The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in Flushing, Queens, New York City. They compete in the East Division of Major League Baseball's (MLB) National League (NL). The team's current home stadium is Citi Field, after playing two years at the Polo Grounds and 45 years at Shea Stadium.[1] Since their inception in 1962, the Mets have won two World Series titles and five NL championships. As of the end of the 2023 season, the Mets have won more than 4,700 regular season games, a total that ranks 20th among MLB teams and fourth among expansion teams.[2]
The Mets lost 120 games in their inaugural season, the most by a post-1900 MLB team.[3] After six more years in which their best league finish was ninth, the Mets won the World Series in 1969, defeating the Baltimore Orioles in five games to earn what is widely considered one of the biggest upsets in baseball history.[4][5] Four seasons later, the Mets returned to the World Series, where they lost to the Oakland Athletics in seven games. After winning two NL championships in five years, New York struggled for the next decade, not coming within 10 games of the NL East leader until 1984.
In 1986, the team posted 108 wins, the most in franchise history, and defeated the Houston Astros in the National League Championship Series (NLCS) to advance to the World Series. Trailing three games to two in the series, the Mets were one out from defeat in game six before coming back to win 6–5; they won game seven two days later to earn their second World Series championship.[6] After a second-place finish in 1987, the Mets won the NL East the next year, but lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NLCS. The Mets' next playoff appearances were their back-to-back wild card-winning seasons of 1999 and 2000; in the latter year, they won their fourth NL championship, but lost to the cross-town New York Yankees in the "Subway Series".[7] The 2006 Mets earned an NL East title, before the St. Louis Cardinals defeated them in the NLCS. In 2007 and 2008, the team was eliminated from playoff contention on the last day of the regular season.[8] The Mets won the NL East in 2015, and swept the Chicago Cubs in four games to win the NLCS and advance to the World Series for the first time since 2000;[9] they lost the Series to the Kansas City Royals in five games. The following year, they returned to the playoffs with a wild card berth, but lost the 2016 NL Wild Card Game to the San Francisco Giants. In the most recent season, 2023, the Mets finished in fourth place in the NL East and did not qualify for the postseason.
- ^ "New York Mets Attendance, Stadiums, and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com. Archived from the original on September 24, 2008. Retrieved April 21, 2009.
- ^ "List of all the Major League Baseball Teams". Baseball-Reference.com. Archived from the original on August 8, 2010. Retrieved October 6, 2023.
- ^ Donovan, John (September 4, 2003). "The (dis)honor roll: Tigers have plenty of company among all-time worst teams". CNN Sports Illustrated. Archived from the original on April 13, 2008. Retrieved August 26, 2018.
- ^ "List: Biggest baseball playoff upsets". ESPN. Archived from the original on March 7, 2009. Retrieved April 22, 2009.
- ^ Leggett, William (October 27, 1969). "Never Pumpkins Again". Sports Illustrated. Archived from the original on March 19, 2004. Retrieved August 26, 2018.
- ^ Fimrite, Ron (November 3, 1986). "Good To The Very Last Out". Sports Illustrated. Archived from the original on March 25, 2009. Retrieved September 23, 2017.
- ^ Johnson, Dirk (October 25, 2000). "Baseball: Subway Series; New York Swaggers, But America Shrugs". The New York Times. Archived from the original on October 11, 2015. Retrieved April 22, 2009.
- ^ Cothran, Jeremy D. (September 29, 2008). "After another choke ends the season, choked-up Mets ponder what-ifs". The Star-Ledger. Archived from the original on October 18, 2017. Retrieved October 17, 2017.
- ^ Kestin, Olivia; Brand, Anna (October 22, 2015). "The New York Mets are headed to the World Series (!)". MSNBC. Archived from the original on October 23, 2015. Retrieved October 22, 2015.