Top 10 New York sports stories of 2024

OMG, New York! You took us on quite a sports ride in 2024, full of more success than not — football being the “not” — along with plenty of entertaining subplots.

We even got to see a parade down the Canyon of Heroes, thanks to the Liberty, despite the ongoing lack of an MLB, NFL, NBA or NHL championship in these parts in 13 years.

It was . . . fun, which is the point of this obsession of ours, right?

Fans celebrated the victories and endured defeats together and shared in mourning the passings of New York icons of the past, from Willie Mays to Amazin’ Mets Bud Harrelson and Ed Kranepool to Lou Carnesecca, who died at 99 earlier this month.

St. John’s basketball coach Rick Pitino donned an ugly Carnesecca replica sweater to the Red Storm’s next game in the old coach’s honor, and it was beautiful.

Here are Newsday’s top 10 New York-area sports stories of 2024:

1, Amazin’ Mets season, amazin’ Mets signing

The Mets fashioned one of the most memorable non-championship seasons in their history, rallying from a slow start to advance to the NLCS before losing in six games to the Dodgers.

The journey included embracing lucky charms from a purple blob of a fast-food mascot named Grimace to an anthem called “OMG” recorded by reserve infielder Jose Iglesias to Pete Alonso walking around with a “playoff pumpkin.”

Francisco Lindor hit a dramatic ninth-inning home run against Atlanta on the final day of the regular season to get the Mets into the playoffs. Alonso hit one of his own to get the Mets past the Brewers in the Wild Card series and then Lindor hit a grand slam in the NLDS clincher over the Phillies.

Come the offseason, owner Steve Cohen opened his checkbook and landed one of the biggest free agent prizes of the century in outfielder Juan Soto, who secured a record 15-year, $765 million contract. OMG.

The fact that Cohen outbid the Yankees, the team Soto played for in 2024, made the signing even more delicious for Mets fans.

2. Thuuuuuh Yankees win the pennant!

Fifteen years after the Yankees last took their traditional place in the Fall Classic, they won 94 games, then secured the American League pennant by going 7-2 in blowing past the Royals and Guardians.

They then ran into the same problem as the Mets did in the NLCS — the Dodgers, who won the World Series in five games.

The Yankees lost Game 5, 7-6, thanks to a shocking, five-run Dodgers fifth inning that included Aaron Judge dropping a fly ball in centerfield.

Judge won his second AL MVP Award, unanimously, after batting .322 with 58 home runs and 144 RBIs.

3. J-E-T-S, mess, mess, mess

Aaron Rodgers tore his left Achilles tendon four plays into the 2023 season. The Jets went on to finish 7-10, mostly with Zach Wilson at quarterback.

The fact things somehow got worse in 2024, even with Rodgers able to stay on the field, made it one of the most disappointing seasons in New York sports history

The Jets started 4-10, along the way firing both coach Robert Saleh and general manager Joe Douglas. In one stretch, they lost nine of 10 games.

Rodgers was inconsistent at quarterback and the Jets’ vaunted defense was a huge dud, including star cornerback Sauce Gardner.

Same old Jets.

4. Knicks wake up the echoes of “Go NY Go”

The first quarter of the 21st century mostly was a bust for the Knicks, but in 2024 they made the Garden feel like the 1990s again — led by one of New York’s most beloved current athletes in guard Jalen Brunson.

The Knicks won 50 regular-season games in ’23-24, but injuries finally caught up with them and they fell in seven games to the Pacers in the second round of the playoffs.

In October, the Knicks signaled they are all-in for ’24-25 with a blockbuster trade for Timberwolves star Karl-Anthony Towns, part of a deal that sent Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo to Minnesota.

5. Liberty capture pursuit of happiness

The Liberty assembled a super-team in 2023, led by WNBA MVP Breanna Stewart. But it was not enough to secure their first championship. They fell in four games to the Las Vegas Aces in the Finals.

This year, nothing was left to chance.

The Liberty stormed through the regular season with a league-best 32 victories in 40 games and went 5-1 against the Dream and Aces in the first two playoff rounds. They then beat the Lynx in five games, with the clincher going to overtime at Barclays Center.  

Stewart was first-team WNBA, and Sabrina Ionescu and Jonquel Jones made the second team. Jones was the Finals MVP.

6. Rangers make a Cup run

As much as the Knicks made MSG feel like the ‘90s last spring, the Rangers made a bigger statement by winning the Presidents’ Trophy with 114 points, setting a team record with 55 victories and winning their first seven playoff games.

In the conference final against the eventual Cup champion Panthers, the Rangers took a 2-1 series lead with back-to-back overtime victories then lost three games in a row — all by one goal — to extend their Stanley Cup drought to 30 years.

Artemi Panarin ranked fourth in the league with a career-high 120 points and Igor Shesterkin continued to provide elite goaltending. The Rangers rewarded him with an eight-year, $92 million contract earlier this month. 

7. Plane truth: Giants stink

Few expected the Giants to be good in 2024. But fewer expected them to be this bad — with a 2-12 start, nine losses in a row and an 0-8 home record.

The year began with back Saquon Barkley being signed away by the Eagles, then saw quarterback Daniel Jones ask for and receive his release after he lost his starting job. He signed with the Vikings.

Before two home games in a row in December, fans rented planes that flew over MetLife Stadium trailing banners urging team president John Mara to do something drastic to put out the “dumpster fire.”

8. Sterling retires, then returns

John Sterling, lead radio voice of the Yankees since 1989, abruptly retired in April, deciding after a season-opening road trip that he no longer could handle the grind as he approached his 86th birthday.

It was the biggest New York sports media story of the year. Then came a plot twist. After a season of  fill-in hosts on WFAN, Sterling and the station had changes of heart and he returned for the final week of the regular season and playoffs.

But the encore was designed to be brief. Longtime Mariners announcer Dave Sims was announced as Sterling’s replacement shortly after the season.

9. Islanders make a coaching splash with Roy

Islanders president Lou Lamoriello is not big on making attention-getting splashes, but that is exactly what he did in January when he fired coach Lane Lambert and shocked the hockey world by hiring Hall of Fame goaltender Patrick Roy to succeed him.

Roy, who had not coached in the NHL since 2016, immediately provided a jolt of energy to the franchise, on and off the ice, and the Islanders made the playoffs for the fifth time in six years.

But they lost to the Hurricanes in the first round — just as they had with Lambert in charge the year before.

10. Red Storm rising

Pitino put St. John’s basketball back on the national map when he took over the program in 2023, but his star power was not enough to avoid a shocking NCAA Tournament snub.

The Red Storm finished 20-13 and won six games in a row before a five-point loss to Connecticut in the Big East semifinals, yet they were left out of the 68-team field and declined to participate in the NIT.

That was a blow, but St. John’s is back at it with a revamped lineup for 2024-25 and is off to a 9-2 start.

By Neil Best

neil.best@newsday.com@sportswatch

Neil Best first worked at Newsday in 1982, returned in 1985 after a detour to Alaska and has been here since, specializing in high schools, college basketball, the NFL and most recently sports media and business.