Citi Field Still Needs First Clinching

It was a hell of a year for Citi Field. It saw the Mets hoist a championship banner for the first time, and hosted its first playoff and World Series games. However, it will have to wait to see the Mets actually clinch anything there.

The Mets had three clinching games in 2015 — the National League East, NLDS and NLCS. All occurred on the road. And if you’ve been paying attention to the Mets for the past 50 or so years, you would know how unusual that is.

The Mets have been fortunate enough to clinch at home most of the time in their history. In fact, in 16 clinching games before this season, 12 of them came at good old Shea Stadium. Here is the rundown:

1969
NL East-Shea Stadium
NLCS-Shea Stadium
World Series-Shea Stadium

1973
NL East-Wrigley Field
NLCS-Shea Stadium

1986
NL East-Shea Stadium
NLCS-Astrodome
World Series-Shea Stadium

1988
NL East-Shea Stadium

1999
Wild Card Game-Riverfront Stadium
NLDS-Shea Stadium

2000
Wild Card-Shea Stadium
NLDS-Shea Stadium
NLCS-Shea Stadium

2006
NL East-Shea Stadium
NLDS-Dodger Stadium

This is why many of us have such fond memories of Shea Stadium — so many great things happened there. Citi Field is still in its infancy; hopefully it will see multiple clinching ceremonies, hopefully very soon.