There are a lot of "what ifs" when it comes to the career of Matt Harvey, but among the most consequential was the decision to pitch beyond his innings limit into the 2015 postseason following Tommy John surgery.
The hard-throwing right-hander was never quite the same after that season, but Harvey appears to have no regrets over what transpired.
In an oral history on the rise and fall of Matt Harvey published in The New York Post on Saturday, Harvey said that getting the Mets to the World Series that season was "worth it."
"Would I take back getting to the World Series with those guys and the city of New York? There's not a chance," he said. "I believe things happen the way they are supposed to. I got hurt and maybe I would have anyway. Getting to the World Series was worth it."
Scott Boras, Harvey's agent, had announced Labor Day weekend in 2015 that Harvey and the Mets agreed not to exceed 180 innings, which would require Harvey to not pitch in the postseason.
The Washington Nationals made a similar move in 2012 with Stephen Strasburg, also represented by Boras.
Then-Mets pitching coach Dan Warthen said the team had several conversations with Harvey about the innings limit, and pointed to how Adam Wainwright threw 200 innings following his Tommy John surgery and was fine, so the Mets recommended Harvey continue to pitch but left the final call up to him.
"When you're an athlete and the decision is yours to make, at that age, nobody is not going to take the ball and fight for their teammates," Harvey said.
"Matt sacrificed himself to be in the World Series in 2015," Boras said.
Of course, Harvey was excellent on the mound for the Mets in October, winning his starts in the NLDS and NLCS, but it was his start in Game 5 of the World Series that was his most memorable – and infamous.
Harvey had thrown eight shutout innings and was at 102 pitches heading into the ninth with a 2-0 lead, but talked then-manager Terry Collins out of bringing Jeurys Familia in for the save.
"[Harvey] is screaming, 'You're not going to take me out of this f---ing game!'" Warthen said. "He was able to talk [Collins] into it. There were some pretty tense moments. [Collins] and I had Familia. He was pretty automatic. It's a catch-22. If you bring in Familia and he gives up a couple of runs, then it's, 'Why didn't you leave in Harvey?'"
Added Harvey: "I was rolling and go so caught up in the moment. I remember I had no idea what inning it was."
They Royals would tie the game up off Harvey in the ninth, and win the game and the World Series later that night in extra innings.
"I still have nightmares over that," Harvey said. "One thing I'm most angry about was not getting it done."
Harvey never recovered from that postseason, with injuries and off-field behavior piling onto his struggles on the mound over the next few years that ultimately led to being traded from the Mets.
Now, Harvey seeks to make a comeback, with a potential eye for the Korean Baseball Organization.
Yet, many Mets fans are left wondering what might have been had Harvey shut himself down that 2015 postseason.
