30 luckiest sports franchises

7. New York Mets

The New York Mets haven’t had a ton of good fortune recently, and have seen plenty of talented rosters in this decade fall apart with some bad luck or missed opportunities. However, they’re a piece of one of the most unlucky moments in baseball history, and, thankfully for them, it happened to the opposite team.

The Mets haven’t had a World Series title to their name in 21 years, and have just two titles in their franchise’s entire history in the MLB. But, their last title was a big one, and will go down in history because of one name: Bill Buckner.

Think about this scenario: you ground out to a first baseman who, in a routine play, just has to bend over, pick up the ball and either run to first himself or flip it to the pitcher to get the last out. But, that player misses the ball, and you send the World Series to Game 7 because of one of the biggest blunders in baseball lore.

The Mets lucked out big time for that very moment, where Buckner missed an easy roller between his legs in Game 6 of the 1986 World Series against the Boston Red Sox. It became one of the big moments in the Curse of the Bambino for Boston sports fans looking for their team to break their misfortune, a curse that didn’t get broken until 2004.

The title was basically overshadowed by the moment, which may be unlucky for Mets fans, but they will always have that title to remember, and broke a 17-year drought for the team in the process. However, they’ve been stuck in what is now a 21-year slump, and that may outweigh the good that came from this lucky break.