Hello folks, good to be back writing to you all again. I figured it was my turn to try my hand at one of these. Let me take you back about 6 and a half years in the past to a Friday in August that many Mets fans remember fondly.

Before we get to that special summer night, let’s give some background. The Mets were coming off 2 extremely disappointing seasons in 2017 and 2018. Then general manager Brodie Van Wagenen sought to shake things up. He made a big trade in the offseason acquiring potential superstar closer Edwin Díaz and the contract of Robinson Cano for a haul of Jay Bruce, Anthony Swarzak, Jarred Kelenic and Anthony Dunn. Now in 2019 let’s just say Edwin Díaz didn’t get off to the start anyone was dreaming of. It even incited one of the great Francesca moments after a blown save in Philly that I may just have to blog on here. They would also acquire JD Davis that offseason, who would have an excellent offensive output.

Most importantly the Mets decided to give the young guys an opportunity that season. Pete Alonso made the team out of spring training and would have a season for the ages, 53 home runs 120 RBI. Jeff McNeil got a good taste of big league ball in 2018, he would wind up being an all star in 2019. Others like Dominic Smith, Amed Rosario and Luis Guillorme would make good contributions. We also got a damn good Michael Conforto season, I’ll never understand how he flamed out, always loved his swing.

It would also go on to be the beginning of the end of our vaunted pitching staff. Matt Harvey had been moved on the season before. Noah Syndergaard was sadly in decline at this point. As was Steven Matz. It really left a phenomenal Jacob deGrom and Zack Wheeler to do most of the heavy lifting. DeGrom was in the midst of one of the most dominating runs in the history of baseball for a starting pitcher and Zack Wheeler would leave the Mets that offseason…

The 2019 Mets season got off to a decent start before a classic June swoon saw them drop to 9 games below .500. They lost their first game out of the all star break and then it happened. On July 24th the Mets sat at 46-55. They would go on to win 13 of their next 14 games setting up a huge weekend series at Citi Field against the NL East leading Washington Nationals. To add intrigue Marcus Stroman, fresh from a trade from Toronto would be making his home debut.

This Friday night I happened to be at The Osprey in Manasquan, New Jersey. I’ve talked about my love for Osprey before but this night was particularly exciting because of the upcoming Mets game and all the excitement around the team. Osprey isn’t exactly a sports bar, but it does a couple TVs on the live music side of the bar where I stood that night. Me and my buddies had gotten in on the first wave and immediately got our self a table to stand at right by one of said TVs. The vibes were tremendous. I also can appreciate the humor in the idea of being at a bar with many beautiful women and not even paying attention because the Mets were in an August playoff push.

This game didn’t get off to an ideal start. Anthony Rendon (who absolutely torched the Mets back in the day) hit a RBI triple and shortly after a 20 year old Juan Soto hit a 2 run bomb off Stroman.

As would be a theme for the rest of the Mets season, they fought back. Pete Alonso hit a 2 run homer for his 38th home run on the season and JD Davis followed that up with his own home run to tie the game. Rendon would add on a 2 run homer in the 7th and Trea Turner scored on a wild pitch to make it a 6-3 game.

Enter a Mets fan favorite, the Nationals very own closer Sean Doolittle. Let me say this, Sean Doolittle was a damn good pitcher. But the Mets just had his number. Following this game Doolittle would have given up 19 runs on the season, 10 coming against the Mets.

The inning would start with JD Davis leading off with a double. Then Wilson Ramos would come through with a single. Todd Frazier followed and I’m sure you all remember what came next. A home run hooking inside the foul pole which would send Citi Field and The Osprey into hysteria. But the Mets weren’t done yet. Joe Panik would single, Juan Lagares would then bunt him over to 2nd. Following a Jeff McNeil flyout Amed Rosario would single leaving runners on the corners for Michael Conforto. Conforto would proceed to come through.

Conforto ripped a ball to right over the head of Adam Eaton, Panik comes home to score and Conforto gets mobbed near 2nd where Pete Alonso rips his jersey off. This was a joyous moment where you’re hugging total strangers and just enjoying the moment.

Ultimately the Mets would fall short of the playoffs this season but if you ask most Mets fans about 2019 they’ll remember it fondly. It was a young, upstart group that had so much promise. They fought all the way to the end that season.

Even in their final game when it was all said and done Dom Smith would step up to walk it off completing one more comeback for this Mets group.

The legacy of the 2019 would go on through the early to mid 2020’s. I don’t know if you want to classify it as an era but this offseason really felt like the end for that group of players. Guys like Pete Alonso, Edwin Diaz and so on would be key contributors to the 2022 team which went to the wild card and the 2024 OMG Mets that went to game 6 of the NLCS.

Thank you all for reading my piece, Nick and I should be back soon to talk more baseball and such in the next few weeks.

On twitter you can find Mike @Mike_Sheerin, Tyler @TMon_19 and Sean @SeanMartinNFL. Subscribe to the site by hitting the follow button in the bottom right corner and entering your email address. Check out our Instagram feed @thebroadwaybreakdownsports for special gameday and promotional content. Our podcasts are available on Spotify. Visit the Rangers Ed Shop by clicking the link on our homepage. Check out our mailbag page to join the conversation here on the site and on our partners show, The Rangers Ed Podcast! We’ll be back with more soon.