2015 New York Mets season

The 2015 New York Mets season was the franchise's 54th season. The Mets finished the regular season with a record of 90–72, winning the National League East title on September 26, their first division title since 2006 and sixth overall. They defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers in the Division Series in five games and swept the Chicago Cubs in the National League Championship Series. They lost to the Kansas City Royals in five games in the 2015 World Series. It was the Mets' first appearance in the World Series since 2000 when they lost to the New York Yankees.

Offseason

On November 10, 2014, the Mets signed Michael Cuddyer to a two-year $21 million deal.^[1] On December 2, 2014, the Mets officially non-tendered Eric Young Jr.^[2] On December 11, 2014, the Mets agreed to a one-year contract with John Mayberry Jr.^[3]

Spring training

During Spring training, the Mets made trades for relief pitchers Jerry Blevins from the Washington Nationals and Alex Torres from the San Diego Padres.^[4][5]

Regular season

Opening Day

The Mets, who were being no-hit into the 6th Inning by Max Scherzer, pulled off a stunning upset on Opening Day, as they were able to capitalize on two errors by Washington in the sixth. Ian Desmond committed a throwing error and Dan Uggla dropped a David Wright pop-up, and Lucas Duda finished off the rally with a two-run single into the right-center gap off a 98-MPH fastball from Scherzer. Terry Collins' decision to start Bartolo Colón was questionable, but it wound up working as his only blemish was allowing a home run to Bryce Harper. After Colon left the game, Buddy Carlyle, filling in for an injured Jenrry Mejía nailed down the save, giving the Mets a 3-1 victory.

April

After their opening series in Washington, it was announced that former closer Jenrry Mejía had been suspended 80 games for the use of stanozolol, a performance-enhancing drug (PED) banned by Major League Baseball. The Mets scuffled to start the season, dropping 3 of their first 5 games. After losing the first two in Atlanta to start their second series, the Mets began an 11-game win streak that started on Sunday with Colón picking up his second win. The Mets then returned home, and swept the Philadelphia Phillies, Miami Marlins, and Atlanta Braves. On April 23, 2015 the New York Mets beat the Braves 6-3 to complete a perfect 10 game homestand, tying their start to the 1986 season with a 13-3 record and tying the team record with an 11-game winning streak. During the 8th game of the season, David Wright pulled his hamstring while stealing a base. He left the game and Anthony Recker was brought in to play third base. After a number of weeks, Wright was diagnosed with spinal stenosis, raising questions as to whether the captain could ever return.^[6] During the 11 game winning streak, catcher Travis d'Arnaud was hit by a pitch, leading to a wrist injury. Kevin Plawecki was called up to replace d'Arnaud. In the same game, relief pitcher Jerry Blevins was hit by a line drive, breaking his arm. Their winning streak was broken in the first game of the Subway Series, where Jacob deGrom lost to Michael Pineda. The next day, in the second game of the series, Matt Harvey pitched 8.2 innings, but after giving up back-to-back hits, Harvey was taken out of the game. He would still get the victory. No Met would pitch a complete game until September. The Mets then lost the rubber match against the Yankees on Sunday night, their first appearance on ESPN Sunday Night Baseball since the 2013 season.

May

In May, they dropped a bit, and the Nationals took the Division lead after taking 3 of 4 from the Mets at Citi Field to start the month. Many predicted at the start of the season that Washington would win the division, and they continued to have a strong month while the Mets scuffled. It was a rough month for the pitchers, but Bartolo Colón struggled the most, as he saw his ERA balloon to 4.80 at one point, effectively ending his All-Star chances. Noah Syndergaard was called up in mid-May to help provide an impact, and made his Major League debut on May 12 against the Chicago Cubs. He struggled mightily, losing 6-1 in part of a 4-game sweep at the hand of the Cubs at Wrigley Field. The Mets then returned home that weekend for a weekend series against the Milwaukee Brewers and took the series 2 games to 1. On Saturday, the Mets offense exploded for 14 runs, scoring 10 in the 4th inning, which included a grand slam hit by Wilmer Flores. Syndergaard picked up his first major league win on Sunday as the Mets won 5-1. The rest of the month was not good for the Mets, as in the following week, they split a 4-game series with the Cardinals and were swept by the Pirates. While they started the final week of May by sweeping the Phillies, they closed the month by losing a series to the Marlins, ending May with a 28-23 record.

June

The Mets continued their struggles on a road trip to the West, as they dropped a series in San Diego and also split a series in Arizona. Their return home was not kind either, as they were no-hit by Chris Heston on June 9, which would turn out to be the first of two no-hitters thrown against the Mets in 2015. New York rebounded to win a weekend series against the Braves, and also snapped the Toronto Blue Jays' 11 game winning streak, which matched the Mets' 11-game streak as the longest winning streak of the year, by beating them on a walk-off hit by Wilmer Flores. After another win the following day, the Mets retook the division lead again as Washington continued to not live up to experts' expectations. However, the Mets began to struggle again, as they dropped their next 7 in a row to fall back to under .500, at 36-37. Facing the Brewers, Jacob deGrom snapped the losing skid with a strong winning effort, pitching 8 shutout innings to guide the Mets to a 2-0 victory and get them back to .500 returning home for a three-game set with the Cincinnati Reds.

On June 28, left-handed pitching prospect Steven Matz, a native of Stony Brook, New York and a lifelong Mets fan, made his Major League debut for the Mets against the Cincinnati Reds. He recorded four runs batted in (RBIs), breaking the Mets' franchise record for RBIs in a major league debut and setting an MLB record for most RBI by a pitcher in their debut. He went on to get the win in that game. Matz was the first pitcher from Long Island to make his MLB debut with the Mets since Ray Searage in 1981. With the win, the Mets swept the Reds to end June with a 40-38 record.

July

The Mets then started the month of July poorly, as they unexpectedly began to struggle to score runs despite an offensive outburst over the previous weekend against the Reds. The Mets opened July by getting swept by the Chicago Cubs at Citi Field. In the three game series, the Mets scored only one run. The team lost 6-1 on Thursday afternoon to drop to 40-40. After the game, local news pundits tore into the Wilpon's ownership of the team and GM Sandy Alderson not admitting there was a problem with the offense. Alderson then addressed the media and dubbed the reporters "residents of Panic City". Panic City became a popular term used to describe Mets fans, especially on social media. After the sweep, the Mets went 4-2 on a road trip to the west coast in Los Angeles and San Francisco. They followed this with a sweep of the Arizona Diamondbacks at Citi Field that brought the team's record to 47-42 heading into the 2015 All Star Break. In the final game of this series, Kirk Nieuwenhuis became the tenth Met to hit three home runs in one game, and the first player in Mets history to hit three home runs in one home game; the previous nine did so on the road.

On July 29, the Mets were involved in a bizarre series of events where it was reported through various social media outlets that Wilmer Flores had been traded, along with Zack Wheeler to the Milwaukee Brewers in exchange for outfielder Carlos Gómez, as part of the Mets' desire to bring in an outfield bat. Word spread quickly around the stadium, and eventually to Flores, who took the field in the 8th inning crying and visibly emotional. After the game, general manager Sandy Alderson confirmed with the media that the trade had fallen through due to either medical concerns or disagreements on money, meaning Flores and Wheeler remained Mets. The next day, Flores was on the bench while the Mets tried to put the previous night behind them, leading the Padres 7-1 in the 7th inning. However, Derek Norris cut into the lead with a grand slam off Hansel Robles, but the newly acquired reliever Tyler Clippard sent the game into the 9th with the Mets retaining a 7-5 lead. Jeurys Familia came in to close the game, but with two outs and one strike on Norris, a heavy rainfall prompted the umpires to delay the game. After the delay, Norris blooped an 0-2 single to right field, Matt Kemp grounded a single to left field, and Justin Upton provided the final blow, homering to give the Padres an 8-7 lead, which would hold up.

Following the crushing defeat, the Mets faced the Washington Nationals in a pivotal three game series, considering that the Nationals were 3 games ahead of the Mets, and a New York sweep could give the Mets the division lead, while a Nationals series win might do the Mets in for good. Prior to the first game, the Mets got their big outfield bat, Yoenis Céspedes, in a trade with the Tigers for minor league pitchers Michael Fulmer and Luis Cessa. That night, in a pivotal game against their division rivals, the Washington Nationals, Flores hit a walk-off home run in the 12th inning, winning the game for the Mets by a score of 2-1. Flores had also driven in the other Mets run earlier in the game. It was also the only walk-off home run the Mets hit in the regular season.

August

The Mets started August on a hot streak, sweeping the Washington Nationals and the Miami Marlins with their new addition Yoenis Céspedes on a hot streak as well. They regained the lead in the NL East on August 3^[7] and did not relinquish it for the rest of the season. On August 21, Céspedes became the 11th Met in franchise history and the third Met in 2015 to hit three home runs in a game when he did so against the Rockies.^[8] This feat was achieved early in the season by Lucas Duda and Kirk Nieuwenhuis.

On August 24 against the Phillies, David Wright played in his first game since April 14, missing over four months due to a hamstring injury and a career-threatening bout with spinal stenosis. Wright hit a home run into the second deck in his first at-bat; this would be the first of eight Met home runs in the game, setting a new franchise record in their 16-7 win. The Mets also hit 45 home runs in August, setting the club record for most home runs in a calendar month.

The Mets finished the month of August with a 20-8 record, their first month with at least 20 wins since September 2000.

September

The Mets swept an important 3-game series in Washington against the Nationals, coming from behind in each game to do so; this sweep increased their division lead, which they would not relinquish, to seven games, effectively ending the chances of a Nationals comeback.

On September 26, the Mets clinched the National League East Division regular season championship after defeating the Cincinnati Reds 10-2.

October

The Mets began October on a low note. They were the favorites to win home-field advantage over the Los Angeles Dodgers in the divisional round, but finished 1-5 to end the season, including being swept the rival Phillies and dropping a series against the Nationals, which included a no-hitter thrown by Max Scherzer on October 3,^[9] which was the second no-hitter thrown against the Mets all season. However, the Mets rebounded the next day with a 1-0 win to head into the postseason on a positive note. Jacob deGrom pitched 4 shutout innings and the Mets took a combined no-hitter into the 8th, but Clint Robinson singled off Jon Niese to end the no-hitter. Curtis Granderson then homered for the only run of the game, and Jeurys Familia earned his 43rd save of the year, tying a club record previously held by Armando Benitez, who recorded 43 saves in 2001.^[10] The win also gave the Mets a solid 90 victories, which Alderson had predicted of the team in 2014. The club ended the regular season with a record of 90-72, making it the first time since 2006 that the Mets won at least 90 games.

The Mets played the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 2015 National League Division Series, winning in five games. They then swept the Chicago Cubs in the 2015 National League Championship Series before losing in five games to the Kansas City Royals in the 2015 World Series. It was the first World Series to feature two expansion teams. Game 5 was the first game in franchise history in the month of November.

Detailed record

• Most Runs Scored in a game: 16 (8/24 vs. PHI)
• Most Runs Allowed in a game: 14 (9/1 vs. PHI)
• Most Hits in a Game: 21 (7/25 vs. LAD)
• Longest Winning Streak: 11 games (4/12–4/23) Ties franchise record
• Longest Losing Streak: 7 games (6/17–6/24)

Season standings

National League East

National League Division Leaders

Record vs. opponents

Game log

Regular season

{| align="center" border="1" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="1" style="border:1px solid #aaa"

|- !colspan=3|Legend |- ! bgcolor="ccffcc"|Mets Win ! bgcolor="ffcccc"|Mets Loss ! bgcolor="cccccc"|Game Postponed |- !colspan=3|Bold = Mets team member |}

Postseason

Roster

Player stats

Batting

Regular season

Players bolded are presently on Mets active roster.
Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; R = Runs scored; H = Hits; 2B = Doubles; 3B = Triples; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in; SB = Stolen bases; BB = Base on balls; K = Strike Outs; AVG = Batting average

Postseason

Players bolded are presently on Mets active roster.
Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; R = Runs scored; H = Hits; 2B = Doubles; 3B = Triples; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in; SB = Stolen bases; BB = Base on balls; K = Strike Outs; AVG = Batting average

Pitching

Players bolded are currently on the Mets active roster.
Note: G = Games pitched; GS = Games started; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; IP = Innings pitched; H = Hits; R = Runs; ER = Earned runs allowed; BB = Walks allowed; K = Strikeouts; ERA = Earned run average;

Farm system

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to 2015 New York Mets season.

• 2015 New York Mets season Official Site
• 2015 New York Mets season at Baseball Reference
• 2015 New York Mets season at ESPN