May 28, 2016. Noah Syndergaard winds up and fires one behind Chase Utley's back. He's tossed immediately, no warning, and Terry Collins comes sprinting out of the dugout to deliver what might be the greatest hot-mic manager rant in baseball history. 'Our ass is in the jackpot' became instant scripture. 10 years later, it still rules the timeline every May 28.
The throwback clip of Collins jawing at the umpire after the Syndergaard ejection.
Context for anyone who somehow missed it: the Mets were still nursing a grudge against Utley from the 2015 NLDS, when his takeout slide broke Ruben Tejada's leg. Syndergaard's pitch behind Utley wasn't subtle. It was a message, the umpire had clearly put both benches on warning, and Collins lost his entire mind when his guy got run for it. The audio leak is what made it immortal — you don't usually get to hear a manager use the word 'jackpot' in a tirade and mean it.
A guest at the Barstool Lake Week set pins the whole jackpot saga on Chase Utley's rap sheet.
That's the throughline that keeps this story alive — Utley is the patient zero. The benches weren't on warning by accident. Syndergaard didn't throw behind him at random. Every beat of the Collins meltdown traces back to one Phillies infielder who built a career out of pissing off the other dugout. 10 years on, and the second you bring up the jackpot quote, somebody is still blaming Utley.
The anniversary post marking a full decade since the jackpot was first declared.
The best part is that nothing about this gets old. Most viral sports moments age into cringe within 18 months. The jackpot rant has only gotten better, mostly because Collins committed to the bit so hard that he sounded like a Scorsese character who just found out his nephew got pinched. 10 years, and it's still the first thing anyone thinks of when Syndergaard's name comes up in a Mets context. That's a hall of fame run for a single quote.