The 1973 Mets played 161 games and finished with a 82–79 record. ‘Ya Gotta Believe’ became the rallying cry for a last-to-first pennant run.
They won the pennant and got to the World Series. The parade part did not happen.
How 1973 actually went.
01Injuries broke the lineup apart for much of the summer. Bud Harrelson, Cleon Jones, Jerry Grote, and Rusty Staub all missed time, and the Mets fell into last place. The division remained packed together, which gave them one narrow path: get healthy, let the rotation keep every game close, and make one late run before the calendar ended.
02Tug McGraw’s belief became useful only because his pitching backed it up. He dominated down the stretch, Seaver won another Cy Young Award, and the returning hitters supplied just enough offense. The Mets went from last in late August to first on the final day of their schedule, winning the division with 82 victories. No pennant winner has ever needed a smaller regular-season total.
03The NLCS against Cincinnati included Harrelson’s fight with Pete Rose and a tense five-game win over the Big Red Machine. In the World Series, the Mets led Oakland three games to two before losing the final two. Berra’s pitching choices in Game 6 remain debated, but the larger story is still astonishing: an injured last-place team recovered in time to come within one victory of a title.
Ya Gotta Believe worked because the Mets waited until the last possible moment to make it true.
The part you rememberWhy 1973 still matters.
The 1973 Mets spent much of the year injured, inconsistent, and buried in a weak National League East. They were still in last place late in August. But the division stayed close enough for one healthy stretch to matter, and once the lineup came back together, Tug McGraw’s ‘Ya Gotta Believe’ stopped sounding like a slogan and started sounding like a warning.
Tom Seaver, Jerry Koosman, and Jon Matlack gave the Mets the kind of rotation that could drag a team through a tight race. Rusty Staub returned from injury, McGraw became nearly untouchable out of the bullpen, and the Mets clinched the division on the final day of their schedule with only 82 wins. It was messy, tense, and completely on brand.
They then beat Cincinnati’s Big Red Machine in a rough five-game NLCS and came within one win of another championship. The Mets led Oakland three games to two before losing Games 6 and 7. It remains one of the strangest pennants ever won—and one of the best examples of why a Mets season is never truly dead until the standings finally say so.
No Mets team has ever made a better argument for hanging around until the very last possible minute.
The moment everybody remembers‘Ya Gotta Believe’ became the rallying cry for a last-to-first pennant run.
Where it turnedTug McGraw’s ‘Ya Gotta Believe’ message became the spirit of a team that refused to let injuries or the standings end its season.
How it endedThe Mets beat Cincinnati in five games for the pennant, then pushed Oakland to Game 7 of the World Series.
Where it fitsSeaver, the Miracle, and Two Pennants
Seaver, Koosman, Matlack, and a stubborn group of hitters turned the Mets from a punchline into a champion—and nearly did it twice.
Better or worse?The Mets won 1 fewer game than they did in 1972.
Then came...In 1974, the Mets finished 71–91. Injuries and a slow start ended the Mets’ attempt to defend their pennant. Go to 1974 →
