Relive Yoenis Cespedes' best moments with the Mets
It's been a roller-coaster ride of an offseason for Yoenis Cespedes (at least in the rumor mill), but it's finally come to a close.
Late Friday night, FOX Sports insider Ken Rosenthal reported that Cespedes will return to Queens after agreeing to a three-year, $75 million deal with an opt-out after the 2016 season.
The New York Mets, of course, acquired Cespedes at the non-waiver trade deadline last season, and he sparked the offense and carried them to an NL East title. The best moments of his incredible run for the Amazins:
Cespedes hits three homers in a game
For the first three weeks of Cespedes' tenure with the Mets, he was decent but not spectacular. From August 1-20, he hit .274 with two homers and eight RBI. And then August 21 came. Cespedes mashed three homers that day and basically kept up that torrid pace -- from then until Sept. 14, he hit .333 with 15 homers and 34 RBI in 24 games.
Mets set record after Cespedes' two-run shot
On Aug. 24, the Mets smashed eight home runs and recorded 15 extra-base hits against the Phillies, both franchise bests. Fittingly, the player to push them over the edge was Cespedes, who launched a two-run blast in the ninth to set both records.
Cespedes helps New York pulls away in the division
It's tough to overstate the importance of the Mets series against the Nationals from Sept. 7-9. Heading into that first game, New York was four games up on the Nats -- a sweep would have put Washington right back in the thick of the race. Cespedes, however, basically ensured that didn't happen. The Mets came from behind in the first game to win 8-5 with Cespedes going 3 for 5 with two doubles, a homer and two RBI. Game 2 was yet another comeback with the 30-year-old hitting a key bases-clearing double off Drew Storen, part of a six-run seventh inning. The heroics didn't stop in Game 3, as Cespedes smoked a two-run, go-ahead shot in the eighth to crush any hope the Nats had of salvaging the series.
Cespedes launches homer, unleashes incredible bat flip
It was his second -- and last -- home run of the playoffs, but it was one of the most memorable home runs of the entire postseason. The Mets already held a four-run cushion in Game 3 of the NLDS against the Dodgers when Cespedes hit a two-run homer, but it didn't stop him from unleashing one of the most casual-yet-jaw-dropping bat flips you'll ever see.
Seinfeld gets fired up after an RBI single
"Cespedes for the rest of us," a play of "Festivus for the rest of us" from"Seinfeld", was an Internet slogan long before the Mets acquired him. But Twitter nearly imploded when Jerry Seinfeld (a lifelong Mets fan) tweeted it. During the NLCS, Seinfeld was on hand to witness an RBI by Cespedes, seemingly completing the whole circle.
