The New York Mets have been no-hit eight times in franchise history, a list that stretches from Sandy Koufax in 1962 all the way to Max Scherzer and the Washington Nationals at the end of the 2015 season. But the odd part is buried in the details: four of those eight no-hitters came when the Mets were playing two games in one day.
That pattern starts with Jim Bunning’s perfect game on June 21, 1964. It came in the first game of a doubleheader, and the Mets ended up taking a beating in both ends against the Philadelphia Phillies. They were held to just two runs on three hits in the nightcap.
The next time it happened was October 2, 1972, when Bill Stoneman of the Montreal Expos blanked the Mets in the opener of another doubleheader. That day turned out better for New York later on. A second-inning single broke up the no-hit bid in the second game, and the Mets rallied for a 2-1 win with runs in the eighth and ninth innings.
On August 24, 1975, the Mets were on the wrong side of it again, this time in the second game of a doubleheader against the San Francisco Giants. Ed Halicki delivered the no-hit effort, though the earlier 9-5 Mets win made the day easier to stomach.
Then came the Scherzer game on October 3, 2015. The Mets dropped the opener 3-1, then watched Scherzer finish the second game with a 2-0 Washington win.
The next day, the season wrapped up with a 1-0 Mets victory, decided by Curtis Granderson’s solo home run in the eighth inning. Remarkably, that was also the second time that year the Mets had been held hitless, and it still didn’t keep them from winning the National League pennant.
Overall, the Mets went 0-4 in the games where they were no-hit, losing to the Phillies and Nationals and beating the Expos and Giants in the other two. And while it still feels unusual, the doubleheader link makes some sense. With one game already in the books, starters are often unavailable for the second, and hitters can wind up dealing with either fatigue or the mental drag of knowing there’s another game still waiting.
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