Luis Severino, in his first-ever postseason start, heard boos from his home crowd as he came off the mound in the 2017 American League Wild Card Game after surrendering three runs on two home runs in the first inning at Yankee Stadium.
Those boos came on the heels of a season in which he pitched to a brilliant 2.98 ERA and emerged as one of the premier aces in baseball, eventually finishing third in the Cy Young voting.
Fast forward six years, and Severino heard more boos in the Bronx as he lost his way in a farewell season in which he posted a miserable 6.65 ERA.
It is precisely that kind of pressure and expectation that led Severino's family to urge the then free agent to find a new home where the spotlight wouldn't be so blinding.
But Severino had none of it. He wanted to be right back in the throes of a market and fanbase that rivaled the Yankee faithful in New York.
"When I hit free agency, there were a lot of people, family and friends, who wanted me to go to a place where there would be no pressure," Severino said as he was officially introduced by the Mets on Wednesday afternoon.
"Thinking more about it, the thing that keeps me going is the pressure. I love being under pressure. I was in New York for a long time. I'm happy to be with this organization, the Mets, because I want to continue to feel that pressure."
So, Severino is staying in New York for another year, leaning on that pressure in hopes of finding his old form, when he was one of the best in the bigs. The spotlight of the Big Apple won't make it easy, but Severino knows as well as anyone that the payoff can be even greater than the peril. In his second postseason start, just days after being booed off the mound, Severino took the same rubber at Yankee Stadium and fanned nine Cleveland batters in game four of the ALDS, helping keep the Yanks alive for a decisive game five (which they would win). That night, a fired up Severino left to a standing ovation, experiencing the extreme highs and lows of performing in the big city in a matter of days.
"For me, I love the pressure. I love being in that atmosphere," Severino said. "I've seen how it is in the playoffs, how the fans are. I want to go back to that and experience that."
Of course, to experience that again, the Mets will have to get back to the playoffs, and Severino will have to stay healthy to be a part of it. That has been the biggest concern for the 29-year-old over the past five years, as he has yet to pitch more than 102 innings in a season since tossing consecutive seasons of more than 190 innings in 2017 and 2018. To do that, Severino has pulled out all the stops, even bringing in a sleep doctor to help him get more sleep to rest and recuperate.
Will it work? Severino will have to go through the grind of a 162-game season to know for sure. But after the lowest point of his career, Severino still knew with conviction that he wanted to stay in New York, even if the uniform won't be the same.
"I thought I was gonna die a Yankee," Severino said. "But in free agency, I was looking for something that kept me the same. Same pressure, same kind of fuel that can get me going. When I'm on the mound, when I have a bad outing, they will let me know. I need that. I need people that tell me the truth when I'm not doing good.
"I think this is the place."
