Opening Day The Mets began their 2016 season by losing a close one in
Kansas City, falling 4–3 at the hands of the
Kansas City Royals.
Matt Harvey, making the
Opening Day start, was hit around by the Royals, who took a 4–0 lead into the 8th. However, the Mets scored 3 runs off
Joakim Soria to make the game close. In the top of the ninth, facing Royals closer
Wade Davis, the Mets put runners at the corners with one out, but Davis struck out
David Wright and
Yoenis Céspedes to close out the Royals' Opening Day victory.
April Following a narrow Opening Day defeat, the Mets split the series in Kansas City behind a scoreless outing by
Noah Syndergaard and a two-run home run by
Neil Walker. The Mets then returned home and won their home opener 7–2 against the
Philadelphia Phillies.
Jacob deGrom pitched six strong innings, while Walker and
Michael Conforto both had multiple RBI's. The Mets then went on a brief four-game losing streak which dropped them to 2–5. During the slump, the offense struggled to produce. However, the offense caught fire throughout the rest of the month, led by Walker, who hit .315 with 9 home runs and 19 RBI's in his first month with the team. The Mets only scored less than four runs in a game once in April after April 15, and finished the opening month of the season with a 15–7 record.
May After a surging April, the Mets began to cool down in May. On May 7,
Bartolo Colón became the oldest player to hit his first career home run, at 42 years and 349 days old. It came off
San Diego Padres pitcher
James Shields in a game against San Diego. Mets pitchers continued to hit when on May 11,
Noah Syndergaard hit two home runs off of
Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher,
Kenta Maeda. The second home run gave the Mets the lead in the 5th inning. On May 27, the Mets returned to
Citi Field to play the Dodgers in what was the first game in a 1986 World Championship 30th Anniversary Weekend Celebration. New York won the first game on a
Curtis Granderson walk-off home run, but lost the next two games, highlighted by
Noah Syndergaard throwing behind Dodgers second baseman
Chase Utley, an act that was seen as intentional as the Mets were trying to get revenge for Utley's questionable slide against the Mets in the
2015 NLDS. In the series finale, Colón and
Clayton Kershaw battled on
ESPN Sunday Night Baseball. However, Mets closer
Jeurys Familia allowed three runs in the 9th to lose the game. The Mets finished the month with a record of 14–15. This dropped them to second place in the
National League East to the
Washington Nationals, who would never relinquish their lead in the division.
June The Mets continued to struggle in June, in part due to an offense not producing many runs, in particular with runners in scoring position.
Neil Walker, who had led the Mets in most offensive categories for the first two months, began to have a drop off in production. The Mets also could not beat teams in their division, getting swept by the
Atlanta Braves and
Washington Nationals. Pitching also became an issue for the Mets. While
Bartolo Colón and
Noah Syndergaard continued to pitch well,
Steven Matz,
Jacob deGrom and
Matt Harvey would not win a game in June. Also that month,
Lucas Duda and
David Wright went down with back and neck injuries, respectively. While Duda would return to the Mets later in the year, Wright would wind up missing the entire season. Duda would be replaced by
James Loney, and the Mets brought back former shortstop
José Reyes to fill in for Wright at third base. The move was greeted with criticism, as Reyes had been arrested for domestic violence in the offseason. However, Reyes filled in adequately, although he would not make his season debut until July 5. At the end of the month, following a sweep at the hands of the Nationals, it was announced that both Matz and Syndergaard had been pitching with bone spurs in their throwing arms.
July The Mets returned home to
Citi Field to start the month and swept a four-game series from the
Chicago Cubs, similar to what they had done in the
2015 NLCS. Only July 4, against the
Miami Marlins, the Mets fell behind 6–0 in the 4th inning, but would rally to win the game 8–6. The Mets' celebration was to be short-lived, however, as it was announced that
Matt Harvey was placed on the 15-day DL. Shortly after, he opted to have season-ending surgery to resolve a condition called
thoracic outlet syndrome.
José Reyes would return to the Mets on July 5, just in time for a pivotal four-game series with the divisional rival
Washington Nationals before the All-Star break. In the first game of the series, the Mets would hit four home runs to win 9–7. The following day, it was announced that
Bartolo Colón had been selected to replace
Madison Bumgarner in the
2016 MLB All-Star Game, joining teammates
Noah Syndergaard,
Jeurys Familia and
Yoenis Céspedes. However, hours after this was announced, Syndergaard and Céspedes were both injured in a 3–1 loss to the Nationals. These injuries would force the two to miss the All-Star Game, which they were projected to start in. After the All-Star break,
Jacob deGrom pitched arguably the best game of his young career, as he dominated the
Philadelphia Phillies in a complete-game shutout, while striking out 7 batters. The Mets continued to play well until the final week of the month, when All-Star closer
Jeurys Familia, who had converted all of his 36 save opportunities in the season at that point, uncharacteristically blew the saves in back to back games against the
St. Louis Cardinals and
Colorado Rockies. The Mets finished the month with a 54–50 record, and it became clear that GM
Sandy Alderson would have to make a deadline trade if the Mets were to make the postseason.
August In August,
Sandy Alderson would come through with a deal at the trade deadline, as he acquired outfielder
Jay Bruce from the
Cincinnati Reds in exchange for second baseman
Dilson Herrera and pitching prospect Max Wotell. Bruce would make his Mets debut the following day, in a 7–1 win over the crosstown rival
New York Yankees in the second game of the yearly
Subway Series. Bruce would help the Mets tie the series, as he hit a go-ahead three-run home run at
Yankee Stadium in the series finale in a 4–1 Mets victory. However, Bruce's initial spark would quickly burn out, as he began to slump, only adding to the Mets' offensive struggles. To make matters worse, star outfielder
Yoenis Céspedes, who undoubtedly had been the best hitter on the team, was diagnosed with strained right quadriceps, and was placed on the 15-day DL. Without him, the Mets' record fell under .500 after an 8–6 loss to the
San Diego Padres on August 12. However, the Mets would rally to win the next two games over the Padres, highlighted by
Steven Matz taking a no-hitter into the 8th inning on August 14. Matz struck out 8 batters in that game, which would ultimately wind up being his last game of the year, as he would later undergo surgery for a bone spur in the left elbow, therefore ending his season. The Mets would also lose second baseman
Neil Walker for the season after he required surgery to fix a
herniated disc in his back. Luckily for the Mets, Céspedes would return to the team on August 19 against the
San Francisco Giants in
California, in what would be considered the turning point of the Mets season. The following day, with the Mets record at 60–62, Céspedes hit two home runs in a 9–5 victory, and homered again the next night on
ESPN Sunday Night Baseball, as the Mets would get their record back to .500. They then took series from the
St. Louis Cardinals and the
Philadelphia Phillies. New York would also win three of four against the
Miami Marlins heading into September, highlighted by a Céspedes walk-off home run in a 2–1 win over Miami on August 29.
September Heading into the final month of the regular season, the Mets remained in a race for a Wild Card spot along with the Marlins, the
San Francisco Giants, and
St. Louis Cardinals. To start the month, the Mets sent out
Jacob deGrom to start against the Marlins, looking to close out a four-game sweep at
Citi Field. However, deGrom struggled as the Mets lost the series finale 6–4. It was later revealed that these struggles were injury related, and deGrom underwent season-ending surgery on his ulnar nerve in order to relieve discomfort in his elbow and numbness in his fingers which had plagued him during the season. The loss of deGrom meant that the Mets had lost 3/5 of their starting rotation. In addition to this,
Zack Wheeler, who was expected to return in July following
Tommy John surgery that kept him sidelined for the entire 2015 season, would suffer setbacks in a minor league rehab assignment, and never returned in 2016. Fortunately for the Mets,
Noah Syndergaard and
Bartolo Colón managed to stay healthy throughout the entire season, and minor leaguers
Seth Lugo and
Robert Gsellman would provide great starts while filling in for the injured stars down the stretch, helping guide the Mets to multiple series wins throughout the final month. Some pivotal moments of September for the Mets included a weekend sweep at home over the
Minnesota Twins, highlighted by
Curtis Granderson hitting a game-tying home run in the 11th inning and a
walk-off home run in the 12th inning in the second game of the series. Later on in the home stand, after the Mets were swept by the visiting rival
Atlanta Braves, New York began a four-game series against the
Philadelphia Phillies with a 9–8 win in 11 innings. This game would go down as one of the best games of the entire MLB season, as it featured multiple lead changes and comebacks by the Mets. The Phillies held a 6–4 lead heading into the bottom of the 9th, and with the Mets down to their final strike,
José Reyes hit a game-tying two-run home run to send the game to extra innings. In the 11th inning, after the Phillies scored two runs to take an 8–6 lead,
Asdrúbal Cabrera hit a walk-off three-run home run, capped off with a dramatic bat flip celebration. The Mets would end their regular season home slate by taking three of four from the Phillies, including a 17–0 win in the home finale. After this, the Mets took two of three in
Miami before heading to
Philadelphia to end the season, needing to win the series in order to qualify for a Wild Card spot.
October The Mets played the
San Francisco Giants in the
National League Wild Card Game at
Citi Field on October 5, 2016, which was presented on
ESPN. The game was notable for two quality pitching performances by the Mets'
Noah Syndergaard, who pitched 7 innings, allowed no runs on two hits, striking out 10 batters, and Giants'
Madison Bumgarner, who pitched a complete-game shutout on 4 hits while striking out six. Both teams failed to produce any runs for 8 innings, as Syndergaard and
Addison Reed held the Giants to no runs, while Bumgarner did the same by himself. During the 9th inning,
Conor Gillaspie, the Giants' third baseman, hit a go-ahead three-run home run in the top of the 9th off of Mets' closer
Jeurys Familia, placing the Mets in a three-run deficit that would eventually cost them the game. The Giants defeated the Mets 3–0, as they would go on to lose to the eventual World Series champion
Chicago Cubs in four games in the
National League Division Series.
Detailed record • Most runs scored in a game: 17 runs (September 25 vs Philadelphia) • Most runs allowed in a game: 13 runs (August 17 vs Arizona) • Most hits in a game: 22 hits (July 3 vs Chicago) • Longest winning streak: 8 (April 22 - April 30) • Longest losing streak: 4 (April 9–12, May 12–15, June 26–29, July 27–30, August 9–12)
Games played as of October 2, 2016. ==Season standings==