What If Johan Santana Was a New York Met in 2006?

For one night, the New York Mets' faithful were rewarded for sticking by their team that has repeatedly tortured them. Johan Santana threw the first no-hitter in the 8,020 game history of the embattled franchise.

As a lifelong Mets fan, I could not have been more relieved to see this team finally get over that hump and accomplish what has seemingly become routine in Major League Baseball over the past few seasons.

With many of the same key players involved in this game, however, it is impossible to wonder what could have been for the Mets franchise if Johan had become a Met in 2006 instead of 2008.

The 2006 Mets appeared to have all of the key pieces in place during the season. They led the National League and tied the New York Yankees for the Major League lead with 97 wins.

They won the NL East by a comfortable 12 games and were basically on cruise control after sweeping the Philadelphia Phillies in Citizens Bank Park in early June in the midst of a 10-game winning streak.

The offense was not only potent, but extremely balanced. 

David Wright, Carlos Beltran and Carlos Delgado all drove in over 100 runs, with the first two sharing the team lead with 116.

Beltran was the NL MVP favorite until a poor September enabled Ryan Howard to earn the award despite Beltran's 41 home runs and stellar defensive play.

Not to be outdone was Jose Reyes, who recorded arguably his best big league season with 194 hits, 64 stolen bases and 122 runs scored.

The pitching staff was led by Hall of Famer Tom Glavine, who found the "Fountain of Youth" and recorded 15 victories and a 3.82 ERA at the age of 40.

Pedro Martinez got off to a rapid 5-0 start but landed on the disabled list twice during the season before finishing with a 9-8 record and a 4.48 ERA. He was unable to pitch in the postseason.

Orlando "El Duque" Hernandez was acquired mid-season and pitched well, but on the eve of the postseason, he injured his foot and missed the entire playoffs.

His injury, along with Pedro's, left the Mets extremely thin in the rotation. With Glavine unavailable in Game 1, the team opted to start the 25-year-old John Maine.

Maine had a nice season—he finished 6-5 with a 3.60 ERA—but he was very inexperienced.

The Mets were able to sweep the Los Angeles Dodgers in the first round thanks to their balanced attack, but everyone remembers what happened in the NLCS against the St. Louis Cardinals.

Tom Glavine was stellar in the Game 1 victory, but the rotation ultimately played a large hand in the series defeat.

John Maine was mediocre in Game 2, but the real disaster came in the third game of the series. Steve Trachsel was dreadful and allowed ten base runners in a little over one inning of work.

Surprisingly, Oliver Perez pitched well in the series, winning Game 4 and nearly winning Game 7 despite his 6.55 regular season ERA.

The Mets, however, were carried by a dynamic bullpen, a potent offense and veteran experience in the rotation during the regular season.

If they had Johan Santana, who was at his absolute best during that season, they would have won the World Series.

In 2006, Johan recorded 19 wins against six losses, compiled a 2.77 ERA in 233 innings while accumulating a league best 245 strikeouts in the American League.

Santana won his second career Cy Young and garnered enough MVP votes to finish seventh overall. 

Obviously, if the Mets were to acquire Santana at the time, it would have required much more than the package of Deolis Guerra, Kevin Mulvey, Phil Humber and Carlos Gomez that it ultimately cost them in February of 2008.

He had an electric fastball to accompany his tenacious slider and a pin-point change up.

Johan Santana, alongside Tom Glavine and Pedro Martinez, would have been a dynamic rotation, but Johan's true value would have been in Game 7 of that NLCS.

There would have been no Yadier Molina game-winning home run off Aaron Heilman. And you could erase the Adam Wainwright curveball that even buckled my knees while I sat helplessly on my couch as a 15-year-old kid.

Omar Minaya eventually pulled off the coup, but perhaps it was a bit late. What we saw from Johan on Friday night was the competitive edge and mentality of a player unwilling to accept no for an answer.

He was not coming out of that game, he was going to finish off that no hitter. That is what the Willie Randolph Mets teams lacked—a warrior on the mound.