In 1962, a franchise muddled in both glory and heartbreak was born: the New York Metropolitans. Let’s remember the best moments in 55 years of Amazin’ opening days.
By Jeremy Fialkow
Welcome to Opening Day!
That’s right, tonight the Bigs’ 2016 season will kick-off with a Fall Classic rematch between the New York Mets and Kansas City Royals.
Aside from last year’s World Series appearance and 2006’s NLCS letdown, the past couple decades for the Mets have been quite disappointing.
Yet, as the Mets embark upon their 55th season in Major League Baseball, we’d be remised not to mention them as a successful franchise.
In fact, there’s a tendency for this unit to play better on Opening Day, as a matter of coincidence.
Aside from losing eight in a row from starting in their first year of existence, 1962, New York has only lost consecutive Opening Day games just once, in 1999 and 2000.
Since their founding, the Metropolitans have a record of 35-19 on the season debut in their entire history. So, it appears as though they have about a 65% chance of defeating the Royals tonight…but, I’m no Nate Silver.
Here are the top Opening Day and Home-Opener moments in Mets history:
