4 Mets players we already forgot started on Opening Day in the last five seasons

2) Kevin Plawecki was the NY Mets Opening Day catcher in 2018

The Mets looked like they were going to be set at catcher for a very long time. Travis d'Arnaud was obviously the blue-chip prospect they received in the R.A. Dickey trade but Kevin Plawecki was a first-round pick and a top prospect in his own right.

d'Arnaud disappointed for much of his Mets tenure and did not catch a vast majority of the games started by Noah Syndergaard because of his inability to throw out base stealers. With that in mind, Kevin Plawecki was the Mets' 2018 Opening Day catcher with Syndergaard on the mound, the year after Rene Rivera started on Opening Day.

Plawecki was in the Opening Day lineup batting seventh behind Adrian Gonzalez. Much like Gonzalez, Plawecki shined in the season opener. The backstop hit a double in his second plate appearance and hit an RBI single to extend the Mets' lead to 9-4. Plawecki had the exact same stat line as A-Gon, getting hits in two of his three at-bats and drawing two walks. Plawecki drove in a run and did score one more run than Gonzalez.

If Plawecki played every game like it was Opening Day he would've lasted longer, but the 2018 season was his last as a Met.

3) Yoenis Cespedes was the NY Mets Opening Day DH in 2020

Yoenis Cespedes inked a four-year deal with the Mets after his superstar-level performance in his first season and a half as a Met. Unfortunately, just about everything went wrong after he signed the deal. Cespedes was limited to just 119 games in 2017-18 and missed the entire 2019 season with injuries.

Cespedes was in the final year of his contract headed into 2020 and was finally deemed healthy enough to play at least as a designated hitter. Cespedes served as the DH and hit fifth in the Mets Opening Day lineup against the Braves at an empty Citi Field.

That game saw Jacob deGrom give the Mets five scoreless innings and Mike Soroka top that with six scoreless for Atlanta. The Mets finally knocked Soroka out of the game after the sixth and in the bottom of the seventh Cespedes faced relief pitcher Chris Martin.

The former all-star shocked the world when he launched a solo shot deep into the left field seats to give the Mets a 1-0 lead. They'd win by that very score.

Unfortunately, this was one of the few highlights for the Mets in that shortened season and the only real highlight for Cespedes. After he just didn't show up to a game in Atlanta Cespedes opted out of the season prematurely citing the pandemic. He had five hits in 31 at-bats and eight games. It was an unfortunate ending after all of the excitement he brought

4) Kevin Pillar was the NY Mets Opening Day center fielder in 2021

After the Mets first series of the season in Washington was postponed, they ended up playing in Philadelphia for their Opening Day after everyone else had already played. The Phillies started left-hander Matt Moore so New York responded with their version of a lineup to beat a lefty. The order was very strange.

Leading off and playing center field in his first game as a Met was none other than Kevin Pillar. Mets fans had grown accustomed to Brandon Nimmo leading off games and playing center field but it was Pillar getting the honor of being the first Met to step into the box in a regular season game in 2021.

Pillar would fly out on the third pitch thrown by Moore in his opening at-bat. Pillar would end up stranding two in his second at-bat (including Jacob deGrom) after popping out in foul territory. In his third at-bat he hit into a 6-4-3 double play with the bases loaded and one out to end the Mets' threat after scoring two runs.

Pillar did single in the top of the ninth and scored on a Michael Conforto RBI single but the Mets would suffer a rare Opening Day defeat at the hands of the Phillies. Would there have been a different outcome if Nimmo was leading off with all of the baserunners Pillar stranded? We'll never know.

Pillar was mostly fine as a fourth outfielder but had to play way too much due to injuries. In 124 games he had a .692 OPS and an 87 OPS+.