The 5 biggest "what ifs" in Mets history

2) What if Tom Seaver didn’t pitch Game 6 of the 1973 World Series?

Just four years after winning their first World Championship in 1969 and in their second season without Nolan Ryan, the Miracle Mets were on their way to doing it again. The baseball world was watching a team that had only won 82 games in the regular season, hold a three-games-to-two lead over the defending champion Oakland Athletics, who won 94 games. 

New York decided to go with a three-man rotation for the entire series. Jon Matlack pitched Games 1, 4, and 7. Jerry Koosman got the nod for Games 2 and 5 and it was Tom Seaver in Games 3 and 6. 

With the teams heading back to the Coliseum in Oakland for games six and seven, the Mets would have two chances to clinch the title. Instead of saving Seaver for a possible 7th game, Owner Joan Payson insisted to Manager Yogi Berra that Seaver should start Game 6. Berra listened to his owner and watched Tom go out there, on just three days' rest. New York would go on to lose the game and was forced to be without their ace in a winner take all game that saw the A’s clinch a World Series title for the second consecutive season. 

If Berra gave Seaver that extra day of rest, would he have pitched better in Game 7, leading the Mets to another championship? 

3) What if the Mets won the 1988 NLCS?

The 1986 New York Mets are one of the best teams Major League Baseball has ever seen. Well, similarly to the 1973 team, New York was looking to repeat history just a couple of years later. In 1988, New York won 100 games and was the clear favorite heading into the NLCS against the 94-win Dodgers. 

The Amazins grabbed a 2-1 series lead but Los Angeles would steal Game 4, and win Game 5 the next day, to flip the series in their favor. Then in Game 7 at Dodger Stadium, NLCS MVP Orel Hershiser shut down the Amazins’ offense, throwing a complete game shutout to win the series.

The Dodgers went on to the Fall Classic and Kirk Gibson would create one of the greatest moments in MLB History. The Silver Slugger Award winner that season was dealing with injuries, keeping him out of the lineup in Game 1 against the Oakland Athletics. That didn’t stop him from getting a chance as a pinch hitter in the bottom of the 9th against one of the game's best closers, Dennis Eckersley. Gibson hit a walk-off 2-run HR that changed the outlook of that series. The Dodgers went on to win the World Series in five games. 

So, had the Mets beaten Los Angeles in the NLCS we would have never seen that famous Kirk Gibson home run. Would the Mets have defeated the Athletics in the 1988 World Series? It would have been fascinating to see them try and get revenge for 1973. 

4) What if Mike Piazza charged the mound in the 2000 World Series?

The 2000 MLB season saw the Mets-Yankees rivalry reach its climax. For the first time since 1956, the World Series featured two New York teams, as it was the Mets vs. the Yankees for all the marbles. 

After the Yankees came from behind to win Game 1, the Bronx Bombers sent Roger Clemens to the Yankee Stadium mound for Game 2. In the top of the first inning, Mike Piazza came to the plate. On the 4th pitch of the at-bat, Clemens came inside with a fastball and Piazza was able to foul the pitch off with his bat shattering in half. The barrel ended up in the hands of the Yankees’ right-hander and instead of calmly tossing it to the side, he threw it at Piazza who was just a couple of feet up the first base line. 

Piazza, in utter shock, took a couple steps towards the mound but did nothing other than exchange words with Clemens. Both players remained in the game and Clemens went on to throw 8 shutout innings in another Yankees victory. They would go on to win the series in five games. 

Had the Mets catcher chosen to charge the mound to fight Clemens, both players probably would have been ejected from the game in just the first inning. Would the Mets have won Game 2 and changed the complexion of the series? Hard to say their odds wouldn't have increased. 

5) What if David Wright stayed healthy?

7 All-Star Games, 2 Gold Glove Awards, and 2 Silver Slugger Awards. From the minute he arrived in Queens until 2013, David Wright was everything that a franchise player should be like. It’s what earned him the right to be named the 4th captain in Mets history in 2013. What happened during his time as captain, though? Well, the injury bug would continue to get the best of David. 

The Mets’ leader missed 50 games in 2013 and 28 games in 2014. From 2015-2018, Wright only played in 77 combined games, hitting just 12 total home runs in the four year span. We don’t know for sure what a healthy David Wright would have looked like during his mid-30s, but for a player that was breaking multiple Mets records before the injuries, just imagine how good his career numbers would look and be judged today.

David Wright is set to be on the Hall of Fame ballot for the first time next year and regardless of the result, he’ll still be loved by Mets fans forever. While there’s still that small chance that he does sneak in, would there be any debate had he stayed on the field more often than he did?