1986 New York Mets season


The 1986 New York Mets season was the Mets' 25th season in the National League. They improved from a 98–64 record in 1985 to finish the season with a franchise record of 108–54, giving them the division title. They went on to defeat the Houston Astros in six games in the National League Championship Series|NLCS] and the American League champion Boston Red Sox in seven games in the World Series. This is their last championship to date.
The 1986 Mets are one of just three National League teams to have won twice as many games as lost in the regular season since 1909. The team is often regarded as one of the best of all-time, being cited in 2021 by ESPN as a top contender for best MLB team of the previous half-century from 1970 to 2020.

Background

and Ron Darling made their debuts in 1983, followed by Dwight Gooden and Sid Fernandez in 1984, and Lenny Dykstra and Roger McDowell in 1985. The Mets hired Davey Johnson to manage the ballclub in 1984, resulting in a solid season with 90 victories and a second-place finish. The rise continued in 1985, as they netted 98 wins and finished the season only 3 games behind the St. Louis Cardinals.
After falling just short in 1984 and 1985 the Mets vowed there would be no "falling short" in 1986. In the 1985–86 offseason, general manager Frank Cashen brought in Tim Teufel, a right-handed hitting infielder from the Minnesota Twins and Bob Ojeda, a left-handed pitcher from the Boston Red Sox. The Mets added them to an existing veteran core including along with former MVPs George Foster and Keith Hernandez, veteran catcher Gary Carter and speedsters Wally Backman and Mookie Wilson.
With these acquisitions, many predicted an easy dominance within the division. The pundits were right. During spring training, Davey Johnson said to his players that they were not only going to win, but that they would dominate. That meant winning the division by double digits. The Mets concluded the season winning a club-record 108 games, two out of every three, and finishing the season games in front of the Philadelphia Phillies.

Offseason

The 1986 Mets held spring training at Al Lang Stadium in St. Petersburg, Florida for the 25th season.

Regular season

Season standings

Record vs. opponents

Notable transactions

April

The Mets had a rocky start with a 2–3 record. But when the Mets hosted Philadelphia at Shea Stadium a few days later, they kicked off an 11-game winning streak. Their toughest test in this stretch happened in St. Louis in a four-game series. On April 24, Howard Johnson hit a game-tying home run. A few games later, Wally Backman made a series-saving double-play. After the Mets swept the four-game series against St. Louis, Cardinals manager Whitey Herzog told sportswriters, "We're not catching the Mets this year." The Mets finished the month 13–3.

May

The Mets went 18–9 in May and ended the month with a season record of 31–12.

June

On June 10 against the Phillies, Tim Teufel hit a pinch-hit, game-winning grand slam. The Mets went 19–9 during June and finished the month with a season record of 50–21.

July

On July 3 against the Houston Astros, Darryl Strawberry hit a game-tying home run, but it was Ray Knight who won the game with a homer of his own, after striking out in his first four at-bats. Dwight Gooden's first half performance was good enough for him to earn the honor of being named starting pitcher for the National League in the 1986 [Major League Baseball All-Star Game|All-Star Game] in the Astrodome. This game marked the end of a streak where the NL won 13 of the previous 14 games and served as foreshadowing for what would happen next. Later in the month, the Mets lost three of four to the Astros. During this series, four Mets were arrested at a popular nightclub in Houston. Their fortunes improved in a bizarre game in Cincinnati's Riverfront Stadium on July 22. In the top of the ninth, Dave Parker dropped the ball that could have been the final out for the Cincinnati Reds, allowing the Mets to tie the game. In the bottom of the tenth, Eric Davis got to third and brawled with Ray Knight. Both men, along with Kevin Mitchell and Mario Soto, were ejected. Johnson was forced to alternate Jesse Orosco and Roger McDowell in the outfield. In the bottom of the twelfth, Carl Willis bunted into a double-play. In the top of the fourteenth, Howard Johnson hit a home run to put the Mets on top. The Mets went 16–11 during July and finished the month with a season record of 66–32 and were up by 15.5 games in the NL East division.

August

Former MVP George Foster was released after he was benched for Kevin Mitchell, partially due to Foster's decline in production and Mets manager Davey Johnson trying to get Mitchell more playing time, and also due to Foster giving comments following his benching suggesting that it might've been racially motivated, along with other teams' personnel decisions. Former Mets favorite Lee Mazzilli was resigned after Pittsburgh released him, filling Foster's spot in the roster. Gary Carter was injured with a broken thumb, and missed two weeks. While he was gone, the Mets won 8 of 11 games with Ed Hearn filling in for catcher duties. The Mets went 21–11 in August and ended with a season record, to that point, of 87–43 and were up by 19 games in the NL East division.

September–October

When they got to Philadelphia, droves of Mets fans were there to see if they would clinch the NL East. In fact, they seemed to take up half of Veterans Stadium. Given what had happened to them when they got swept in a three-game series by the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field preceding the series and not wanting to see visiting teams win a division title on their field, the Phillies swept the Mets. During the series, Mets fans at Veterans Stadium became unruly and damaged seats in the upper deck. One Mets fan was arrested after striking at two Philadelphia police officers. The Phillie Phanatic summed up the Mets being swept by crushing three Mets helmets in front of the Mets dugout during the final game of the series. The Phillies ended up being the only team in the league to post a winning record against the Mets, going 10–8, with a 7–2 mark at Veterans Stadium. During the postseason awards, the Mets rivalry with the Phillies and that series was played out again, as it was Mike Schmidt of the Phillies who won the Major League Baseball [Most Valuable Player Award|National League MVP Award], ahead of Gary Carter, who finished third, and Keith Hernandez, who finished fourth. It was Schmidt's third career MVP.
The Mets then split a two-game series in St. Louis, trimming the magic number to clinch to 1 on September 16. The following day, they faced Dennis Eckersley and the Chicago Cubs. With a flu-ridden Hernandez, Dave Magadan was the offensive source of the day. Hernandez returned in the 9th to get the final out. The champagne was popped immediately while the fans invaded the field quickly. The Mets won a team-record 108 games after defeating the Pittsburgh Pirates.
The Mets went 21–11 during the final two months to end the season with a record of 108-54 while winning the National League East division by 21.5 games.

Schedule and results

Regular season

All times are EASTERN time

Postseason

All times are EASTERN time

Opening day lineup

Roster

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
PosPlayerGABHAvg.HRRBISB
CGary Carter132490125.255241051
1BKeith Hernandez149551171.31013832
2BWally Backman124387124.32012713
3BRay Knight137486145.29811762
SSRafael Santana13939486.2181280
LFGeorge Foster7223353.22713381
CFLenny Dykstra147431127.29584531
RFDarryl Strawberry136475123.259279328

Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in; SB = Stolen bases
PlayerGABHAvg.HRRBISB
Mookie Wilson123381110.28994525
Kevin Mitchell10832891.27712433
Tim Teufel9327969.2474311
Howard Johnson8822054.24510398
Danny Heep8619555.2825331
Ed Hearn4913636.2654100
Lee Mazzilli395816.276271
Kevin Elster19305.167000
Stan Jefferson14245.208130
John Gibbons8199.474110
Dave Magadan10188.444030
Barry Lyons690.000020
Tim Corcoran670.000000

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
PlayerGIPWLERASO
Dwight Gooden33250.11762.84200
Ron Darling34237.01562.81184
Sid Fernandez33204.11663.52200
Bob Ojeda32217.11852.57148
Rick Aguilera28141.21073.88105

Other pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
PlayerGIPWLERASO
Rick Anderson1549.2212.7221
Bruce Berenyi1439.2226.3530
John Mitchell410.0013.602

Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts; SV = Saves
PlayerGIPWLERASOSV
Roger McDowell76128.01493.026523
Jesse Orosco5981.0862.336221
Doug Sisk4170.2423.06311
Randy Niemann3135.2233.79180
Randy Myers1010.2004.22130
Terry Leach66.2002.7040
Ed Lynch11.2000.0010

NLCS

Game 1

October 8

Game 2

October 9

Game 3

October 11

Game 4

October 12

Game 5

October 14

Game 6

October 15

World Series

'''NL New York Mets vs. AL Boston Red Sox '''

Game Six

One of the most famous games in baseball history is Game 6 of the 1986 World Series. The Mets rallied in the bottom of the 8th inning of Game 6, tying the game on a Gary Carter sacrifice fly. Reliever Calvin Schiraldi had loaded the bases with one out and had a 3–0 count on Carter, who swung away at the next pitch to hit the fly ball. In the ninth inning, after a walk and an error put two men on with nobody out, Howard Johnson was sent to the plate to sacrifice the winning run to third. After Johnson was unsuccessful on his first bunt attempt, Mets manager Davey Johnson took the bunt off. Johnson ended up striking out, leaving runners at first and second with one out. Lee Mazzilli followed with a deep fly to left that would have won the game had the runner been at third. Lenny Dykstra then flied out for the third out, sending the game to extra innings.
In the top of the 10th inning, Dave Henderson homered to pull the Red Sox within three outs of a world championship, and Barrett singled in Wade Boggs to make it a 5–3 lead. When Wally Backman and Keith Hernandez were retired to start the bottom of the 10th, the championship seemed at hand. After Hernandez made the second out, he went to the Mets' locker room, took off his uniform, opened a beer and watched the rest of the game on the clubhouse TV, thinking the game and the Series would be over soon. Hernandez, who is superstitious, never left that spot until the game ended.
Then, Carter singled to left. Pinch-hitter Kevin Mitchell then singled to center and Shea Stadium started to get loud. Knight went down in the count 0–2 bringing the Mets to their last strike but he hit the next pitch into center field for a single that scored Carter and advanced Mitchell to third base, making the score 5–4 and bringing Shea back to life. Before his at-bat, Mitchell was on the phone in the locker room making plane reservations to fly home to San Diego, thinking the game was over. He had already gotten out of his uniform and was in street clothes, and, when he was told he was batting, got off the phone and hurriedly got dressed, not even bothering to put his cup back on.
The Red Sox replaced Schiraldi with Bob Stanley to face left fielder Mookie Wilson. Wilson got the count to 2–1 but fouled the fourth pitch away to bring the Mets to their last strike again. He stayed alive fouling off two more Stanley pitches. Then, the seventh pitch sailed towards Wilson's knees sending him to the ground. The ball bounced off catcher Rich Gedman's catchers' mitt and went straight to the backstop. Mitchell scored on the wild pitch uncontested to tie the game and Shea Stadium erupted while Knight advanced to second base. The Red Sox were shocked to have blown the lead with the game all but over, much as the Angels had done to them in the 1986 [American League Championship Series|ALCS] almost two weeks earlier.
Wilson fouled off two more pitches to bring the at bat to the tenth pitch. His next hit sent a slow rolling ground ball up the first base line, which appeared to be an easy to field situation. Bill Buckner, with his chronic bad ankles and knees, moved to field the ball in an effort to beat the speedy Wilson to first base, and finish the inning. As he bent over, the ball passed between his legs, under his glove and rolled behind him into right field. Shea Stadium exploded and the Mets' players and fans screamed in excitement. Knight needed to hold his helmet on while jumping towards home plate with the winning run. Buckner and the rest of the Red Sox appeared stunned as they exited the field.
Vin Scully's call of the play quickly become an iconic one to baseball fans, with the normally calm Scully growing increasingly excited:
Scully then remained silent for more than three minutes, letting the pictures and the crowd noise tell the story. Scully resumed with:
Had the Red Sox won the World Series, they would have won their first World Series since 1918, in addition to making Boston the first city to win both NBA and World Series championships in the same year. As it turned out, the Celtics NBA Finals|championship] four months before was the last championship for Boston and for Massachusetts until the New England Patriots, who lost Super Bowl XX to the Chicago Bears in January, won Super Bowl XXXVI in 2002.

Awards and honors

Infielders
Pos#PlayerLeagueABHRBI
1B17National League Starter400

Outfielders
Pos#PlayerLeagueABHRBI
RF18National League Starter210

Catcher
#PlayerLeagueABHRBI
8National League Starter300

Pitchers
#PlayerLeagueIPSO
50National League13
16National League Starter32

Coach
#CoachLeaguePosition
5National LeagueThird Base Coach

Farm system

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Columbia

Documentary

's 30 for 30 released a four-part documentary on the 1986 Mets entitled Once Upon a Time in Queens, in September 2021. It is produced by Jimmy Kimmel and directed by Nick Davis. It is available for streaming on ESPN+ along with the entire 30 for 30 library.