Inside the Mets Opening Day numbers

“You always get a special kick on opening day, no matter how many you go through. You look forward to it like a birthday party when you’re a kid. You think something wonderful is going to happen.” – Joe DiMaggio

Although it is taking place in 2015 one day after Easter, Opening Day is a little more like Christmas for baseball fans.  Every team from the mighty defending World Series Champion San Francisco Giants to the lowly Philadelphia Phillies are all on equal ground.  The 162-game marathon leading to the playoffs is about to get kicked off, and for most fanbases that means cautious, child-like optimism for what lies ahead.

For Mets fans this year, that means looking at a team that hasn’t recorded a winning season since 2008 and having faith that there have been enough improvements to carry them back into the playoffs.  It also means being reunited with old friends Gary Cohen, Ron Darling and Keith Hernandez on SNY broadcasts.  Without fail later this afternoon as the Mets square off against the Washington Nationals, Cohen will make mention of the Mets historic success on Opening Day games.

In 53 Opening Day games since their inception in 1962, the Mets sport a 34-19 record all-time, good for a .641 winning percentage.

It took the franchise until its ninth try in 1970 to finally win on Opening Day, with Tom Seaver, Ron Taylor and Tug McGraw combining to hurl 11 innings as the Mets downed Roberto Clemente and the Pittsburgh Pirates 5-3 at Forbes Field.  From 1970 to 1983, the club won 13 out of 14 Opening Day games.

Over the last decade, the Mets are 7-3 on Opening Day, despite finishing above .500 only four times in that span.  The Mets Opening Day record in years in which they have made the playoffs is 4-3.  The wins came in 1973, 1986, 1988 and 2006; while the team lost their openers in 1969, 1999 and 2000.

No Met starting pitcher has started more Opening Day games than Seaver did, getting the nod 11 times, with the team going 8-3.  The Mets were 7-1 in Dwight Gooden’s eight Opening Day starts, and was a perfect 4-0 when Johan Santana took the mound.

The biggest offensive outburst the Mets have ever had in their opener came on April 4^th of the fateful 1994 season.  The Amazin’s outslugged the Cubs 12-8 at Wrigley Field with a lineup consisting of Todd Hundley hitting second, Bobby Bonilla in the cleanup spot, Jeff Kent going 4-for-5, and Jeromy Burnitz hitting seventh.  The Cubs fielded a team consisting of a 34-year-old Ryne Sandberg and a 25-year-old Sammy Sosa.

Perhaps appropriately, the worst beating the Mets ever took on Opening Day was at the hands of the Cubs on March 31, 2003.  Tom Glavine was shellacked in his first start since signing a 4-year deal to join the Mets from division rival Atlanta.  Glavine allowed five runs on eight hits and four walks in 3.2 innings to get the Art Howe era of Mets baseball off to a sour start.  Corey Patterson connected for two homers off of Mike Bacsik, who has gone on to fame as a footnote in baseball history as the pitcher who surrendered Barry Bonds’ 756^th career home run.  Sosa and future Met Moises Alou also starred for the Cubs that day.

Sosa would spark controversy two months later when his bat would break in a June 3^rd game against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and cork would be discovered inside.  In October, Alou would also be at the center of controversy as a key cog in the Steve Bartman incident.

What will this year’s Opening Day bring for the Mets?  Will it be a predictor of a fruitful season in Flushing, or a red herring of what will occur in games two through 162?  Who knows.  That’s the beautiful thing about Opening Day, all the talk of the offseason is over, and it’s time to finally start playing the games.  The long dark period from the end of October to the beginning of April is over, and Mets baseball is back not a moment too soon.

Let’s go Mets.