1985 New York Mets season

The 1985 New York Mets season was the 24th regular season for the Mets. They went 98–64 and finished second in the National League East; the team stayed in contention to win the division title until the last week of the season, battling the St. Louis Cardinals in a bitter race until the Cards survived by 3 games. They were managed by Davey Johnson. They played their home games at Shea Stadium.

Offseason

December 3, 1984: Lou Thornton was drafted from the Mets by the Toronto Blue Jays in the rule 5 draft.
December 10, 1984: Hubie Brooks, Mike Fitzgerald, Herm Winningham, and Floyd Youmans were traded by the Mets to the Montreal Expos for Gary Carter.
January 3, 1985: Rusty Staub was signed as a free agent by the Mets.
January 18, 1985: The Mets traded Tim Leary to the Milwaukee Brewers as part of a 4-team trade. The Kansas City Royals sent Frank Wills to the Mets. The Texas Rangers traded Danny Darwin and a player to be named later to the Brewers. The Brewers sent Jim Sundberg to the Royals. The Royals sent Don Slaught to the Rangers. The Rangers completed the deal by sending Bill Nance to the Brewers on January 30.
February 2, 1985: Rick Anderson was signed as a free agent with the New York Mets.

Regular season

Gary Carter led the Mets in HR and RBI.
July 4, 1985: Keith Hernandez hit for the cycle in a 16–13 game that lasted 19 innings vs. the Atlanta Braves.
July 11, 1985: Nolan Ryan got the 4000th strikeout of his career by striking out Mets player Danny Heep.
July 20, 1985: Darryl Strawberry had 7 RBIs in a game versus the Atlanta Braves.

Opening Day starters

Wally Backman, Second Base
Gary Carter, Catcher
George Foster, Outfield
Dwight Gooden, Pitcher
Keith Hernandez, First Base
Howard Johnson, Third Base
Rafael Santana, Shortstop
Darryl Strawberry, Outfield
Mookie Wilson, Outfield

Notable transactions

June 3, 1985: Gordon Dillard was drafted by the Mets in the 2nd round of the 1985 Major League Baseball draft, but did not sign.

Player stats

Batting

Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Pos	Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
C		149	555	156	.281	32	100
1B		158	593	183	.309	10	91
2B		145	520	142	.273	1	38
3B		126	389	94	.242	11	46
SS		154	529	136	.257	1	29
LF		129	452	119	.263	21	77
CF		93	337	93	.276	6	26
RF		111	393	109	.277	29	79

Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
	95	271	76	.280	7	42
	90	271	59	.218	6	36
	83	236	60	.254	1	19
	62	144	25	.174	0	7
	46	116	33	.284	1	11
	51	113	21	.186	3	13
	43	82	16	.195	3	7
	54	45	12	.267	1	8
	28	43	9	.209	0	1
	26	39	7	.179	0	2
	14	19	2	.105	0	2
	18	15	1	.067	0	0
	8	8	2	.250	0	1

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games played; GS = Games started; CG = Complete games; SHO = Shutouts; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	GS	CG	SHO	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
	35	35	16	8	276.2	24	4	1.53	268
	36	35	4	2	248.0	16	6	2.90	167
	31	29	6	1	191.0	10	8	3.44	65
	26	26	3	0	170.1	9	9	2.80	180
	21	19	2	0	122.1	10	7	3.24	74
	3	3	0	0	13.2	1	0	2.63	10

Other pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
	22	55.2	3	4	2.97	30
	10	26.1	2	1	8.89	21
	7	22.2	1	3	3.97	10

Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	W	L	SV	ERA	SO
	62	6	5	17	2.83	70
	54	8	6	17	2.73	68
	42	4	5	2	5.30	26
	34	4	4	0	5.13	32
	9	0	2	0	5.25	11
	8	0	0	0	12.66	3
	4	0	0	0	0.00	2
	1	0	0	0	0.00	2

Awards and honors

Dwight Gooden, Associated Press Athlete of the Year
Dwight Gooden, National League Cy Young Award Winner
Dwight Gooden, National League Pitching Triple Crown
Dwight Gooden, The Sporting News Pitcher of the Year
Keith Hernandez, National League First Base Gold Glove
Gary Carter, National League Catcher Silver Slugger
Keith Hernandez – Player of the Month, July 1985
Keith Hernandez – Hernandez set a major league record for game-winning runs batted in in 1985
Gary Carter – Player of the Month, September 1985
Rafael Santana – Led NL Shortstops in Putouts

All-Star Game

Darryl Strawberry, right field, starter
Gary Carter, catcher
Ron Darling, pitcher
Dwight Gooden, pitcher

Farm system

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Tidewater, Jackson