Franchise knowledge
New York Mets
New York National League East
The New York Mets were born in 1962 to fill the National League hole left when the Dodgers and Giants left for California — and they announced themselves by losing 120 games, a modern record for futility. A decade later they were world champions. That whiplash — humiliation to miracle — is still the franchise’s emotional baseline in Queens.
Two World Series titles, four pennants, and a fan base that treats every September like a referendum on hope define Mets baseball. Below is a franchise overview: origins, eras, titles, legends, and the oddities that make Flushing feel unlike anywhere else in the sport. When you are ready to test what you know, browse the full New York Mets quiz collection or jump into recent seasons with the 2024 Mets quiz.
Through the decades
Franchise Timeline
Scroll the milestones, then tap a year to read the story behind it.
Apr 11, 1962
Mets play their first game
New York’s NL expansion club debuts with a 40–120 season that set a modern record for losses — and somehow made Casey Stengel a folk hero. The Mets were born as lovable losers before the miracle arrived.
Apr 17, 1964
Shea Stadium opens
Flushing Meadows gets its own cathedral as Shea Stadium opens in Queens. The Mets would play 44 seasons there, filling the park with two parades and countless near-misses.
Oct 16, 1969
Miracle Mets win the World Series
Seaver, Koosman, and Gil Hodges’ club completes the greatest turnaround in baseball history, beating Baltimore in five games. New York goes from 120-loss punchline to world champion in seven years.
Oct 1, 1973
Ya Gotta Believe pennant
Yogi Berra’s Mets rally from last place in August to win the NL East, then beat Cincinnati for the pennant before falling to Oakland in seven games in the World Series.
Oct 25, 1986
1986 World Series champions
After the wildest Game 6 in history — Buckner’s error in the 10th — the Mets clinch Game 7 in Boston. Gooden, Strawberry, Hernandez, and Carter deliver the franchise’s second title.
Oct 17, 2000
Subway Series pennant
The Mets beat St. Louis in the NLCS for their fourth pennant and face the Yankees in the first Subway Series since 1956. Piazza’s home run off Roger Clemens at Shea becomes an instant classic.
Oct 19, 2006
2006 NLCS heartbreak
One win from the World Series, the Mets lose NLCS Game 7 to St. Louis on Yadier Molina’s ninth-inning homer — a night that still defines modern Mets October pain.
Apr 13, 2009
Citi Field opens
The Mets move from Shea into a new ballpark built beside the old site in Queens. Citi Field’s brick-and-iron design nods to Ebbets Field — a deliberate link to Brooklyn’s lost NL past.
Oct 21, 2015
2015 NL pennant
deGrom, Syndergaard, Harvey, and Murphy carry the Mets past Chicago for the franchise’s fifth pennant. Kansas City ends the dream in five games in the World Series.
Oct 1, 2024
2024 NLCS run
The Mets reach the NLCS after a wild-card sprint and dramatic postseason wins before falling to the Dodgers. Relive the roster and results in the 2024 Mets quiz.
New York Mets
Origins
When Walter O’Malley moved the Brooklyn Dodgers to Los Angeles and Horace Stoneham took the Giants to San Francisco after the 1957 season, New York lost National League baseball for the first time since the 19th century. Mayor Robert Wagner appointed a committee; William Shea led the push for a replacement club and a new ballpark. The threat of a third major league — the Continental League — helped force expansion, and in 1962 the Mets arrived as one of two NL expansion teams (along with the Houston Colt .45s).
The Mets played their first two seasons at the Polo Grounds in upper Manhattan, the ancient home the Giants had vacated. Manager Casey Stengel, the legendary former Yankee skipper, gave the club instant personality. His one-liners — “Can’t anybody here play this game?” — turned a 40–120 inaugural season into something oddly lovable. Stengel wasn’t wrong about the talent; the Mets were an expansion roster patched together from other teams’ castoffs. But the brand was set: lovable losers with a New York microphone.
Shea Stadium opened in 1964 in Flushing Meadows, Queens, built on the same ground as the 1964 World’s Fair. The Mets would call it home for 44 seasons. The blue-and-orange colors deliberately echoed the departed NL New York clubs — Dodger blue and Giant orange — a civic reminder that this was the successor franchise for the city’s National League fans.
The origin story turns on speed: from the worst team in modern history to a world championship in 1969. That arc — hopeless to miraculous — remains the Mets’ founding myth and the standard every great Queens team is measured against.
New York Mets
History
The 1969 Miracle Mets, managed by former Brooklyn Dodger Gil Hodges, won 100 games and stormed through the Braves and Orioles to claim the franchise’s first World Series. Tom Seaver, Jerry Koosman, Cleon Jones, and Tommie Agee turned a punchline into a civic holiday. Seaver’s dominance — the “Tom Terrific” era — established pitching as the franchise’s first true identity.
The 1970s mixed contention with chaos. The 1973 “Ya Gotta Believe” club, led by Seaver, Koosman, and Willie Mays in his final act, reached the World Series and lost to Oakland in seven games. The mid-1970s brought ownership turmoil and the shocking 1977 trade of Seaver — the Midnight Massacre — that sent the franchise face to Cincinnati. Mets fans still rank it among the darkest days in club history.
Then came the 1980s powerhouse. After acquiring Keith Hernandez and Gary Carter, the Mets built a rotation around Dwight Gooden and a lineup featuring Darryl Strawberry. The 1986 club won 108 games and a World Series remembered forever for Game 6 — Mookie Wilson’s grounder, Bill Buckner’s error, and a Game 7 clincher over Boston. That team’s swagger, police-court headlines, and on-field brilliance remain the high-water mark for Mets excellence.
The 1988 club won 100 games but lost the NLCS to the Dodgers on Kirk Gibson’s home run off Gooden — another October heartbreak in a franchise catalogued by them. The 1990s rebuilt around Mike Piazza, acquired in a blockbuster 1998 trade with Florida. Piazza’s bat made Shea roar again; the 1999 wild-card run and 2000 Subway Series against the Yankees re-centered New York baseball on Queens for the first time in years.
Shea Stadium closed after 2008. Citi Field opened in 2009 with a cleaner, brick-and-iron aesthetic — and years of near-misses. The 2006 club lost a heartbreaking NLCS Game 7 to St. Louis. The 2007 and 2008 collapses became their own kind of Mets folklore. Then 2015: a young rotation of Jacob deGrom, Matt Harvey, Noah Syndergaard, and Steven Matz, plus Daniel Murphy’s postseason tear, carried the Mets to the pennant before falling to Kansas City in the World Series.
DeGrom’s back-to-back Cy Young awards in 2018–19 were individual masterpieces on uneven teams. Steve Cohen’s purchase in 2020 brought the highest payroll in baseball and renewed October expectations. Recent seasons — including a deep 2024 run — are covered in the 2023, 2024, and 2025 Mets quizzes.
New York Mets
Championships
The Mets have won two World Series championships and four National League pennants. In a city dominated by Yankees history, those peaks feel larger because the valleys — 120 losses, September collapses, traded icons — are so public.
- 1969 — Miracle Mets: New York 4, Baltimore 3 (Seaver, Koosman, Jones, Hodges)
- 1973 — NL pennant: lost World Series to Oakland 4–3 (“Ya Gotta Believe”)
- 1986 — World Series: Mets 4, Boston 3 (Gooden, Strawberry, Hernandez, Carter, Game 6 forever)
- 2000 — Subway Series pennant: lost to Yankees 4–1
- 2015 — NL pennant: lost World Series to Kansas City 4–1 (deGrom, Syndergaard, Murphy)
Near-misses define the rest of the ledger: the 1973 and 2015 World Series losses, the 1988 NLCS to Los Angeles, the 1999 and 2006 NLCS heartbreaks, and the 2024 NLCS against the Dodgers. In Queens, October pain is stored alongside the two parades. For recent rosters and results, start with the 2024 Mets quiz.
New York Mets
Oddities
Mets lore is built on swings so extreme they sound fictional until you check the standings.
- 120 losses in 1962: The inaugural Mets went 40–120, a 20th-century record for futility that made Stengel’s quips nationally famous. They were lovable because they were hopeless — until they weren’t.
- Midnight Massacre: On June 15, 1977, the Mets traded Tom Seaver to Cincinnati in a front-office dispute tied to contract tensions and off-field drama. The franchise lost its ace and its soul in one evening.
- Ball on the wall: In Game 3 of the 1969 World Series, Cleon Jones claimed a shoe polish stain on the ball proved he’d been hit by a pitch. The umpire awarded first base; the Mets rallied. Legend or fact, it’s pure Mets mythology.
- Bill Buckner, Game 6: The 1986 World Series turned on a slow grounder through Buckner’s legs in the 10th inning — still the most replayed clip in Mets history and the answer to a thousand trivia questions.
- Grand Slam Single: In the 1999 NLCS against Atlanta, Robin Ventura’s walk-off hit became a “single” because teammates mobbed him before he reached second base. The Mets won the game; the stat sheet stayed weird.
- 2007 and 2008: Back-to-back September collapses from playoff positions — including the final-day losses that still haunt a generation of fans — are their own chapter in franchise trauma.
- Mr. Met’s origin: One of baseball’s few costumed mascots debuted in 1964 with a baseball head and permanent smile. He survived decades of losing and two world titles unchanged — optimism in foam form.
The roster of memory
Notable Players
Legends, franchise faces, and the names every New York Mets fan should know.
Tom Seaver
Tom Terrific
The franchise’s first true superstar and the ace of the 1969 Miracle Mets. Seaver won three Cy Young awards in New York, struck out 19 Padres in a 1970 game, and remains the standard every Mets starter is measured against.
Mike Piazza
Post-Midnight Massacre icon
Acquired in a blockbuster 1998 trade, Piazza’s bat revived Shea Stadium and carried the Mets to the 2000 World Series. His post-9/11 home run at Shea remains one of the most emotional moments in New York sports history.
Keith Hernandez
1986 captain
Gold Glove first baseman and the defensive leader of the 1986 champions. Hernandez’s mustache, leadership, and line-drive bat turned a talented roster into a cohesive juggernaut.
Dwight Gooden
Doc
Electrifying right-hander whose 1985 season — 24 wins, 1.53 ERA, 268 strikeouts — ranks among the greatest pitching years in modern history. Gooden anchored the 1986 World Series run and became a symbol of both brilliance and what-if.
Darryl Strawberry
1986 slugger
Home-grown power hitter whose left-handed stroke and towering frame made him the offensive face of the 1980s Mets. Strawberry’s talent was undeniable; his career arc became a cautionary New York story.
Jacob deGrom
Two-time Cy Young
Converted shortstop who became the most dominant pitcher of his era in Queens. deGrom won consecutive Cy Young awards in 2018–19 with ERAs that looked like typos, and helped power the 2015 pennant run.
David Wright
Captain
Homegrown third baseman and franchise captain through the Citi Field era. Wright’s professionalism and production made him the face of the Mets for a decade — a rare steady star in a volatile history.
Jerry Koosman
1969 Game 5 winner
Left-hander who won Game 5 of the 1969 World Series to clinch the Miracle Mets’ only title in Shea’s first decade. Koosman paired with Seaver to give New York a 1–2 punch that shocked Baltimore.