The reigning National League-champion Mets are headed to the postseason for the second consecutive year after winning the first NL Wild Card. As this will be the first time that many fans across the Majors will be focusing on their roster, here's our attempt to learn the origins of slugger Yoenis Céspedes.
Yoenis Cespedes, LF
Born: Campechuela, Granma, Cuba
DOB: 10/18/85
Minors: Sacramento (AAA)
Path to New York: Cespedes signed with the A's out of Cuba in 2012; he was traded to the Red Sox at the 2014 non-waiver Trade Deadline, then from Boston to Detroit that offseason. The Mets acquired Cespedes at the Deadline in 2015 in exchange for Luis Cessa and Michael Fulmer, and re-signed him in free agency this past offseason.
:: Before they were postseason-bound: Select a player ::
Trophy case: Two-time All-Star (2014, 2016), Gold Glove Award winner (2015), AL Rookie of the Month (September 2012) and member of the 2009 All-World Baseball Classic Team.
Famous feat(s): Cespedes won the Home Run Derby in back-to-back years in 2013-14, joining Ken Griffey Jr. as the only players to successfully defend their crowns.
You might not know: Cespedes took home an American League Gold Glove Award in 2015 while playing for Mets, who acquired him from Detroit in a midseason trade. He and Vic Power (1964) are the only two players to win the award after switching leagues.
Six degrees of Willie Aikens: Cespedes starred for the Cuban national team that placed sixth in the 2009 World Baseball Classic. That team also featured future Major Leaguers Aroldis Chapman, Leonys Martin and Héctor Olivera.
Like mother, like son: Cespedes' mother, Estela Milanes, is a former pitcher for the Cuban national team. After a lengthy struggle to emigrate from Cuba, she joined her son in the United States in 2013.
"She's going to be my second hitting coach," Cespedes joked at the time. "She watched our games a lot last year and she would contact me by Skype and tell me what I was doing wrong."