if you could change one outcome (spun off from Answer/Ask in the NBF)

[Benjamin Grimm]

If you could change the outcome of one and only one game in Mets history, which one would it be?

Game 1 of the 2000 World Series. didn't even have to think about it

For me, it's Game 6 of the 1973 World Series. Either that game (or the following one) are the only options that would guarantee an extra World Championship.

[Marshmallowmilkshake]

That one-game playoff against the Giants in 2016 comes to mind.

[Chad ochoseis]

Game 7 of the 1973 Series was the first that I thought of. I was 8 at the time, and Garrett popping up to Campaneris was probably the darkest moment of my life up until then.

I'm not as invested as I get older. But the last game of the 2007 season, otherwise known as the T#m Gl#vine game, comes to mind.

[metirish]

I agree with Bucket. 2000 WS game one , for many reasons, but, I was only a Mets fan a few years at that point, and I was full of hope and optimism

[Chad ochoseis]

I was full of hope and optimism

So you weren't really a Mets fan yet.

[metirish]

Right? I was naive to the ways of the Mets

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

I too was an innocent, true believer in 2000, it wasn't until 2008 that I became a fallen angel.

I like changing the outcome in 2000 because the MFYs were so soft and susceptible to being knocked off the pedestal, they might well have been swept.

[Edgy MD]

If I'm going regular season, flipping the last game of 2008 would certainly have an appeal.

[Gwreck]

Game 1 of the 2000 World Series. didn't even have to think about it

This is correct. Mets win that series with a win in the game.

There are two other games that if they went the other way, would also have resulted in Mets WS Championships: 2006 NLCS Game 7, and 2015 WS Game 1.

But nothing would have been so righteous as a 2000 WS Championship.

[Cowtipper]

Since it was from my formative years when I knew how to get actually emotionally involved ...

Carlos Beltran, SWING THE BAT!!

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

If I'm going regular season, flipping the last game of 2008 would certainly have an appeal.

Eh. That club would have gone and blown it in the playoffs anyway. I'd rather flip any of the many meaningless Tuesday Night Mets losses I had to suffer through.

[Centerfield]

Game 1 of the 2000 World Series. didn't even have to think about it

This is correct. Mets win that series with a win in the game.

Yeah. This is my number 1 too.

Rounding out my list.

1. 2000 WS Game 1
2. 1988 NLCS Game 4
3. 2006 NLCS Game 7
4. 2015 WS Game 1
5. 1999 NLCS Game 7

[G-Fafif]

Game 2 of the 2006 NLCS. Keep the momentum, cruise to the pennant in no more than 6, win the World Series with minimal fuss.

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

2015 WS game 4 would be nice to have back

[Benjamin Grimm]

I picked the 1973 World Series because it's the only choice that would guarantee a world championship.

After that, there are NLCS games in 1988 and 2006 that would have guaranteed an additional trip to the World Series. So those would be my second-tier picks.

[Edgy MD]

Well, either of the last two games of the 1973 World Series would guarantee a championship.

[Benjamin Grimm]

Yes. As stated above, I went with Game 6 because why not? One less loss on the Mets ledger.

[batmagadanleadoff]

Game 1 of the 2000 World Series. didn't even have to think about it

This is correct. Mets win that series with a win in the game.

Really? 'Cause I always thought that a team needed to win four games to win the WS, not two.

[batmagadanleadoff]

I picked the 1973 World Series because it's the only choice that would guarantee a world championship.

After that, there are NLCS games in 1988 and 2006 that would have guaranteed an additional trip to the World Series. So those would be my second-tier picks.

So logical. And both the 1988 and 2006 Mets were the best teams in the majors in each of those years so I can get behind your second choices, too.

[dinosaur jesus]

Game 159 in 1985, against the Cardinals. If they pull it out in the eighth or ninth, they're tied with three games to go. My version of how things play out has Darling pitching the last game of the season against the Expos, rather than Gooden on three days' rest (which is just what Davey did in the first game against the Cardinals) and Gooden pitching the one-game playoff, winning his 25th and the MVP, Andujar melting down just like he eventually did in game 7 that year, and the the postseason, when they blow through the Dodgers and the Royals, as almost an anticlimax. It could have happened that way.

Winning in 1986 made that one hurt less, but 1985 seemed purer somehow (though not as pure as 1984). That 1986 team was almost too good to root for. It gave me an idea of how being a Yankees fan can corrupt your soul.

[batmagadanleadoff]

The '85 squad was another Mets best team in the majors squad. The Cards three game final lead over the Mets in the standings that year was nothing more than randomness and luck. The difference was like three grains of sand from the beach at Atlantic City.

I could get behind this scenario. Gooden was at his best that year in September. And in playoff baseball, the one thing you wanna have is a dominant starting pitcher that can strike batters out. Who fits that bill better than '85 Gooden?

Nice to hear from you.

[MFS62]

The Adam fucking Wainwright game.
I felt bad after the others that have been mentioned, but that one really hurt.
Later

[Centerfield]

Game 159 in 1985, against the Cardinals. If they pull it out in the eighth or ninth, they're tied with three games to go. My version of how things play out has Darling pitching the last game of the season against the Expos, rather than Gooden on three days' rest (which is just what Davey did in the first game against the Cardinals) and Gooden pitching the one-game playoff, winning his 25th and the MVP, Andujar melting down just like he eventually did in game 7 that year, and the the postseason, when they blow through the Dodgers and the Royals, as almost an anticlimax. It could have happened that way.

Winning in 1986 made that one hurt less, but 1985 seemed purer somehow (though not as pure as 1984). That 1986 team was almost too good to root for. It gave me an idea of how being a Yankees fan can corrupt your soul.

I thought about this game too. But too many variables for the rest of the season and the entire playoffs kept it off.

Though I think the 85 team steamrolls the competition.

[TransMonk]

Yeah, it's the 2006 NLCS for me. I felt like we deserved that one and we would have crushed the Tigers.

[batmagadanleadoff]

Game 159 in 1985, against the Cardinals. If they pull it out in the eighth or ninth, they're tied with three games to go. My version of how things play out has Darling pitching the last game of the season against the Expos, rather than Gooden on three days' rest (which is just what Davey did in the first game against the Cardinals) and Gooden pitching the one-game playoff, winning his 25th and the MVP, Andujar melting down just like he eventually did in game 7 that year, and the the postseason, when they blow through the Dodgers and the Royals, as almost an anticlimax. It could have happened that way.

Winning in 1986 made that one hurt less, but 1985 seemed purer somehow (though not as pure as 1984). That 1986 team was almost too good to root for. It gave me an idea of how being a Yankees fan can corrupt your soul.

I thought about this game too. But too many variables for the rest of the season and the entire playoffs kept it off.

Though I think the 85 team steamrolls the competition.

What Mets fan wouldn't have wanted to see '85 Doc pitch in the playoffs?