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

Just last season, New York Mets fans were salivating over having Jacob deGrom healthy and ready to go in Washington on Opening Day. Once he went down, Mets fans were still excited because Max Scherzer was going to step in. Scherzer did not start on Opening Day, Tylor Megill did. While Megill pitched great, Mets fans will soon forget that he made that start.

There are plenty of other circumstances of players fans forgot started on Opening Day. There are four specific players in the last five seasons to remind Mets fans of.

1) Adrian Gonzalez was the NY Mets Opening Day first baseman in 2018

Adrian Gonzalez was a five-time all-star, a four-time Gold Glover, and a one-time Silver Slugger winner in his 15-year career. After a very solid 5.5-year tenure with the Dodgers, the Mets signed 36-year-old Adrian Gonzalez to a one-year deal. Gonzalez had been limited to just 71 games the season prior due to a back injury and the Mets' first baseman of the future at the time, Dom Smith, lost his spot to accommodate Gonzalez.

Gonzalez's Mets debut would occur on 2018 Opening Day in a home game against the Cardinals. Gonzalez was batting sixth in what was a very old and below-average Mets lineup.

Gonzalez's Mets tenure got off to a roaring start as he drilled an RBI double in his third plate appearance as a Met driving in Todd Frazier in the bottom of the fifth inning to give the Mets a 4-3 lead. Gonzalez would later score on an Amed Rosario two-run single. The Mets scored five runs that inning and won the game 9-4.

Gonzalez had a big day, recording two hits in three at-bats. He drove in a run, scored a run, and drew two walks as well.

His Mets tenure went downhill after that as he slashed .237/.299/.373 with six home runs and 26 RBI in 54 games. Gonzalez was released in June in favor of the aforementioned Smith.

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+.