New York Mets: The franchise all-time bracket
By Bill Felber
New York Mets: The All-Time Bracket
No. 1 vs. 8 seed
On paper, the 1986 New York Mets look like the best team in franchise history. They won a franchise-record 108 games, and they won the World Series. The club’s pitching staff featured memorable figures of the stripe of Doc Gooden (17-6, 2.84 ERA, 200 strikeouts), Bob Ojeda (18-5), and Ron Darling (15-6).
Offensively, the Mets were deep and experienced. Second baseman Wally Backman batted .320 and first baseman Keith Hernandez hit .310, while catcher Gary Carter drove in 105 runs. Right fielder Darryl Strawberry produced 27 home runs.
The 2000 Mets won 94 regular-season games while finishing second to Atlanta in the NL East. They made their way to the World Series, where they lost in five games to the Yankees in the first all-New York Series since 1956. Second baseman Edgardo Alfonzo and catcher Mike Piazza were the offensive stars. Alfonzo batted .324 with 25 home runs and 94 RBIs while Piazza hit 38 home runs and drove in 113 on a .324 average.
Veteran Al Leiter led the starters with a 16-8 record in 31 games. Mike Hampton was 15-10. Armando Benitez saved 41 games.
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Game 1: The 1986 team’s .667 regular season is unassailable, bettering the 2000 team’s .580.
Game 2: The 2000 Mets had a .571 post-season percentage based on their four-game division series win over the San Francisco Giants and their five-game NLCS victory over the St. Louis Cardinals. That preceded the World Series loss. The 1986 team beat the Houston Astros in a six-game NLCS before taking out the Red Sox in seven famous games, a .615 percentage. That makes this series 2-0 in favor of 1986.
Game 3: The 1986 club of Strawberry, Carter and the rest had a 106 OPS+. In 2000, the Piazza-Alfonzo Mets only got to 98.
Game 4: The 1986 Mets rely on their 115 staff ERA+ to close out the sweep. It’s better than the 2000 team’s 107 ERA+.
Result: 1986 in four games