It's easy to forget, but the New York Mets seemed far away from the playoffs at this point two years ago. At the All-Star Break of 2023, they were 42-48, 18.5 games back of the first-place Braves and seven games behind the Giants for the final Wild Card spot, with four teams ahead of them. Their dreams of making the playoffs were going up in smoke, and it appeared very likely that they were going to be sellers at the deadline.
At the deadline, the Mets made several trades; however, none was bigger than the one that sent Justin Verlander to the Houston Astros in exchange for prospects Drew Gilbert and Ryan Clifford.