The New York Mets snapped a streak of six straight losing seasons in 2015 to earn their first National League pennant in 15 years, eventually losing the Kansas City Royals in the World Series. How did the individual players fare? Here are Adam Rubin's final grades for the Amazin's.
MANAGEMENT
Owners Fred and Jeff Wilpon
Never beloved by Mets fans, the Wilpons did sign off on taking on payroll at the trade deadline.
GM Sandy Alderson
Alderson has acknowledged some luck was involved when the trade for Carlos Gomez fell through and the Mets then ended up with Yoenis Cespedes. Still, the acquisitions of Cespedes, Tyler Clippard, Addison Reed, Juan Uribe and Kelly Johnson made the Mets legitimate contenders.
Manager Terry Collins
After holding the Mets together while outmanned for four seasons, Collins finally had the arsenal to compete in 2015, especially after the trade deadline acquisitions. Fans may quibble with some in-game maneuvers, but Collins has earned his players' respect.
STARTING PITCHERS
DeGrom followed up his NL Rookie of the Year campaign with a strong sophomore season. Since his May 15, 2014, debut, deGrom has the fourth-best ERA in the majors, trailing only Clayton Kershaw (1.97), Jake Arrieta (2.05) and Zack Greinke (2.13).
Subtract the drama over his innings cap and Harvey had a remarkable first season back from Tommy John surgery. He produced a 2.71 ERA in 29 regular-season starts.
Syndergaard's 166 strikeouts rank as the third-most in franchise history through 24 career regular-season games, trailing only Dwight Gooden (193) and Harvey (172). Early road woes turned out to be a non-issue by the end of the season.
Matz became the first pitcher in franchise history to limit opponents to two earned runs or fewer in each of his first five major league starts. Matz's tendency to be injured surfaced twice. He missed two months with a strained lat muscle, then finished the regular season because of unrelated back spasms.
During a season in which he turned 42 years old, Colon had a 31-inning scoreless streak from Aug. 26 through Sept. 10. He then proved valuable in the bullpen in the postseason.
Niese's 4.13 ERA was his highest since 2011. Still, he stayed healthy and might have flirted with a career-high innings count had he not shifted to the bullpen the last week of the season.
RELIEF PITCHERS
On the final day of the regular season, Familia matched Armando Benitez's 2001 total for the franchise's single-season saves record (43). Despite two blown saves in the World Series, he aced the closer's role originally projected to belong to Jenrry Mejia and then Bobby Parnell.
Clippard's end to the regular season was not pretty. He had a 7.11 ERA in his final 10 appearances. Still, he stabilized the bullpen after he arrival, which coincided with Mejia's second PED suspension. Clippard had a 0.46 ERA in his first 20 appearances with the Mets.
Reed did not allow a run in his first 15 appearances after a trade from the Arizona Diamondbacks. Despite some issues with inherited runners, Reed is likely to be tendered a contract and return to the Mets in 2016.
Goeddel had a 1.96 ERA in 22 appearances before landing on the DL with an elbow strain.
Although not beloved by the Phillies, Robles proved serviceable.
Gilmartin did not make the NLDS roster, but he did have a strong season in his role. Gilmartin becomes the first player to officially stick with the Mets through the Rule 5 draft route since Pedro Beato lasted the full next season after being selected in December 2010.
A big contributor to the Mets over the years, Parnell's final season before free agency is a reminder that not everyone's return from Tommy John surgery goes smoothly. At one point, the Mets gave Parnell the option of going to the minors, getting released or going on the DL. He chose the DL.
Left off the 40-man roster last winter, Verrett was selected in the Rule 5 draft but ultimately returned. He proved valuable as a multi-inning reliever/spot starter.
Torres had an extreme workload in 2014, logging 97 innings in 73 appearances (one start). That may have caught up with him. Torres' ERA jumped to 4.68 this season.
Eric O'Flaherty
Of all the Mets' trade acquisitions, this is the one that did not work out. O'Flaherty had a 13.50 ERA and 2.654 WHIP in 16 relief appearances after arriving from the Oakland Athletics to serve as a lefty specialist. Lefty batters hit .414.
CATCHERS
Travis d'Arnaud
A broken pinkie and an elbow injury limited d'Arnaud to 67 regular-season games. He nonetheless became the Mets' first catcher since Mike Piazza in 2002 and '03 to produce double-digit homers in consecutive seasons.
Plawecki hit only .219 with three homers and 21 RBIs in 233 at-bats during his rookie season. His future nonetheless seems bright.
Recker has appeared on four straight Opening Day rosters between the Cubs and Mets, but this looks like the end of the road considering Plawecki is ready and Recker hit only .125.
INFIELDERS
Despite an uneven season that resulted in his batting average did to the low-.230s in late July, Duda finished with 27 homers and 73 RBIs.
A pending free agent and likely a goner, Murphy just produces at the plate. He had a career-high 14 homers and was the toughest player to strike out in the majors (once every 14.2 plate appearances) during the regular season, then set a record with homers in six straight postseason games.
Is it unfair to penalize Wright for missing four months with spinal stenosis? Probably. But the captain appeared in a career-low 38 games.
Who will ever forget Flores' July 29 tears, when he thought he was getting traded to the Milwaukee Brewers? Or his walk-off homer in the 12th inning against the Washington Nationals two days later?
Booed on Opening Day. Cheered when he was introduced before Game 3 of the NLDS. Tejada clearly has a role going forward on the Mets once his fractured right leg heals, even if it's as a backup middle infielder.
Juan Uribe
Twice traded during the season, Uribe hit .219 with six homers and 20 RBIs in 44 games as a Met. He had big moments, though, before getting KO'd by cartilage damage in his chest.
Kelly Johnson
Johnson batted .250 with five homers and 13 RBIs in 49 games as a Met. His pinch-hit, game-tying homer against Stephen Strasburg on Sept. 9 alone made the trade worthwhile.
OUTFIELDERS
Yoenis Cespedes
Cespedes helped awaken the offense by hitting .287 with 17 homers and 44 RBIs in 57 games after arriving in a July 31 trade with the Detroit Tigers for pitching prospect Michael Fulmer. He's expected to depart as a free agent after a quiet World Series.
While Cespedes got some late media attention as an NL MVP candidate, Granderson arguably is the team's MVP. He stepped into the leadoff role and thrived. He set the franchise record with seven leadoff homers, passing Jose Reyes' mark (six, in 2006).
Cuddyer came to the Mets on a two-year, $21 million deal and underwhelmed (.259/.309/.391). Late in the season, he started only against left-handed pitching.
Conforto took over against right-handed pitching after debuting on July 24. His fielding was better than advertised, too. He finished with six outfield assists. That matched Michael Taylor for the most among NL rookies despite Cuddyer playing 82 fewer games.
There's no question that Lagares took a step backward after signing an extension on the eve of the season that guarantees him $23 million from 2016 through '19. Lagares had a paltry .289 on-base percentage. He also did not throw as well as the previous season because of an elbow issue.