Featured Article Summary #293

In 1986, the New York Mets won the NL East, the NLCS, and the World Series for their second and most recent championship. General manager Frank Cashen and manager Davey Johnson built a strong team that delivered one of MLB’s best regular seasons. The Mets started on April 8 by beating the Pittsburgh Pirates, quickly taking first place and staying there for the entire year. They improved from 98–64 in 1985 to a franchise-best 108–54 and finished well ahead of the second-place Philadelphia Phillies. In the playoffs, they beat the Houston Astros in six games and the Boston Red Sox in seven, including two exciting extra-inning Game 6 wins where the Mets rallied late. Despite the success on the field, their legacy has been hurt by problems off the field, including heavy drinking by many players. The Mets started in 1962 and struggled for many years, though fan support grew after Shea Stadium opened in 1964. After building a strong pitching staff, they won the National League East in 1969 as the “Miracle Mets,” then beat the Orioles in the World Series, but they could not build on that success and had long stretches of poor seasons and low attendance. In 1980 Nelson Doubleday Jr. and Fred Wilpon bought the team and hired Frank Cashen, who focused on rebuilding over several years. Young players such as Darryl Strawberry and Dwight Gooden helped the Mets improve through the early-to-mid 1980s, and by 1984–85 they were winning lots of games, yet still missed the playoffs because there was no wild-card spot then. In the 1985–86 offseason, the Mets did not sign any major free agents, largely because GM Frank Cashen disliked free agency and other owners had agreed to avoid it to keep salaries down—later leading to penalties for collusion. Even so, the Mets were active in smaller moves, including trades with the Red Sox, Phillies, Twins, a Rule 5 draft loss of Clint Hurdle, releasing some players, and signing Tim Corcoran as a free agent. As the Mets started preparing for 1986 spring training, they faced a serious concern involving their player Hernandez after he testified in a cocaine-related criminal case the year before. On February 28, 1986, Commissioner Ueberroth suspended Hernandez and six other players for a year, but the players could return if they agreed to drug testing, community service, and donations to anti-drug programs—all of which they accepted. The Mets held spring training in St. Petersburg, Florida, sharing facilities with the Cardinals, but later agreed to move to Port St. Lucie, Florida. In spring exhibition games they finished 13–13–1, and Mookie Wilson was injured when a ball shattered his sunglasses, requiring surgery and keeping him out for two months. The Mets started strong by beating the Pirates on April 8, but then struggled, losing 3 of their next 4 games, including extra-inning losses. After a winning streak that brought them to 7–3, they took first place from then on and never gave it back. They overcame a major test in St. Louis with a ninth-inning comeback and a sweep, despite a controversy involving Dwight Gooden, and finished the month 13–3 with the franchise’s best start, leading the Cardinals by 4½ games.