to the playoffs is our goal.
Once we are there, I will be there." This was a move that paid dividends to the Mets and Harvey himself.

""Once we are there, I will be there.""

Matt Harvey

He pitched five innings and struck out seven in a 13-7 division series win vs the Los Angeles Dodgers. He followed that with a nearly eight-inning, nine-strikeout performance in a 4-2 NLCS win vs the Chicago Cubs. Those two wins ignited the improbable run to their first World Series appearance in a decade and a half. Harvey and the Mets now stood just four wins shy of its first championship in nearly three decades.

Unfortunately, the magical ride came to a tough end. Harvey pitched in two games in that Fall Classic. In Game 1, Harvey had a solid outing of five innings while only giving up two runs. However, the Mets dropped that game in 14 innings. Game 5 however, is the one that Mets fans remember and want to forget at the same time. With the Mets facing World Series elimination, they turned to their ace to keep their title hopes alive.

Harvey put up his best performance of his career through eight innings. Heading into the ninth, he had gone eight shutout innings with nine strikeouts. He convinced Mets' manager Terry Collins to let him finish the job. However, this proved to not only not work, but kill any chance the Mets may have had to win that game. After a leadoff walk, he gave up an RBI double and was pulled. The Kansas City Royals eventually tied the game and then scored five unanswered runs in the 12th inning to win the World Series at Citi Field.

Even though that season and what followed for Harvey ended up being disappointing, there's no question that 2015 was the year of Harvey. He came back and gave the Mets a season that will live in franchise lore.