1986 New York Mets
World Series Champion National League Champion National League East Division Champion
The 1986 World ChampionNew York Mets reuniting atCiti Field for the team's 30th anniversary in 2016
League	National League
Division	East
Ballpark	Shea Stadium
City	New York
Record	108–54 (.667)
Divisional place	1st
Owners	Nelson Doubleday Jr. and Fred Wilpon
General manager	Frank Cashen
Manager	Davey Johnson
Television	WOR-TV 9 (Ralph Kiner,Tim McCarver,Steve Zabriskie,Rusty Staub) SportsChannel New York (Ralph Kiner,Tim McCarver,Fran Healy,Rusty Staub)
Radio	WHN–AM 1050 (Bob Murphy,Gary Thorne, Juan Alicea (SP))
← 1985 Seasons 1987 →

The1986 New York Mets season was theMets' 25th season in theNational 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 theHouston Astros in six games in theNLCS and theAmerican League championBoston Red Sox in seven games in theWorld Series. This is their last championship to date.

The 1986 Mets are one of just three National League teams (the other two are the1975 Cincinnati Reds and the2022 Los Angeles Dodgers) to have won twice as many games as lost in the regular season since 1909.^[1] The team is often regarded as one of the best of all-time, being cited in 2021 byESPN as a top contender for best MLB team of the previous half-century from 1970 to 2020.^[1]

Darryl Strawberry andRon Darling made their debuts in 1983, followed byDwight Gooden andSid Fernandez in 1984, andLenny Dykstra andRoger McDowell in 1985. The Mets hiredDavey 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 theSt. 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 managerFrank Cashen brought inTim Teufel, a right-handed hitting infielder from theMinnesota Twins andBob Ojeda, a left-handed pitcher from theBoston Red Sox. The Mets added them to an existing veteran core including along with former MVPsGeorge Foster andKeith Hernandez, veteran catcherGary Carter and speedstersWally Backman andMookie Wilson.

With these acquisitions, many predicted an easy dominance within the division. The pundits were right. Duringspring 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 season21+1⁄2 games in front of thePhiladelphia Phillies.

• November 13, 1985:Calvin Schiraldi,Wes Gardner,John Christensen, andLa Schelle Tarver were traded by the Mets to theBoston Red Sox forBob Ojeda,Tom McCarthy,John Mitchell and Chris Bayer (minors).^[2]
• November 13, 1985:Kelvin Chapman was released by the New York Mets.^[3]
• December 10, 1985:Clint Hurdle was drafted from the Mets by theSt. Louis Cardinals in the 1985rule 5 draft.^[4]
• January 16, 1986:Ronn Reynolds was traded by the New York Mets with Jeff Bittiger to thePhiladelphia Phillies for Rodger Cole andRonnie Gideon.^[5]
• January 16, 1986:Billy Beane,Joe Klink, andBill Latham were traded by the Mets to theMinnesota Twins forTim Teufel and Pat Crosby (minors).^[6]
• March 4, 1986:Tim Corcoran was signed as a free agent by the Mets.^[7]

The 1986 Mets held spring training atAl Lang Stadium inSt. Petersburg,Florida for the 25th season.

• April 1, 1986:Tom Gorman was released by the Mets.^[8]
• April 5, 1986:Doug Frobel was traded by theMontreal Expos to the New York Mets forJoe Graves (minors) and Rodger Cole (minors).^[9]
• June 2, 1986:1986 Major League Baseball draft
  • Curtis Pride was drafted by the Mets in the 10th round. Player signed June 12, 1986.^[10]
  • John Olerud was drafted by the Mets in the 27th round of the 1986 amateur draft, but did not sign.^[11]
• June 9, 1986:Tim Corcoran was released by the Mets.^[7]
• June 30, 1986:Ed Lynch was traded by the Mets to theChicago Cubs in exchange for Dave Lenderman andDave Liddell.^[12]
• August 3, 1986:Lee Mazzilli was signed as a free agent by the Mets.^[13]
• August 7, 1986:George Foster was released by the Mets.^[14]
• August 24, 1986:Alex Diaz was signed as an amateur free agent by the Mets.^[15]

The Mets had a rocky start with a 2–3 record (including two extra-inning losses to theSt. Louis Cardinals andPhiladelphia Phillies respectively).^[16] But when the Mets hosted Philadelphia atShea 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 managerWhitey Herzog told sportswriters, "We're not catching the Mets this year." The Mets finished the month 13–3.

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

On June 10 against the Phillies,Tim Teufel hit a pinch-hit, game-winninggrand slam.^[17][18] The Mets went 19–9 during June and finished the month with a season record of 50–21.

On July 3 against theHouston Astros,Darryl Strawberry hit a game-tying home run, but it wasRay 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 theNational League in theAll-Star Game in theAstrodome. 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'sRiverfront Stadium on July 22. In the top of the ninth,Dave Parker dropped the ball that could have been the final out for theCincinnati Reds, allowing the Mets to tie the game. In the bottom of the tenth,Eric Davis got to third and brawled withRay Knight. Both men, along withKevin Mitchell andMario Soto, were ejected. Johnson was forced to alternateJesse Orosco andRoger 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.

Former MVPGeorge Foster was released after he was benched forKevin Mitchell, partially due to Foster's decline in production and Mets managerDavey 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 favoriteLee 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 withEd 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.

When they got to Philadelphia, droves of Mets fans were there to see if they would clinch the NL East.^[19] In fact, they seemed to take up half ofVeterans Stadium.^[20] Given what had happened to them when they got swept in a three-game series by theChicago Cubs atWrigley Field preceding the series and not wanting to see visiting teams win a division title on their field,^[19] the Phillies swept the Mets. During the series, Mets fans at Veterans Stadium became unruly and damaged seats in the upper deck (the 700 level).^[21] One Mets fan was arrested after striking at twoPhiladelphia police officers.^[21] ThePhillie 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.^[21] 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 Metsrivalry with thePhillies and that series was played out again, as it wasMike Schmidt of the Phillies who won theNational League MVP Award, ahead ofGary Carter, who finished third, andKeith Hernandez, who finished fourth. It was Schmidt's third career MVP.^[22]

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 facedDennis Eckersley and theChicago 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.^[23] The champagne was popped immediately while the fans invaded the field quickly.^[24] The Mets won a team-record 108 games after defeating thePittsburgh Pirates.^[25]

The Mets went 21–11 during the final two months to end the season with a record of 108-54 while winning theNational League East division by 21.5 games.

All times areEASTERN time

All times areEASTERN time

• All games broadcast onWHN andMets Radio Network
• Some 1986 Mets Cable TV broadcasts were carried onSportsChannel New York Plus because of broadcast conflict of (NY Yankees) of (MLB), (New Jersey Nets) of (NBA) and (NY Islanders) of (NHL).

^[26]

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

^[27]

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in; SB = Stolen bases

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts; SV = Saves

October 8 (Astrodome,Houston)

October 9 (Astrodome,Houston)

October 11 (Shea Stadium,Flushing, New York)

October 12 (Shea Stadium,Flushing, New York)

October 14 (Shea Stadium,Flushing, New York)

October 15 (Astrodome,Houston)

NLNew York Mets (4) vs. ALBoston Red Sox (3)

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One of the most famous games in baseball history is Game 6 of the1986 World Series. The Mets rallied in the bottom of the 8th inning of Game 6, tying the game on aGary Cartersacrifice fly. RelieverCalvin 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 managerDavey 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 inWade Boggs to make it a 5–3 lead. WhenWally Backman andKeith 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-hitterKevin Mitchell then singled to center andShea 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 toSan 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 withBob Stanley to face left fielderMookie 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 catcherRich Gedman's catchers' mitt and went straight to the backstop. Mitchell scored on thewild pitch (which many thought should have been scored apassed ball) 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 theALCS 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:

So the winning run is at second base, with two outs, three and two to Mookie Wilson. A little roller up along first...behind the bag! It gets through Buckner! Here comes Knight, and the Mets win it!

Scully then remained silent for more than three minutes, letting the pictures and the crowd noise tell the story. Scully resumed with:

If one picture is worth a thousand words, you have seen about a million words, but more than that, you have seen an absolutely bizarre finish to Game 6 of the 1986 World Series. The Mets are not only alive, they are well, and they will play the Red Sox in Game 7 tomorrow!

Had the Red Sox won the World Series, they would have won theirfirst World Series since 1918, in addition to making Boston the first city to win bothNBA and World Series championships in the same year. As it turned out, the Celticschampionship four months before was the last championship for Boston and for Massachusetts until theNew England Patriots, who lostSuper Bowl XX to theChicago Bears in January, wonSuper Bowl XXXVI in 2002.

• Ray Knight,Babe Ruth Award
• Ray Knight,World Series Most Valuable Player Award
• Keith Hernandez,National League First BasemanGold Glove
• Gary Carter,National League CatcherSilver Slugger Award

Infielders