The New York Mets currently have a fierce rivalry with the Washington Nationals, but is it one of the five best in franchise history?
54 years of New York Mets baseball have passed, and some intense rivalries have unfolded along the way.No, they may not have had any as long as the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox, or as storied as the Dodgers and Giants, but several fiery battles have earned recognition over the years.
It’s no secret that the Washington Nationals are currently their biggest foe, but does that warrant a place in the top five? Bryce Harper‘s style of play alone makes a strong case to loathe the Nats.
From the heat of pennant races, postseason showdowns, and on field brawls, the Mets and their fans understand what makes a rivalry. Think about the long list of villains: Roger Clemens, Chipper Jones, Jimmy Rollins, John Rocker, etc (Mr. Harper is likely to appear on this list soon).
The Mets are no strangers to a heated battle, but which ones rank as the five best?
5. Washington Nationals 2015-Present
This rivalry is fairly new, but it’s strong enough to take the fifth spot on the list. Although there isn’t too much notable history between the two teams, last season’s division title race laid the groundwork for what’s sure to be a long standing rivalry for years to come.
Bryce Harper‘s 2015 spring training statement of “Where’s my ring” couldn’t have sat well with a New York Mets team determined to dethrone the reigning division champs. The Nationals dominated the Mets from 2012-2014, going 41-15. It was a case of big brother stepping over little brother. Once the Mets knocked their big brothers of the top of the hill, a rivalry was born.
Harper’s arrogance, Yoenis Cespedes‘s heroics, and Daniel Murphy jumping ships, fueled a fire that has extended into 2016. Now that the two clubs see much more eye to eye, this rivalry is one high and tight fastball away from evolving from two respected competitors to an all out dogfight.
The history might not be there, but you can bet there’s many chapters left to be written between these two divisional foes.
4. St. Louis Cardinals 1985-87
The younger generation of Met fans thinks about the St. Louis Cardinals as rivals because of their playoff matchups in 2000 and 2006. However, the real Mets-Cardinals rivalry existed in the latter half of the 1980s.
The 1985 New York Mets won 98 games, but finished three games back of the Cards, who played in the same Eastern Division at the time. The ’86 team, of course, exacted revenged winning 12 of 18 from the red birds en route a world championship. Then came 1987, when the Cardinals again edged the Mets by three games for the division title.
The competition between the two was enough for several epic pennant races; sharing the same spring training facility could have only increased the dislike for each other. In the mid to late 80s, the Mets and Cardinals knew each other well, trading blow for blow almost every year.
It wasn’t just that the Cardinals could beat the Mets–it was how they did it. The speed demons consisting of Willie McGee, Vince Coleman, Ozzie Smith and company were a nightmare for the Mets to keep off the bases.
The NLCS encounters in 2000 and again in ’06 resurrected a once great rivalry, but only for the few weeks in which they went to battle. Meeting eighteen times per season in the 80s made it much easier to loathe the opposition.
3. Philadelphia Phillies 2007-08
The Phillies have always been rivals with the Mets, but that hate for each other reached an all time high in 2007 and ’08.
Say what you want about only pinpointing two years, but this was much more than two competitive ball clubs; this was one city against another.
New York and Philadelphia will forever be enemies, but prior to the ’07 season, the two clubs never found themselves competing for the division down the stretch. When Jimmy Rollins proclaimed that the Phils were the team to beat before the start of the ’07 season, the proverbial powder keg had ignited, and a season long war was underway.
Rollins backed up his big talk winning the MVP, and watched the Mets collapse in September. The Mets dropped their last 8 matchups to the Phils, including a heartbreaking sweep at Shea Stadium in mid September. Rollins had cemented himself as the biggest villain in the history of the two franchises.
The following season, the Mets won 11 of 18 from their hated rivals, but ran out of gas by season’s end. The Phillies had done the unthinkable; sink the Mets in one of the largest collapses in baseball history, and edge them out again the following season in similar fashion.
These are some of the most painful memories for Mets fans, but it’s hard to discount the intensity of the games played, including seven in extra innings over the two years.
It’s only a matter of time before these two cities have another baseball war.
2. Atlanta Braves 1998-2001
Has any divisional foe tortured the New York Mets more than the Atlanta Braves? How many big hits did Chipper Jones have, catches that Andruw Jones unexplainably made, and fans did John Rocker try to fight? The Braves inflicted tons of misery on the Mets, but the boys in blue and orange had their share of counterpunches, too.
The rivalry was never more tense than the late 90s and early 2000s. Turner Field became a house of horrors for the Mets, who won just 8 of 29 games down south in this four year stretch. No three games couldn’t have been more painful than the final three of the ’98 season; the Mets needed one win to clinch a playoff berth, only to be swept away by the Braves.
The ’99 season saw the Mets win just three of twelve from the Braves, but the two teams met for an unforgettable postseason series. Talk about ups and downs; the Braves ultimately emerged victorious but the Mets made them earn it. Down three games to none in the NLCS, a late John Olerud base hit won game 4, and Robin Ventura‘s infamous “Grand Slam Single” won game 5. A dramatic Mike Piazza homerun in game 6 was nullified by the Met bullpen, falling in extra innings on a game ending walk to Andruw Jones. The Braves advanced, but the Mets gave them hell in the process.
The Mets captured the pennant in 2000, finally getting over the Atlanta curse. They didn’t face off in October, but they won’t complain about having a better season than their bitter rivals.
Mike Piazza‘s post 9/11 homerun in 2001 was one of the greatest moments in not just the rivalry, but in New York baseball history. Plain and simple, it was that symbolic. This game deserves a category of its own. The Mets fell well short of catching the Braves in the division, but this single game stood above all else.
Aside from the post 9/11 game, no single night was more berserk than on June 30, 2000. The Mets trailed 8-1 in the bottom of the eighth inning. A plethora of walks followed by an Edgardo Alfonzo single tied the game at eight. Shea Stadium was in raptures as Mike Piazza took his at-bat against Braves lefty Kerry Mulholland. One pitch later, a screaming line drive down the left field line sent the Shea faithful into complete chaos.
The Mets didn’t always get the better of the Braves, but they definitely had their moments.
1. New York Yankees 1997-2006
Come on, what else did you expect? What other rivalry had the same intensity and close proximity, over a ten year time frame? The Subway Series is always going to have an extra edge to it, but the first ten years were easily the best.
Clemens vs Piazza. Queens vs the Bronx. For the love of dollar pizza slices, the pride of New York City was at stake.
Throw the records, standings, and stats out the window because none of it mattered when Queens clashed with the Bronx. Interleague play began in 1997, and the rivalry only grew more heated by the year. The Met-Yakee superiority complex grew as both teams found success. The Bronx Bombers championships gave them a clear upper hand, especially after the 2000 World Series. However, the rivalry didn’t lose any steam no matter how much they won; it was just as meaningful the following year. As the Mets became less competitive from 01-05, the rivalry only intensified.
A true battle of alpha males got ugly during the 2000 season, though. After Mike Piazza belted a grand slam off Roger Clemens, The Rocket responded with a heater to the head, giving the Mets #31 a concussion. Tensions only flared in the World Series after Clemens threw a broken bat at Piazza. Yes, it was intentional, you can’t possibly think he was just trying to “throw the bat aside.”
The Yankees proved to be big brother not only with rings, but winning or drawing even in almost every regular season series; it wasn’t until 2004 that the Mets won their first season series against their cross-town rivals.
No player dominated the series like Derek Jeter, whose leadoff homer on the first pitch of the 2000 Fall Classic’s fourth game swung the momentum back to the Bronx for good. It was that single at-bat that exemplified his statement as the best player in the series.
No matter the circumstances though, baseball hadn’t been more electric in New York City since the Dodgers and Giants called the Big Apple home.