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1986 World Champion New York Mets

A Miracle Season or an Unfinished Dynasty?

Mar 18, 2007

The 1986 New York Mets were poised to become the Next Great New York Baseball Dynasty. So why did they end up a One Hit Wonder?

The 1986 Mets won 108 games. They also won the NL East by 21 games. They conquered the Astros in the NLCS, and prevailed over the Red Sox in their legendary World Series Clash. In case you hadn't heard, the 1986 Mets were one of the best teams ever. They won as many games as the 1975 Big Red Machine. They won more games than the 1936 Yankees, the 1968 Tigers, and the 1973 Athletics. The 1986 Mets also won more games than all but one of the Yankees World Series winners since 1962.

The team was led by Dwight Gooden and Darryl Strawberry. In 1986, Gooden was 21 years and already had a 58-19 career record to go along with a 2.28 ERA and 744 strikeouts. His fastball topped 100 MPH. His curveball was too wicked for words. His nasty change-up froze the game's best hitters. Gooden's teammate and best friend Darryl Strawberry could hit a baseball farther than any player since Mickey Mantle. The man that the 1986 Mets called ‘Straw’ was only 24 years old and already had 108 home runs and 343 RBI in his career.

The Mets also had Gary Carter, 1979 MVP Keith Hernandez, 1989 MVP Kevin Mitchell, World Series MVP Ray Knight, closer Jesse Orosco, and three more pitchers who won at least fifteen games in 1986.

But they were never able to win it all again. How could a team that was so young and so deep and so overpowering not win at least one more World Series?

Drugs Invade the Clubhouse

It started when Gooden tested positive for cocaine on April 1, 1987. Baseball ordered him to undergo drug rehabilitation, and Gooden didn’t rejoin the team until early May. Without him to anchor the rotation, the Mets stumbled early, and never recovered enough to catch the St. Louis Cardinals in the NL East.

In 1988, the Mets almost returned to form. Gooden won 18 games, Strawberry hit 39 homers, and the team won 100 games. But the two stars continued to have personal problems. Rumors of Gooden's continuing drug abuse were rampant, and everyone knew that Darryl had developed a very ugly problem with domestic abuse. The team played bravely in the 1988 NLCS against the Dodgers, but lost in the seventh game.

It was all downhill from there.

Veterans Depart, Problems Continue, and Strawberry Leaves

In 1989, Kevin Mitchell was in San Francisco, Gary Carter was constantly hurt, Keith Hernandez hit .233., and Gooden suffered the first of two shoulder injuries that would forever change his career. The Mets lost the division. After the season, Carter and Hernandez were both let go due to their decreasing production. Although the 1990 Mets won 91 games and finished second in the East, the team was about to hit rock bottom. Eight-year veteran Strawberry left after the season for Los Angeles. The Mets weren't broken-hearted, given Darryl's increasingly ugly personal and police records.

Then, Gooden really blew out his shoulder during the 1991 season. The Mets only won 77 games that year, and fell to a dismal 59-103 by 1993. By that time, even the dream of a Mets Dynasty had become nothing more than a memory of a memory of a memory.

What Could Have Been

Before his surgery in 1991, Gooden was 119-44 with a 2.88 ERA. No one has ever put up pitching numbers like that to start his career. After the surgery, Gooden had many more drug-related suspensions and suffered from a series of injuries. The drugs and the pain limited him to 75-65 with a 4.45 ERA over the next nine seasons.

When Darryl Strawberry left the Mets, he was only 28 years old and had already hit 252 home runs in eight seasons. He would hit only 83 more over the next nine seasons, all of which were either drug-riddled or injury plagued.

The 1986 Mets were a great ball club. One can only wonder what would have happened to them from 1987 to 1990 if Gooden and Strawberry had been able to avoid the evils of injury, drugs, ego and youth.