One-Year Dynasty: Inside the Rise and Fall of the 1986 Mets, Baseball's Impossible One-and-Done Champions by Matthew Silverman

Author:Matthew Silverman [Silverman, Matthew]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
ISBN: 9781493024209
Publisher: Lyons Press
Published: 2016-04-30T16:00:00+00:00

The Mets already had as many wins, 96, as any other major league team would have in 1986. And they just kept rolling during their victory lap through the NL East, obliterating opponents and records until the final pitch.

The Phillies won three from the Mets that weekend against a mixture of Mets starters, backups, and call-ups. The Phillies finished the year 10–8 against the Mets, the lone team with a winning record against them, and Philadelphia’s Mike Schmidt would win his third NL MVP in 1986, with Carter and Hernandez finishing third and fourth, respectively. (Knight, McDowell, Dykstra, and Ojeda also received votes.) It was a last hurrah for Schmidt, who turned 37 the last week of the season. He led the NL in slugging percentage for the last time and also won his final Silver Slugger, Gold Glove, home run, and RBI crowns.*

The everyday Mets lineup was on display for the Cardinals, as was the just-installed dugout sign—with letters almost big enough to be seen by passing planes—declaring the Mets “1986 N.L. Eastern Division Champions.” Worthy of a T-shirt.

New York hit five home runs in the short (but sweet) two-game series, giving them as many homers against St. Louis (19) as any team. Darryl Strawberry, hearing cheers after a prolonged Shea slump, homered in both wins. Wally Backman hit his only home run of the year—on his 27th birthday. Keith Hernandez, who didn’t play an inning against the Phillies because of the flu, started both games against St. Louis and added a home run in a 9–1 rout, sneaking a peak into the Cardinals dugout as he rounded the bases. The Mets went 12–6 against the Cards, their first winning record against St. Louis since their last division title in 1973.

The Mets also went 12–6 against the Cubs, reaching 100 wins at the same address where they’d hit that mark in 1969. Kevin Mitchell’s titanic blast across Waveland Avenue was the 140th Mets home run, breaking the 1962 mark set by a team that was as bad as the ’86 club was good. Brooklyn-born Ed Lynch, who debuted as a Met the week before Mookie Wilson and Wally Backman in 1980, had been traded to the Cubs in June and endured the celebration at Shea from the visiting dugout. He was the loser in Mets victory number 100.

The Expos threw in the towel early, but they played the Mets tough and had a chance to win the season series when rookie Bob Sebra became just the third pitcher to shut out the Mets in 1986. A great effort by Ron Darling was wasted by what the Mets even admitted was a lack of effort in front of 6,000 at Olympic Stadium. Someone was even asleep in the mail room, too, as 64,000 World Series tickets were sent to the Pacific Conservancy of Performing Arts in California instead of the tickets the school had ordered for a play. The printer, the school, and the Mets got it together. And the ball club won out the schedule.

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