1986 and the Dynasty
that never was
I am a Mets
fan, and have been one for many years. Through ups and downs. More of one than
the other it seems.
As baseball
fans know, it's been fourteen years since their last World Series appearance
and almost thirty years since their last Series title.
But oh,
what could have been.
The Mets
were the dominant team in the mid to late 80's. From 1984 through 1990, they
won 666 games, an average of 95 wins per season. The next closest team was the
Cardinals, with 582 wins, 84 wins per season. Oh, and they had TWO World Series
titles in that time.
But let's
look at the 1986 season, shall we?
In the
history of the National League, only four teams have won 108 or more games in a
season. The Mets in '86, The Reds in '75, the Pirates in 1909 and the Cubs in
1906. (The Cubs and Pirates both did it in less games, and the Cubs won 116 and
lost only 36.)
The Mets
dominated that year, winning their division pretty easily, 21 1/2 games ahead of the Phillies, who were
led by future Hall of Famer and MVP Mike Schmidt.
In the
Western Division, the Astros were riding the arm of Mike Scott and his new
found dominance of his split-fingered fastball. Although some did say (and some
still do) that there was some help from a scuff
or two along the way, Scott remains the only pitcher to pitch a
no-hitter in his teams clinching game.
Scott was
joined on the Astros staff by lefties Bob Knepper and Jim Deshaies, and righty
Nolan Ryan. Yes, Ryan was the second of the two hard throwing righties on the
staff. They also had workhorse Charley Kerfeld and workman like Dave Smith
coming out of the bullpen. They compiled a composite ERA of 3.51 to lead the
National League.
Right on
their heels were the New York Mets, led by Doc Gooden coming off of his Cy
Young year in 1985. Their staff included Ron Darling, Sid Fernandez, Rick
Aguilera and Bobby Ojeda. They had the lefty-righty duo of Jesse Orosco and
Roger "Skeeter" McDowell out of the pen. McDowell, it should be
noted, won fourteen games out of the bullpen, and almost unheard of statistic
in today's game.
The Mets of that era were dominant, yes, but they had the
misfortune of going up against 'lightning in a bottle' teams. In 1984, as the
Mets' run was beginning, Rookie manager Davey Johnson and Rookie of the Year
pitcher Dwight Gooden led the team to their first ninety win season since the
Miracle Mets of 1969. They lost the division to the Cubs, who won ninety-six
games, and earned their first post-season berth since 1945 (the Year of the
Billy Goat).
In 1985,
the Mets won ninety-eight games, but Whitey Herzog's Cardinals beat them by
three games, winning one hundred and one games, on their way to a World Series
win over the Kansas City Royals.
1987, a Mets
season that was derailed by a drug suspension for Dwight Gooden, they won ninety-two
games to the Cardinals' ninety-five. (The Cardinals would lose to the Twins in
the Fall Classic.)
1988 brings
the Mets their fourth division title, winning a hundred games for the third
time in franchise history, only to be upset by Tommy LaSorda and the Dodgers in
the playoffs, as the Dodger rolled on to beat the heavily favored Oakland A's
in that World Series.
1989, and
the winning continued for teh Mets, but not winning enough to visit October
baseball. They slipped to eighty-seven wins, finishing behind the Cubs with
ninety-three. The Cubs would fall to the Giants in the Earthquake Series of
'89.
1990's
performance, or the mediocrity therein, cost Davey Johnson his job halfway
through the season. They improved to ninety-one wins, but they were beaten by
the youngsters in Pittsburgh ,
Bonilla and Bonds, who won ninety-five to earn their first playoff appearance
since 1975.
So timing,
aging veterans and the excesses of some, combined with general attrition via
trades and Free Agency took the wind out of the sails for the Mets of that
time. They fought, brawled, carried on as boys will do. But they also won.
But then
there was 1986, and the Magic was Back.
We all
know about what happened in that post season, in both leagues, the Championship
Series were both incredible, including the epic NL Game Six in the Astrodome.
The home run that Donnie Moore allowed in the AL Series, which would haunt him
until his last breath. The rollercoaster Fall Classic with the improbable
ending of THAT Game Six, with the infamous ground ball to first.
A slight
digression here, amongst all the other digressions on these pages...Bill
Buckner was not the biggest culprit on that October evening. In fact, if there
hadn't been the wild pitch earlier in Mookie Wilson's at bat, Ray Knight would
have been on first base, with Buckner maybe holding him on, when Mookie hit the
thousand bouncer in his direction. Even if Buckner flubbed that ball, there was
no way Knight would have scored, or even tried to score. So yes, it was easy to
point the finger at Buckner, but Bob Stanley should also be mentioned equally,
if not more so.
And since
we're on digressions, and as I have mentioned that I am a Mets fan, I would be
remiss if I didn't recall the fact that in June, 1985, the Mets were trounced
by the Phillies 26-7. What stands out in that game is the record set by Mets
pitchers, the first time two different pitchers allowed ten or more runs in the
same game. (Calvin Schiraldi and Joe Sambito)
Fast
forward to 1986, and two member of the Boston Red Sox bullpen were Schiraldi
and Sambito. Schiraldi was actually the
losing pitcher in Game Six.
OK, so now
we get to the post season awards. The MVP voting went as follows:
1. Mike Schmidt PHILS
2. Glenn Davis ASTROS
3. Gary Carter METS
4. Keith Hernandez METS
5. Dave Parker REDS
6. Rock Raines EXPOS
7. Kevin Bass ASTROS
8. Von Hayes PHILS
9. Tony Gwynn PADRES
10. Mike Scott ASTROS
And for the
Cy Young Award:
1. Mike Scott ASTROS
2. Fernando Valenzuela DODGERS
3. Mike Krukow GIANTS
4. Bob Ojeda METS
5. Ron Darling METS
5. Rick Rhoden PIRATES
(tie)
Interesting
that the voters went with Michael Jack Schmidt, giving him his third MVP Award,
during a year where the pitching seemed to outpace the hitters, especially Mike
Scott's performance.
Or did it?
Scott went
18-10 with a 2.22 ERA, striking out 306, 64 more than the second place finisher
in K's.
Valenzuela
was 21-11 with a 3.14 ERA.
Mike
"The Polish Prince" Krukow was 20-3 with a 3.05 ERA.
Scott and
Bob Knepper each had 5 shutouts.
Bobby Ojeda
was 18-5 with a 2.57 ERA and led the league with a .783 winning percentage.
Over on the
offensive side:
Schmidt 37 119 .290
Carter 24 105 .255
Hernandez 13 83 .310
Parker 31 116 .273
Raines 9 62 .334
Bass 20 79 .311
Hayes 19 98 .305
Gwynn 14 59 .329
Decent
numbers from the top 9 in MVP voting. But my formula changes the rankings a
bit. Factoring in Runs Created along with a couple of other factors, comes up
with a different ranking...
The top 10 NL
offensive ranking for 1986 are:
Gary Carter Mets
Mike
Schmidt Phils
Von Hayes Phils
Eric Davis Reds
Keith
Hernandez Mets
Darryl
Strawberry Mets
Dave Parker
Reds
Kevin
McReynolds Padres
Glenn Davis Astros
Tim Raines Expos
And the top
8 pitchers were:
Mike Scott Astros
Bobby Ojeda Mets
Rob Murphy Reds
Mike Krukow Giants
Fernando
Valenzuela Dodgers
Danny
Darwin Astros
Dwight
Gooden Mets
Bruce
Ruffin Phils
As you can
see, some stark differences between the voting and my performance evaluations.
(On the offensive chart, please note that Hubie Brooks of the Expos ranked 2nd,
but didn't have enough at-bats to qualify for league titles)
Combining
the numbers, to come up with one clear cut candidate for the best all around
player in the league, the top 5 rank as so:
Carter
Schmidt
Hayes
Scott
Ojeda
The Most
VALUABLE Player, the one that outperformed their team's performances in 1986
are ranked as such, lowest to highest, top 5:
5. Rick
Rhoden Pirates
4. Dave
Dravecky Padres
3.Kevin
McReynolds Padres
2. Gary Carter Mets
1. Fernando
Valenzuela Dodgers.
So, in the
1986 National League, you Player of the Year:
Gary
Carter
And your
Most Valuable Player:
Fernando
Valenzuela
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