# The Miracle Mets Complete Their Coronation: April 26, 1969

On April 26, 1969, the New York Mets did something that seemed utterly impossible just a year earlier – they won their **ninth consecutive game** to start the season, moving to an astounding 9-2 record. This was the team that had literally been the worst franchise in baseball since entering the league in 1962, finishing dead last in six of their first seven seasons!

The '69 Mets defeated the Montreal Expos 5-4 at Shea Stadium that day, with backup catcher J.C. Martin driving in the winning run. But this game was so much more than just another victory – it was a pivotal moment in what would become one of the greatest Cinderella stories in sports history.

To understand the magnitude of this streak, you have to appreciate just how *bad* the Mets had been. In their inaugural 1962 season, they went 40-120, still the modern record for futility. Manager Casey Stengel famously asked, "Can't anybody here play this game?" They were lovable losers, the anti-Yankees, a punch line that somehow drew fans through sheer incompetence and charm.

But under new manager Gil Hodges, something magical was brewing in Flushing. The pitching staff, anchored by young arms like Tom Seaver (who would win 25 games that year), Jerry Koosman, and Gary Gentry, was suddenly dominant. The defense was spectacular. And the team had developed an almost supernatural ability to win close games.

This April 26th victory was classic '69 Mets: scrappy, dramatic, and improbable. Down 4-3 in the eighth inning, they rallied against the expansion Expos, who were in their first year of existence. The winning streak announced to the baseball world that this wasn't a fluke – the Mets were legitimate contenders.

The momentum from this hot start carried through the entire season. The Mets would go on to win 100 games, capture the National League East title, sweep the heavily-favored Atlanta Braves in the NLCS, and then shock the mighty Baltimore Orioles (109-win behemoths) in the World Series. The "Miracle Mets" had completed perhaps the most stunning transformation in baseball history.

That April day at Shea Stadium, with temperatures in the 50s and fewer than 15,000 fans in attendance, nobody could have predicted they were witnessing a team that would win it all. But the seeds were planted. The nine-game winning streak made believers out of skeptics and gave the team the confidence that would sustain them through October.

Sports Illustrated would later call it "The Year of the Mets," and it all crystallized on April 26, 1969, when a perennial doormat proved they could soar with the eagles. It remains one of baseball's most cherished underdog stories, a reminder that sometimes the impossible becomes inevitable.

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The Miracle Mets Nine Game Winning Streak Begins