To this day, the trauma lingers deep in the psyche of Mets fans, the memories stored away in the kind of dark corners reserved for bitter breakups.
September 2007. Up seven games with 17 to play. The swoon. The collapse. The heartache.
"You can probably ask the majority of guys in here," said captain David Wright, one of the last remaining links to that spectacular failure. "They probably have no idea about that. I don't think about it. I've learned from it. But I don't think about it."
Perhaps fans shouldn't either.
Just how well have the Mets positioned themselves for their first postseason appearance since 2006?