Despite falling to the Kansas City Royals in five miserable games in the World Series, 2015 was still phenomenal for the New York Mets.
By David Hong
The 2015 New York Mets surprising postseason run ended in sour fashion in the World Series.
They lost in five games to the eventual World Series champion Kansas City Royals. Three of the four Mets losses in the Fall Classic were close ones in which the Mets led at least into the eighth inning only to blow it through a ninth inning homer, several defensive miscues, etc.
So, it was a painful to end this season by losing in the World Series – by losing some games in excruciating fashion including the clinching Game 5 at Citi Field.
But despite this, there is no doubt that the 2015 MLB was still a great and inspiring one for the Amazin Mets.
Heading into the start of this season, the Mets were picked by many to finish around third place in the NL East. Some people might’ve predicted a winning season (barely) but definitely not the division and probably not even the wild card.
The Washington Nationals were everyone’s preseason pick not only to win the NL East but perhaps to win the World Series.
However, when the season started, the Mets already started showing that they were a team to be reckoned by winning 11 straight games in April and starting out 13-3.
After an up and down stretch in the middle of the season, while the Mets starting rotation was strong, the team struggled to hit and barely stayed above .500.
That’s when GM Sandy Alderson went to work, getting Juan Uribe and Kelly Johnson to beef up the offense. Then on the supposed Carlos Gomez trade, which the Mets were supposed to send Wilmer Flores in it, leaving Flores crying in the field after hearing he was traded, the trade was nullified and the Mets instead went out and acquired Yoenis Cespedes which jumpstarted the offense.
With Cespedes, the Mets offense went from one of the worst to one of the best and the team took off, overwhelming the Nats and running away with the NL East division crown.
Then in the playoffs, the Mets created more magic by knocking out the Dodgers in the NLDS, beating Clayton Kershaw and Zack Greinke in that process. Then the Mets swept the young and powerful Chicago Cubs in the NLCS to reach the World Series.
So, overall, while the ultimate goal of winning the World Series was not achieved, it shouldn’t diminish the unexpected accomplishments the Mets made this season.
Because the Mets faced little expectations at the start, nobody picked them to go to the playoffs, let alone win division, which would’ve been a big accomplishment in itself. The best sign of all was that they were never satisfied with just the NL East crown, they also won 90 games when at most, people predicted the Mets to barely win over 80 games.
Not only did they make it to the playoffs, but the Mets won the NLDS and the NLCS by beating the favored Dodgers and the Cubs respectively.
The fact that the Mets were able to reach the World Series, they far exceeded all expectations and it has been one of the feel good stories of the 2015 baseball season.
The Mets faced obstacles during the regular season but overcame them, showing how resilient they are.
After starting out their Citi Field campaign by having six straight losing seasons from 2009 to 2014, the Mets finally made Citi Field a fun and exciting place to watch a ballgame in 2015. Going there many times, this year felt like a playoff atmosphere in most of the games I went to.
So even though the Mets played sloppy baseball in the World Series and lost in excruciating fashion in three of their four losses including the Game 5 clincher, it still should not diminish the overall fact that the 2015 Mets had a great year, a winning season that brought exciting baseball back to Queens and made us Mets fans proud of wearing the orange and blue once again.
That point was proved in Game 5 when even in defeat, the Mets came back out and saluted the fans and the fans who were still present, responded with a standing ovation. It showed their appreciation to the Mets for their great, overall 2015 season which will not be forgotten by Mets fans everywhere.
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