Even in the best of times, the Mets rarely make things easy.

The Mets’ inaugural championship in 1969 was nothing short of miraculous—emerging from the ashes of their inception as lovable underdogs—after overcoming a 10-game deficit to surpass the Cubs by mid-August. Their second pennant followed in 1973, a triumph sparked by Tug McGraw’s rallying cry, “You Gotta Believe,” for a team that stood six games below .500 and sat in fifth place during early September.

The most formidable Mets squad ever, in 1986, required a thrilling ninth-inning rally (spanning a total of 16 innings) to bypass Houston’s ace, Mike Scott, in Game 7 of the NLCS. They then forced the unforgettable Game 7 of the World Series with a legendary two-out comeback. Fast forward to 1999, when the Mets had to complete a sweep against the Pirates—coupled with the Reds losing two games—just to secure a spot in a one-game playoff.

By this time in the 2015 season, the Mets hovered around .500, having spent the majority of the initial four months trailing the Nationals. The subsequent season found the Mets below .500 by mid-August, yet they managed to clinch a wild-card position by just one game. Last year, their remarkable journey to the NLCS was realized through a thrilling season-closing series in Atlanta and a tiebreaker victory over the Diamondbacks.